i88i.] DUNDEE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCTATION. 52r> 



DEUMLANRIG GARDENERS' MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT 

 ASSOCIATION. 



The circling year having once more brought us roiand to the opening of 

 another .session, the following short report of the last one is presented in ac- 

 cordance with the annual custom. The attendance, which is one of the best 

 criterions of a society's prosperity, was exceedingly good ; and the same remark 

 applies to the papers that were read. The discussions, as usual, were the 

 most lively portion of the proceedings, and the manner in which they were 

 engaged in showed the importance which the members attach to being fully 

 posted up in the subjects. The Association is now in the tenth year of its 

 existence — a fact which speaks for itself, and one which ought to gladden the 

 hearts of the most sanguine of its originators. The following is a list of the 

 subjects which engaged the attention of the members during the session : 

 Eradication of Garden Insects; Protection of Wall -Fruits; Formation of 

 Character ; Certain Trades and Professions as Causes of Disease ; Cultivation 

 of the Cyclamen; Cultivation of the Azalea; Progress in Australia; The 

 Pansy; Cultivation of the Strawberry; The Conservatory; Temperance; 

 Forcing of the Fig; Government by Party; Does Civilisation necessitate 

 Demoralisation ? Food ; Potato Disease ; Cultivation of the Balsam ; Cul- 

 tivation of the Bouvardia ; Movements of Plants; Garden -walks; Hardy 

 Plants for Walls ; Cultivation of the Kaspberry ; Pruning of outdoor Fruit- 

 trees ; The Camellia; "]\lan's Inhumanity to ]\lan ; " Hotbeds and their 

 Uses ; Cultivation of the Orange ; Window- Plants, and their Injuriousness to 

 Health. Sechetaht. 



DUNDEE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



The usual monthly meeting of this Association was held in the Templar Hall, 

 Reform Street, on Friday evening the 7th ult. In the absence of the presi- 

 dent, Mr J. D. Ker, Douglasfield, was called upon to preside. A paper on 

 "The Ehododendron " was read by Mr Eobert Clark, Scotscraig Gardens. He 

 opened his subject by giving some details of the rise and progress of the Rho- 

 dodendron since it was introduced in the year 1650. The species introduced 

 at this period was that known as hirsutum, which, for nearly one hundred 

 years afterwards, was the only representative of the genus to be found in 

 Britain. After glancing at a few of the most notable introductions and hy- 

 brids of late years, Mr Claik then spoke at some length on the native haunt 

 of the Rhododendron. With a few exceptions they were clearly plants that 

 loved the mountain air, being found in far the greatest variety, beauty, and pro- 

 fusion in the higher altitudes of mountainous districts. The Rhododendron too, 

 it was shown, is naturally a moisture-loving plant, growing most abundantly in 

 the damp rocky defiles of mountain-ranges ; or, when their position was less 

 favourable for root-moisture, the atmosphere was generally found to be damp, 

 and the climate generally more humid. The character of the soil next claimed 

 'Mr Clark's attention. Peat, he said, seemed to meet the natural requirements 

 of the plant more than any other kind of soil ; and this, he thought, showed the 

 Rhododendron to be a "vegetarian," delighting in a vegetable diet. Loam or 

 other soils, however, would also grow Rhododendrons to considerable perfec- 

 tion, if they were well treated in other respects. A few remarks on the 



