May  5,  1898. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
387 
barning  zeal,  for  the  triumphs  their  children’s  children  were  to  see  ;  they 
made  possible  the  great  and  inspiring  art  which  horticulture  now  is. 
It  would  be  an  inconsiderate  act  to  drag  readers,  without  a 
particle  of  interest  for  thumbscrews  or  paintings,  to  Antwerp’s  other 
great  sights — the  Steen  Museum  and  the  Picture  Gallery.  I  can  only 
say  that,  wonderful  works  of  art  though  many  of  the  pictures  are,  I 
found  the  thumbscrews  rather  less  harrowing  ;  but  from  both  of 
these  terrible  records  of  a  stormy  past  it  is  a  relief  to  escape,  for  they 
exercise  a  hideous  thraldom  on  the  imagination.  At  the  gates  of  the 
great  museum  lie  the  boulevards  and  avenues  of  modern  Antwerp — 
tree  lined,  as  every  town  street  should  be ;  bright,  fresh,  and  cheerful. 
Perhaps  if  we  could  begin  our  great  towns  all  over  again,  we  might 
build  them  so  as  to  admit  of  at  least  a  modicum  of  light  and  air  ;  as  it 
is,  we  can  but  envy  the  continental  his  broad,  airy,  leafy  promenades, 
and  sigh  for  the  unattainable.  Yet  an  inconsistency  insists  on 
presenting  itself.  British  horticulture  claims,  not  without  justifica¬ 
tion,  to  set  a  pattern  to  the  world,  but  it  fails  completely  to  lay  hold 
of  the  consciences  of  our  town  councillors  and  shame  them  into  better 
ways;  so  that,  even  with  the  new  building  which  is  going  on,  we  are 
perpetuating  the  bad  old  system  of  narrow  streets,  packed  houses,  and 
box-room  gardens.  There  is  a  simple  economic  explanation  of  it  all. 
The  continental  loves  to  put  his  savings  into  land,  the  Briton  into 
bricks  and  mortar.  There  is  no  getting  over  the  fact,  or  the  results 
that  spring  from  it.  If  you  and  I  had  a  lot  of  bricks  and  mortar,  our 
indignation  at  the  sight  of  treeless  streets  would  soon  go  off  the  boil. 
So  pleasant  are  the  broad  and  leafy  avenues  of  New  Antwerp  that 
there  is  le.ss  eagerness  than  is  the  case  in  British  towns  to  get  away  to 
the  suburbs  and  environs.  It  is  done  sooner  or  later,  perhaps,  but 
generally  later.  Immediately,  however,  the  visitor  passes  through  any 
of  the  numerous  city  gates  and  past  the  fortifications  into  the  open 
country  he  finds  himself  in  a  new  field  of  interest.  To  begin  with, 
there  is  a  study  in  peasant  proprietorship  ready  to  his  eye.  Scores 
of  acres  around  Antwerp,  as  around  so  many  continental  cities,  are 
market  cropped,  and  nearly  every  acre  has  its  owner.  Are  they 
prosperous,  these  thousands  of  small  landed  proprietors  ?  Monarchs  of 
all  they  survey,  must  it  be  said  of  them,  as  of  the  monarch  race  in 
general,  “  uneasy  lies  the  head  which  wears  a  crown  ?  ”  These  are 
fateful  questions,  for  on  the  answers  to  them  hangs  the  issue  of  our 
own  problem  of  rural  industry.  I  gladly  escape  the  responsibility  of 
treading  dangerously  on  political  ground  by  disclaiming  ability,  in  the 
short  time  I  had  for  study,  to  give  an  adequate  reply.  But  certain 
pjints  infallibly  come  home  to  the  observer. 
To  begin  with,  it  is  food  for  speculation  whether  Belgian  cottage 
homes  are  the  more  comfortable,  cheerful,  and  cleanly  from  the  fact 
that  all  the  family  seem  to  spend  the  day  in  the  fields.  With  Hop 
gardens  around  my  own  door,  I  am  aware  that  women  and  child  labour 
is  drawn  upon,  especially  in  harvest  time.  Indeed,  women  and  child 
pickers  are  more  expert  than  men.  But  our  Kentish  folk  manage  to 
got  a  very  fair  living  without  the  necessity  for  the  lady  of  the 
house  to  wield  a  digging  fork  and  her  eldest  daughter  to  carry  the 
manure.  A  typical  family  scene  in  Belgium  comes  before  my  eyes. 
The  head  is  digging,  his  wife  is  digging.  A  sturdy  son,  age  about 
seventeen,  wields  a  Potato  planter;  a  girl  a  year  or  two  younger  is 
pulling  some  dark,  rank-looking  manure  into  shreds  and  putting  it 
in  the  holes.  A  juvenile  a  stage  younger  is  dropping  the  Potatoes ; 
he  looks  moderately  cheerful,  but  has  tender  reminiscences  of  marbles. 
A  younger  scion  .‘‘till  is  kicking  soil  over  the  sets.  If  he  were  mine  I 
should  speedily  kick  him,  but  he  is  in  the  rear,  and  is  left  to  pursue 
his  own  peculiar  method  of  covering  undisturbed.  Naturally,  a  breadth 
is  soon  planted,  and  I  hope  the  returns  are  enough  to  give  the  busy 
family  plenty  of  good  food  and  clothing  through  the  winter,  which  must 
press  hardly  on  them.  If  it  does  not,  with  all  this  family  labour,  then 
is  peasant  proprietorship  more  beautiful  in  the  theory  than  the  practice. 
The  workers  are  pretty  thorough  in  their  manipulation  of  the  soil. 
Some  of  them  at  least  are  believers  in  spring  trenching.  jMost  of  the 
cultivation  is  with  hand  tools,  and  the  land  is  worked  twm  spits  deep. 
Moreover,  it  is  heavily  fed.  An  astonishing  quantity  of  both  solid  and 
liquid  manure  is  applied,  the  Belgians  being  apparently  of  opinion  that 
they  can  make  better  use  of  their  sewage  than  to  pollute  rivers  with  it. 
No  doubt  they  receive  much  sympathy  in  Great  Britain  regarding  this 
singular  delusion.  Not  from  every  Briton,  though.  To  individualise, 
not  from  Mr.  11.  J.  Jones.  The  Chrysanthemum  King  (which  is  the 
genial  one's  Belgian  title)  boarded  my  train  at  Ghent,  and  fell  to  telling 
me  of  his  misguided  faith  in  what  other  people  cheerfully  throw  away. 
Every  time  his  eye  (which  is  rather  a  wideawake  one  too)  fell  on  people 
ladling  mysterious  liquids  out  of  tubs,  he  irradiated  things  with  an 
approving  smile.  What  that  smile  is  I  need  not  say.  But  its  effect 
on  the  different  family  parties  was  marked.  Even  the  boy  who  wanted 
to  be  at  marbles  felt  it,  and  lost  his  gloom. — W.  Pea. 
(To  be  continued.) 
Weather  in  London. — A  portion  of  the  shortage  of  rain,  of 
which  so  much  has  been  said  of  late,  must  have  been  made  up  during  the 
past  few  days.  On  Thursday,  Friday,  and  Saturday  of  last  week  there 
were  occasional  heavy  showers,  with  gleams  of  sunshine  and  high  wind 
on  the  latter  day.  On  Sunday  we  had  a  downpour  throughout  the  day, 
which  cannot  but  have  done  good.  Monday  was  bright  and  warm  until 
the  afternoon,  when  a  light  shower  fell.  Tuesday  was  a  genial  day, 
while  at  the  time  of  going  to  press  on  Wednesday  it  was  warm,  and  a 
slight  drizzle  was  falling. 
-  Weather  in  the  North.— A  great  deal  of  rain  has  fallen 
during  the  past  week,  the  nights  of  the  28th  and  the  .SOth  ult.  being 
especially  wet,  and  on  but  few  days  was  there  much  sunshine,  while  cold 
E.  winds  have  made  the  evenings  occasionally  chilly.  May  opened  with 
a  lovely  day,  but  the  afternoon  became  dull  and  colder.  There  was  again 
heavy  rain  on  Monday  night,  and  Tuesday  morning  was  drizzly  with 
coldish  wind  from  the  east.  Heavy  floods  are  reported  from  the  eastern 
counties. — B.  D.,  S.  Perthshire. 
-  Eoyal  Horticultural  Society.— The  next  Fruit  and  Floral 
meeting  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  will  be  held  on  Tuesday, 
May  10th,  in  the  Drill  Hall,  James  Street,  Westminster,  1  to  5  P.M. 
At  three  o’clock  the  Rev.  Prof.  G.  Henslow,  M.A.,  V.M.H.,  will  lecture 
on  “Some  of  the  Plants  Exhibited.”  The  schedule  of  the  show  of 
British  Grown  Fruit,  to  be  held  at  the  Crystal  Palace  on  Sept.  29th,  30th, 
October  1st,  is  now  ready,  and  can  be  obtained  on  application  to  the 
Secretary,  R.H.S.,  117,  Victoria  Street,  S.W. 
-  Royal  Horticultural  Society. — Scientific  Committee. 
— April  26th.  Present  :  Dr.  M.  T.  Masters  (in  the  chair)  ;  Prof. 
Muller,  Rev.  W.  Wilks,  and  the  Rev.  Prof.  Henslow,  Hon.  Sec.  Vine 
Leaves  with  Gummy  Exudation. — Some  leaves  were  received  from  Mr.  F.  M. 
Gulrin,  Iscoed,  remarkable  for  a  stickiness.  This  appeared  to  be  attri¬ 
butable  to  green  fly,  although  none  was  present.  The  exudation  is  the 
result  of  puncture.  Pseonies,  Decayed. — Mr.  F.  F.  Freeman  sent  some 
leaves  which  appeared  to  have  decayed  at  the  junction  with  the  stem. 
They  were  forwarded  to  Mr.  W.  G.  Smith  for  examination  for  the 
presence  of  fungi.  Ribes  coccinea,  Growth  of, — Mr.  Henslow  described  a 
rather  curious  case  of  a  bush  growing  by  the  south  side  of  some  palings. 
It  had  sent  up  a  number  of  shoots  on  the  north  side.  The  former  half 
were  in  full  leaf  bearing  very  few  Racemes  ;  while  that  on  the  other  side 
was  covered  with  flowers,  the  foliage  being  scarcely  apparent. 
-  Prunus  NANA. — A  bed  of  this  species  in  flower  near  the 
temperate  house  at  Kew  comes  in  for  a  good  share  of  well-deserved 
admiration  by  all  who  see  it.  In  general  appearance  the  leaves  and 
flowers  resemble  those  of  the  Peach  or  Almond  to  a  certain  degree, 
though  smaller.  It  is  of  dwarf  habit,  old  plants  not  being  more  than 
feet  high.  The  flowers  are  three-quarters  of  an  inch  across,  bright 
pink,  and  produced  from  almost  every  bud  on  last  year’s  wood.  For  a 
bed  on  the  outskirts  of  a  lawn,  as  at  Kew,  or  other  prominent  position 
this  species  has  several  recommendations,  being  of  neat  habit  as  well  as 
a  good  flowerer.  For  forcing  during  early  spring  for  the  greenhouse  it 
is  also  an  excellent  plant.  Cuttings  do  not  root  readily,  but  by  layering 
a  plant  or  two  a  stock  can  soon  be  secured. — W.  D. 
-  Good  Early  Cabbages.  —  When  looking  at  some  superb 
Gloxinias  which  Mr.  Young,  gardener  to  Mrs.  Pearson,  Kingston  Hill,  has 
in  one  of  his  small  houses,  he  said,  “  Before  you  go,  come  and  see  my 
Cabbages.”  Well,  it  did  seem  to  be  a  big  drop  from  Gloxinias  to  such 
humble  vegetables,  but  I  could  not  otherwise  than  admire  the  true 
inwardness  of  the  gardener  who  was  equally  enthusiastic  over  Cabbages 
and  flowers.  I  went  to  the  kitchen  garden,  and  saw  his  Flower  of  Spring, 
Ellam’s  Early,  and  Maincrop.  The  breadth  was  indeed  a  capital  one^ 
and  I  observed  that  although  all  had  been  sown  and  planted  at  the  same 
time.  Flower  of  Spring  was  earliest.  Mr,  Young  said  that  some  of  his 
fellow  gardeners  were  surprised  to  find  he  has  been  cutting  such  good 
heads  for  some  time.  That  is  doubtless  because  they  still  stick  to  old 
late  large  varieties.  The  wonder  now  is  that  anyone  should  grow  them. 
Once  it  was  thought  good  to  have  Cabbages  turning-in  at  Whitsuntide  ; 
now  we  expect  to  have  them  in  abundance  at  Easter, — WANDERER. 
