MAT. 99 



fixed for the 14th of May : but I am always earlier, for whereas it 

 is an object with cultivators in the neighbourhood of London to 

 keep back their chief display till the fine weather is more confirmed, 

 a:id the full tide of metropolitan fashion is set in, 1 like to be at 

 liberty to go and look at it, and to enjoy a second time beauties that 

 with me have passed away. 



The only Rhododendron that has yet flowered with me, besides 

 the two named in my last, is Caucasicum superbum, a stately pure 

 white variety, which I had from Mr. Cunningham of Liverpool, who 

 has lately sent out another fine and hardy white, under the name of 

 Cinnamomeum Cunninghami. Others are fast coming forwards ; 

 among them the splendid R. Broughtonianum, one of the largest both 

 in flower and truss ; and the graceful R. Gibsonianum is just open- 

 ing its lily-like fragrant blossoms. As far as can be judged of from 

 the seedlings, the fine variety found by Dr. Hooker in the Himalaya 

 mountains, and named by him R. Dalhousieanum, will closely re- 

 semble R. Gibsonianum. 



The elegant and odoriferous Acacia pubescens, with its bright 

 sulphur-yellow flowers, and Acacia linearis, with its golden ones, of 

 both which species my trees are now large, have also been great or- 

 naments during the month of February ; and Wistaria sinensis has 

 been loaded from end to end with its luxuriant pendent branches, 

 filling the house with its delightful perfume. You see that I deal 

 with plants which are early, certain, and abundant in their flowering; 

 for my object is principally to shorten the winter, and improve our 

 natural spring, by securing a bright display for the four unsettled, 

 uncertain months which commence the year ; and certainly the 

 luxury of an in-doors garden can never have been more thoroughly 

 felt than during the present cold and ungenial season. But it is 

 time to pass from this local, domestic report to something a little 

 more systematic. 



I have said that the principal objects of cultivation with me are 

 the Camellia, Azalea, and Rhododendron. I will take them in the 

 order in which I have named them, being that in which they flower, 

 and begin with the Camellia. So many beautiful varieties of this, as 

 of almost every other favourite flower, have been raised by horticul- 

 tural art, that some classification of them as to colours, &c. is become 

 quite necessary ; and I am glad to see that " descriptive catalogues " 

 are becoming general, and that in some of the best, the varieties 

 bearing the closest resemblance are arranged as " synonyms." I 

 will endeavour to give some account, in this way, of the varieties 

 that have bloomed with me since Christmas. 



I. White. 



1. Alba, old double white. 



2. Candidissima. 



3. Alba timbriata. 



4. Humei. 



5. Low's Irabricata. 



6. „ Sovereign. 



7. Alba imbricatu. 



8. Magnifica. 



9. Nobilissima. 



10. Delicatissima. 



11. Grunelli. 



12. Rollissoni, 



