58 líiS TO llY OF GARDENING. P a r t I.
purple beeches had been raised, the proportion being about one in three. In the pai-k
were some fine specimens of lai'ch.
165. An example o f a Flemish garden in what is there called the English style (fig. 38.)
is given by lii-aft : it is of small size, but varied
by the disposition of the trees, mstic seats, and
raised surfaces; and siu-rounded, as Dutch and
Flemish gai'dens usually are, by a canal. It
was laid out by Chai*pentier, gardener to the
senate of Fi*ance, in the time of Napoleon.
166. A t Brussels, among otlicr curiosities,
Evelyn mentions a hedge of jets d ’eau, lozenge
fashion, surrounding a p a rte rre ; and “ the pai-k
within the walls of the city furnished with
whatever may render it agreeable, melancholy,
and country-like.” I t contained “ a stately
herom-y, divers springs of water, artificial cascades,
walks, grottoes, statues, and root-houses.”
This park was considerably enlarged some years
a g o ; the then decayed root-houses, grottoes,
and more ciuious ivatcrworks were removed, and the whole was divided by broad
sanded paths, aud decorated with good statues, seats, fountains, and cafés for refi-esh-
ment.
167. The modem gardens at Brussels ai*e generally very richly stocked with choice
plants. That of Mr. Van der Maelen has two splendid stoves, with a greenhouse, &c.,
containing a fine collection of plants, pai-ticulaiiy of palms and orchidaceaj. Adjoining
the large stove is a museum of natural history, the specimens in which were brought by
Mr. Van der Maelen’s plant collector from Brazil. M. Ryuders, a private gentleman,
has a very fine collection of stove and greenhouse plants, amongst which may be
. mentioned a splendid collection of camellias, and some remai'kably fine New Holland
plants. A t Lacken there ai-e fine gardens and an extensive pai'k, in wliich there ai-e
many splendid trees of Catalpa which flower aud seed every year. There is, however,
only one cedar of Lebanon in the whole park.
168. The gardens o f Bruges are described by Mr. Rivers as sun'ounded by very high
w a lls: one belonging to a convent was pointed out to him, which contained sixteen
a c re s; and the soil was so black, soft, and unctuous, that the men were digging it with
large long shovels, without tho application of the foot. But although from tliis appearance
it seemed fertility itself, yet neither vegetables nor fruit trees appeai'ed to thrive in
it, with the exception of pears. (Gard. Mag., vol. vii. p. 279.)
The villa qf M. Bertrand of Bi~uges\i thus noticed in NeilVs Horticultural T o u r : ~ \ t has extensive
grounds, and is flat, but well varied by art. Where th e straight walks cross each other at right angles,
the centre of the point of intersection is shaped into an oblong parterre, resembling a basket of flowers,
and containing showy geraniums in pots, and gaudy flowers of a more hardy kind planted in the earth.
Some things are in very bad taste. At every resting-place, some kind of conceit is provided for surprising
th e visitant: if he sit down, it is ten to one but the seat is so contrived as to sink under h im ; if he enter
the grotto, or approach the summer-house, water is squirted from concealed or disguised fountains, and
he does not find it easy to escape a wetting. T h e ................. - .............^ - ddiiaall iiss pi rovided with several• gnomons, ca.l cu.l at. ed. t.o
show the corresponding hour at th e chief capital cities of E u ro p e ; and also with a lens so placed, that.
ine, th e priming of a small cannon falls under its focus ju st as th e sun reaches the meridian,
when of course th e cannon is discharged.
The principal ornament of M. Bertrand’s villa consists in a picce of water, over which a bridge is
thrown ; at one end of the bridge is an artificial cave fitted up like a lion’s den ; th e head of a lion cut in
stone peeping from the entrance. Above th e cave is a pagoda, which forms a summer-house three
stories high. At the top is a cistern, which is filled by means of a forcing-pump, and which supplies the
mischievous fountains already mentioned. T h e little lawns near the mansion-house are decorated with
many small plants of th e double pomegi-anate, sweet bay, laurustinus, and double myrtle, planted in large,
ornamented flower-pots, and in tubs. These plants are all trained w ith a stem th ree or four feet high,
and with round bushy heads, after th e manner of pollard willows in English meadows. T h e appearance
produced by a collection of such plants is inconceivably stiff to an eye accustomed to a more natural mode of
training. Eight American aloes ( Agàve americana), also in huge Dutch flower-pots, finish the decoration
of the lawn, and, it must be confessed, harmonise very well with the formal evergreens ju st described.
A very good collection of orange trees in tubs was disposed along th e sides of the walks in th e flower-
garden: two o fth e myrtle-leaved variety were excellent specimens. All of these were pollarded in the
style of th e evergreen plants.
The soil of M. Bertrand’s grounds being a mixture of fine vegetable mould, resembling surface peat-
earth, with a considerable proportion of white sand, seems naturally congenial to the growth of American
shrubs ; and, indeed, rhododendrons, magnolias, and azaleas thrive exceedingly. In the open border of
th e flower garden we saw georginas in great vigour and beauty. Several kinds of tender plants were
plunged in the open border for summer, particularly th e Peruvian heliotrope (/feliotròpium peru-
viànum), the specimens of which were uncommonly luxuriant, and, being now in full flower, spread
their rich fragrance all around. The European heliotrope {H. europee'um) is likewise not uncommon
in the flower-borders. In the fruit garden we first saw pear and apple trees traixiGdi en pyramide or
en quenouille; i. e. preserving only an upright leader, and cutting in the lateral branches every year.
The hothouses cover the north side of the fruit garden. In th e centre is a stove or hothouse lor the
most tender plants; on each side of this is a greenhouse for sheltering more hardy exotics during
winter; and a t each extremity is a house partly occupied with peach trees, and partly with grape vines.
In the space of ground before the houses are ranges of pine pits and melon frames. One frame is
dedicated to a collection of cockscombs (Ceiòsia cristàta), and these certainly form the boast of
B o o k . I. DUTCH GARDENS.
M. Bertrand’s garden: they are of the dwarfish variety, but large and strong of their kind; and in
brilliancy and variety of colour they can scarcely be excelled. (NeilVs Hort. Tour p. 74 )
visited in June, 1830, by Mr. T. Rivers, an English nurseryman. He was
gratified to find some fine specimens of MagnòUo tripétala and acuminata, P ìn u s Cèmbra, and FE'sculus
hClmilis. riie re were also, in tubs, Eriobotrya japónica, a è th r a arbòrea, twelve to fourteen feet high,
and a fine collecüon of oranges, some of them very large. A clump of Phododcndrou ferrugineuri
formed an exceedingly gay mass. 1 here was a summer-house on a k rg e mound, th e ascent to which
was by circuitous shacled paths, into which pipes from a fountain were thickly introduced, for the purpose
of wotting to the_skm any loiterers. When Dr. Neill visited this garden in 1817, it was famous for
cockscombs ; but m 1830 it presented a sad contrast: the pines, also, were bad in the extreme; n o ta
Iruit weighed more than halt a pound. T h e contrast which this place presented to an English pleasure-
vol^'^vü p^279 ) paths, and unmown grass, was striking and uncouth. (Gard. Mag,,
The country scat o f Mr. Chantrell, Mr. Rivers states, was formerly the residence of a bishop ; and, with
th e grounds, it forms a perfect specimen of a Flemish country residence, surrounded by a moat of clear
dark, stagnant water, with long straight avenues diverging from the house, like the rays of a circle. The
grounds are quite flat, and the paths a soft black sand ; but these soft paths and shady avenues, though
so completely at variance with English picturesque ideas, felt most exceedingly agreeable in a sultry July
day ; and as the Flemings, from the nature of a great part of their country, must have tame gardens.
Mr. Rivers admires their taste m consulting their comfort more than their eyes. In these grounds was
a pole, perhaps twenty-five feet high, closely covered with th e twining stems of the Airistolòchia sipho
which formed a most beautiful verdant column. In th e kitchen-gardens, th e pear trees were, as usual
here, nourishing ; but the apples were sadly cankered and unhealthy ; lettuces, in a number of successive
crops, were th e principal vegetable ; th e cabbage tribe did not flourish, especially the cauliflower, which
will not grow m this neighbourhood so as to form a head.
The garden o f the Comtesse de Carnen, at Naide, is utterly at variance with the taste of an English
gardener : the orange trees and greenhouse plants Mr. Rivers found placed in straight single lines in a
square, enclosed witli tall thin hedges, each plant fastened by the stem to a small painted rail, and all
trained with naked stems as standards. T h e effect was curious; and it did really seem quite ridiculous
to see the poor myrtles, laurustinus, bays, pomegranates, oleanders, arbutuses, and aucubas, with nu.
mcrous oranges, looking m ore like mops than plants, with some of the stems of th e myrtles not larger
than a reed, and from four feet to six feet high ; the heads of all being cut round as a ball : but the gardener
appeared to think them the summit of perfection, and his eyes glistened a t the praises which Mr. Rivers
gave him for the ingenuity and perseverance he had displayed; hut when he explained to him that in
England they would all have been left in a state of nature, which the English thought most ornamental,
he shook his head m ost significantly, and seemed to pity us for having no taste.
169. Tlie seat o f Madame Vilain Quatorze (fg . 39.), like most of the others mentioned,
and like villas in general in this country, is interspersed with water ; and the boimdary
a, A hotliouse for exotic plants.
I , An a-viary, w ith slirubs for th e b irds to perch upon.
c. Gardener’s room.
d. Greenhouse. En tran c e b y flight of wooden stops,
c, Stove for exotic plants.
/ , Dry stove.
¡7, P ictu re gallery of a considerable heigiit. I t has an
roof, a n d la lighted from tlie top.
h, D w e llin g -lir--
houso, a n d stoves, a t different places. Wlion lighted, the
whole line, from tb e ono ex tremity to tho other, m u s t be
reflected by tlie m irro r.
crop o f In d ian corn, wheat, hemp, &c.
. . . .o r of the house an d tlio picture gallery a
lev el; b u t th e re is a rise o f a few steps t ’
enliouse, which a - ' '
feet.
e elevated above
of the demesne, instead of being a wall, hedge, or belt of plantation, is a broad canal,
over which of coiu'sc is seen the adjacent country. The gi-ounds arc of considerable
extent, and include a farm, pleasiu-e-groimd, kitchen and flower-garden. A plan of a
I '• !
IS 1
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