210 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 6, 1858. 
NOTES FROM THE CONTINENT.—No. 26. 
GHENT. 
Aetee a liasty run round the ramparts of Brussels, now 
laid out as promenades, which must be very pleasant in 
summer, I took a glimpse at the so-called “ Park,” which is 
nothing more than a large tree-planted square, facing the 
j Palace, and having the Chamber of Representatives, and other 
fine buildings, around it. Fountains and statues, of course, 
| form part of its attractions, and the green turf, with the seats 
[ below the avenues of trees, render it by no means a despicable 
place, though to call it a park seems somewhat anomalous, 
i It is remarkable for having been the scene of a terrible con- 
| diet during the revolution of 1830. In one corner is a well, 
| above which is a Latin inscription, saying that in April, 1717, 
! Peter the Great fell into it, from having drunk too much 
! wine. Having but little chivalric feeling, I left Brussels, 
without visiting the plains of Waterloo, and took the train to 
Ghent. In little less than two hours I reached this fine old 
I city—“the Belgic Manchester.” 
Ghent, though much fallen from its ancient grandeur and 
importance, is still a considerable place, having more than 
100,000 inhabitants ; it is situated at the junction of the two 
rivers, Lys and Schelde, whose numerous branches intersect 
1 and traverse the town in all directions. The names of the 
two principal nurserymen—Van Houtte and Verschafielt— 
render Ghent familiar to everyone connected with horticulture. 
I visited Verschaffelt’s first, and I am bound to confess, 
| that I did not find it kept up in such style as I had expected. 
It is one of those places where a great deal of business is done 
without making any remarkable show; there was a want of 
neatness and order which much surprised me, and some of 
the plants—as the Orchids, particularly—were not in such 
good health as I had anticipated. On the other hand, there 
were some things, to be mentioned hereafter, which could not 
be improved. I told my opinion to a friend who accompanied 
j me, and he said the reason was evident,—the proprietor ob- 
j jected to employ foreigners, and the natives were by no means 
i first-rate cultivators; but it must be remembered, that my 
informant was a German, and between the Germans and the 
Belgians there is often a dash of professional jealousy. At 
Van Houtte’s, on the contrary, men of all nations are em¬ 
ployed ; and his place is undoubtedly superior. 
The principal structure in Verschaffelt’s nursery is a curvi- 
| linear-roofed Palm-house ; it contains many fine plants of this 
i princely family, as well as some remarkable specimens of 
Aroidaceous and Bromeliaceous plants, and Screw Pines. 
1 The stock of young Pines, now much in demand on the 
j continent, was most extensive, and I saw hundreds of small 
| seedlings of Bandanus odor ails.shims. M. Verschafielt imports 
! a great number of plants from abroad, and, among these, I 
i noted some fine stems of Tree Ferns, including the rare 
! Balantium Karstanianum. 
With some newly-introduced South American Orchids, was 
a magnificent cluster of the interesting Lycopodium tetrago- 
num, some of the shoots of which were two feet in length; 
and it was looking as fresh and green as when it hung from 
the branch of a tree in its native Brazilian forest. These 
Lycopods are somewhat difficult to manage until they once 
become established—no amount of attention will keep them 
from dying most vexatiously; but after they have been in¬ 
duced to take a firm hold of some good rough peat (which 
seems to be the best substance to pot them in, with a little 
chopped moss, and a few pieces of porous brick), they are 
much more easy to manage, and, with an occasional shift, may 
be cultivated for years. Some gardeners cover them with a 
bellglass, but established plants do much better without any 
coddling of this sort. They may be increased from cuttings, 
struck with a little bottom heat, but seldom live long. They 
differ entirely from the Setaginellas , to which they are so 
nearly related botanically, and which are amongst the easiest 
plants to cultivate. 
Plunged in the tan-bed of one of the stoves were two 
| dozen fine stems of the Elephant’s-foot plant ( Testudinaria 
elephantipes) , recently received from the Cape of Good Hope. 
With them were some old plants, Cycas and Zamia, which, if 
they shoot out well, as is more than probable under this 
treatment, will make noble objects. 
The stage of one house was filled with nice bushy plants, 
of that universal favourite, the Gardenia. G. Jlorida and 
G. Fortun'd were the sorts principally grown; but the smaller 
leaved G. radicans makes a beautiful, close, round head, if 
grafted upon a stem of Jlorida , like miniature standards. 
This treatment causes it to grow and flower more freely than 
it does on its own roots. 
Another house was full of the Myrtle-leaved and Otaheite 
Oranges, these two being decidedly the best for pot culture. 
Words -would fail to give an idea of the vast number of 
Azaleas, Rhododendrons, and Camellias, which are to be 
seen, of every age, and of all sizes, in this garden. The Bel¬ 
gians can, at any rate, propagate and grow these three genera 
in such perfection as they are not to be found elsewhere. 
There were not many plants which could be said to be 
quite new here; but I must not omit to mention two with 
which I was much struck— Mandirola lanata , a Gesneraceous 
plant, in habit not much unlike a Gloxinea, with ovate woolly 
leaves, freely producing its delicately Lavender-tinted flowers; 
and Salvia tricolor , a small-blossomed sort, but very pretty ; 
the flowers being bright rose and white, but varying much in 
different individuals. It will make a useful addition to our 
border plants, if it should not be found suitable for the 
flower garden.— Earl. 
NEW BOOKS. 
The Pinetum.*— The author of this work has had, 
perhaps, better opportunities than most men of studying the 
family of Coniferous plants. Engaged, for a great number of 
years, in the gardens of the Horticultural Society, at Chiswick, 
and a great part of the time superintendent of the Arboretum 
department in those gardens, he had the advantage of becom¬ 
ing thoroughly conversant with the subject; and the best 
evidence we have that he made the most of his opportunities, 
is the result of his observations as they are now embodied in 
the work before us. Hitherto we have had no really good 
book of reference on Coniferous plants. Lambert’s work, 
apart from its enormous price, is now antiquated and incom¬ 
plete ; and, had it not been for the monographs of Endlicher 
and of Carriere, we should have no guide to the study of this 
interesting family. It is, therefore, with pleasure that we re¬ 
ceive this book of Mr. Gordon’s, which, up to the present 
time, leaves nothing to be desired on the subject, for, we be¬ 
lieve, he has included every known species. The work is ar¬ 
ranged alphabetically; but, to suit the convenience of those 
who wish to study the subject scientifically, and 1 o facilitate 
the discovery of a species the name of which may be unknown, 
a synoptical arrangement of the genera is provided. This 
arrangement, based on that of Endlicher, is clear, distinct, 
and intelligible, quite free from all scientific technicalities, and ; 
cannot fail to prove of great service to all those engaged in 
the cultivation of Conifers. Mr. Gordon has clone his work 
well, and we cannot but regard it as a valuable addition to 
our botanico-garden literature. We observe some errors in¬ 
terspersed throughout the work; as, for instance, at page 
112, where, among the synonymes of Juniperus thurifera, we 
find “ J. koopliora unze ,” which should be J. oophora hunze , I 
and at page 292 Mr. Fortune is styled JDr. Fortune ; but i 
these, and some others, are mere surface blemishes, and ! 
have been corrected at the end of the work, which should be 
in the hands of every cultivator of Co niter se. It is furnished 
with a copious index of the genera, species, and synonymes, 
with the authorities for the nomenclature ; the whole forming j 
a valuable hand-book of the subject. 
OMAR JACKSON. 
By the Authoress of “ My Flowers .” 
So many months have passed since I last addressed my j 
readers, that I fear they have blotted me out of their remem¬ 
brance. Nevertheless, 1 have not ceased to remember them, and 
I desire to renew our ever-agreeable intercourse, by bringing 
* The Tinetum, being a Synopsis of all the Coniferous Plants at 
present known, with Descriptions, History, and Synonymes, and com¬ 
prising nearly One Hundred New Kinds. By George Gordon, A.L.S., 
formerly Superintendent of the Horticultural Gardens, Chiswick ; 
assisted by Itobert Glendinning, F.H.S., of the Chiswick Nursery near 
London. London : H. G. Bohn, 1858. 
