1871.] NOTES ON RHODODENDRONS. 59 



NOTES ON RHODODENDRONS. 



NO. II. 



Notwithstanding their superlative claims upon all who have an in- 

 terest in horticultural pursuits, and their admitted value as decorative 

 plants, whether as arranged in masses in the flower-garden or shrub- 

 bery, or singly as specimens on lawns, it is somewhat remarkable that 

 as yet Rhododendrons are neither so extensively nor so carefully 

 cultivated as they deserve. In many establishments where they might 

 be expected to be found occupying a prominent place, they are either 

 absent altogether, or have the most inferior position assigned to them ; 

 and their sickly, stunted appearance too often contrasts most un- 

 favourably with the more robust and less fastidious shrubs with which 

 they are associated. 



This state of things, we are convinced, arises not so much from a want 

 of appreciation of their merits, as from a popular mistake as to the 

 difficulty of providing the necessary soil and conditions for their 

 successful cultivation. Peat is not found in every garden, nor even in 

 its immediate vicinity, and in many places the expense of procuring it 

 in sufficient quantity is considered an insuperable barrier to the intro- 

 duction of even a limited collection. That peat, or a combination in 

 which the elements of which it is composed are largely present, is their 

 natural soil, and that all known Rhododendrons thrive luxuriantly in 

 peat, is undoubted; but that, at the same time, it is possible without 

 it to create an artificial soil containing all the constituents which it 

 supplies really necessary for their growth and development, and this 

 with materials to which most gardeners have ready access, has been 

 again and again demonstrated. 



On examining the root of a Rhododendron while in active growth, 

 we find that it consists of what is commonly termed a ball or mass of 

 roots, netting in a quantity of the soil in which it has been growing. 

 Round the outside will be seen an innumerable quantity of short hair- 

 like fibres, white and transparent, so extremely soft and brittle that 

 it is difficult to handle them without breaking some off" : these are the 

 young roots, and the only feeders by which the plant imbibes its food. 

 If growing in peat, they are found pretty equally diff'used over the 

 ball ; but if in mixed soil, they are invariably in greatest abundance on 

 that side which is most in contact with any fragments of peat or other 

 decomposed vegetable matter. Incapable from their extreme delicacy 

 of penetrating stiff hard soil, and peculiarly susceptible of injury from 

 dryness, particularly while in a state of activity, these fragile rootlets 

 soon wither and die when so exposed, entailing a serious loss upon 

 the plant, and that at a time when it requires all the assistance it can 



