JULY. 149 



Of yellow Rhododendrons, the finest in colour is no doubt Ja- 

 vanicum; but it is tender, and difficult of cultivation. The varieties 

 raised by Mr. Smith of Norbiton are, I have no doubt, perfectly 

 hardy, but being as yet scarce, have not been brought into general 

 cultivation. When grown out of doors they will probably be de- 

 ciduous ; indeed they bear the closest affinity to Azalea sinensis, 

 their parent, in every respect, except the formation of the flowers in 

 trusses and the marking of the upper petal, as in the Rhododendron. 

 The best yellow variety I have bloomed is Burlingtoni, of a rich 

 deep primrose colour, or orange buff. Aureum superbum is also 

 very handsome, but the truss is smaller. The varieties do not all 

 take the colour of A. sinensis; some have the tints of the Rhododen- 

 dron, lilac, pink, &c, and one, Glumiflorum, is beautiful opaque 

 sparkling white ; there are also shades of bronze and copper hues, 

 which seem to combine the colours of the two parents. All are in- 

 teresting and curious ; but the yellow tints naturally excite the 

 greatest attention, as being the only instances of that colour in the 

 Rhododendron till the introduction of Javanicum. I grow them in 

 the same soil as the others, viz. half sandy loam and half rotten peat 

 turf. I have tried leaf-mould as a substitute for the latter, but it 

 did not answer ; indeed, wherever it happened to have been not well 

 mixed, but to be in greater proportion, the roots refused to strike 

 into it at all. I believe the essentials for growing Rhododendrons and 

 the hardy Azaleas are a certain degree of shade and moisture. I 

 have seen them thriving in pure sandy loam, without any admixture 

 of peat, heath, or leaf-mould, where the slope of the ground seemed 

 to draw a supply of moisture from the land above them; while higher 

 up, in the same nursery, and in the very same soil, they would not 

 thrive at all ; and I am persuaded they would not do well in any 

 soil in dry and arid situations. 



Mediterraneus. 



P.S. In my last article on the Azalea Indica, No. 79, Audibute 

 should be Audeberti. 



VITALITY OF TULIP-BULBS. 



Happening to take up a Tulip-bulb the other day from a large 

 quantity of seedlings that had been unplanted, I was much struck, 

 upon examination, to find that in boxes the large blooming roots 

 had formed a new bulb, as well as small offsets, equally as large as 

 those in the ground are at the present time ; and what is remarkable, 

 they have never made any roots, nor received any nourishment from 

 any source, having been kept since last July in the Tulip-room in 

 the boxes. The maiden roots were all decomposed. The stem which 

 should have supported the flower is also in the same position (out- 

 side) as those grown in the beds. 



Cheetham Hill, near Manchester. John Slater. 



