THE FLORIST. 213 



Mr. Waterer of Knaphill has for several years past had a Rho- 

 dodendron exhibition in the King's Road, Chelsea ; and a most ex- 

 cellent treat it has always afforded to lovers of hardy plants. Huge 

 specimens of Rhododendrons, broad-leaved Kalmia, and hardy Aza- 

 leas, are taken up with good balls of earth, brought from Mr. 

 Waterer' s extensive American Nursery at Knaphill, and planted at 

 Chelsea in clumps, among which wind gravel-walks, margined with 

 grass, so as to form a temporary garden, which is covered with can- 

 vass. The evenness which these clumps would otherwise form is 

 here and there broken by the introduction of a few immensely large 

 specimen Rhododendrons, which long-established nurseries like those 

 at Knaphill and Bagshot alone could furnish. Some of these plants 

 are 8 and 10 feet high, and almost as much through, and when covered 

 with blossom they are truly magnificent. "When viewed from a raised 

 stage at the end of the tent, the effect is at once grand and beautiful. 



The success which followed Mr. Waterer' s endeavours in the 

 King's Road prompted himself, Mr. Waterer of Bagshot, Messrs. 

 Stan dish and Noble, Mr. Baker, and Messrs. Lee, to attempt a 

 similar exhibition, on a rather larger scale, in the Royal Botanic 

 Society's Garden in Regent's Park. This was opened with music, 

 and all the usual auxiliaries of an ordinary botanic fete, and we be- 

 lieve was perfectly successful. The mode of arrangement was the 

 same as at Chelsea ; but the tent was larger, and the effect, which 

 would have been grand almost beyond description even on level 

 ground, was much heightened by the undulating character of the 

 place. It might truly have been called a " floral paradise," as we 

 heard a lady inadvertently denominate it. Never have we seen such 

 a mass of gay flowers assembled in one place before. Nor was there 

 any lack of contrast ; for the plentiful introduction of hardy Azaleas 

 and broad-leaved Kalmias among the Rhododendrons served to pro- 

 duce that. The prettiest Rhododendron we saw to our taste was R. 

 blandyanum, a brilliant crimson ; but we fear it flowers too early to 

 do well without some protection to its flowers. It was very early, 

 which is the fault of all the finer kinds. The object which hvbri- 

 disers have now in view is, to place the beautiful flowers of the finer 

 kinds on late- blooming varieties ; and when we take into considera- 

 tion the beauty and usefulness of the Rhododendron, this is a sub- 

 ject especially worthy of attention. 



The publication of the beautiful drawings and descriptions of 

 Dr. Hooker's new Rhododendrons of Sikkim- Himalaya has created 

 quite a sensation among lovers of this race of plants ; and truly, if 

 the plants themselves be like the drawings, we do not wonder at it, 

 for some of them are certainly most beautiful things. We have R. 

 Dalhousia?, with bell-shaped white flowers 3^ to 4| inches long, and 

 as broad at the mouth, represented as growing and flowering on the 

 trunks of trees without any other support than what the tree affords ; 

 then R. barbatum, a rosy-pink species, with a lighter throat, is stated 

 to be a tree from 40 to GO feet high ; R. lancifolium, a smaller kind 

 in the way of the last ; R. Wallichii is a larger and lighter coloured 

 sort, with a tinge of lilac in it ; R. Campbelliae has beautiful globular 



