6 THE GARDENER. [Jan. 



Here I must leave them in the mean time, for I find I have occu- 

 pied as much space as I have a right to expect on this occasion. In 

 my next I will suggest remedies for the evils I have attempted to 

 depict. 



Dalkeith Park. 



Wm. Thomson. 



NOTES ON RHODODENDRONS. 



" Rhododendrons, the pride of European gardens, as they are of 

 their native wilds " — so wrote the great Loudon nearly fifty years ago, 

 when very few species or varieties were either known or cultivated in 

 Europe ; and even many of these, though deeply interesting and 

 worthy of careful cultivation, by no means conspicuous or striking as 

 decorative plants. The gorgeous Indian R. Arboreum was but recently 

 introduced, and had not yet bloomed in this country, though wondrous 

 things were said of its tree-habit and dark-crimson blossoms ; and as 

 yet the still popular R. Ponticum, Catawbiense, Caucasicum, maxi- 

 mum, ferrugineum, and hirsutum, and a few of their varieties, very 

 nearly made up the list of what we may term showy sorts, though 

 all were worthy of the high praise which w^as accorded to them. 



Since then, it is scarcely necessary to say, a vast and in some re- 

 spects a remarkable improvement has been effected, both in point of 

 variety and quality, through the introduction of new species from their 

 native habitat, as well as by the labours of hybridisers ; so that, 

 instead of the two or three sorts which were then so highly and de- 

 servedly appreciated, they can now be counted by the hundred, em- 

 bracing among them every possible shade of colour from the faintest 

 pink to the deepest crimson or scarlet, and from the purest white to 

 the deepest purple, while the flowering season is protracted from 

 February till the end of June — one variety following another without 

 a pause during the whole period. 



Rhododendrons are now more emphatically than ever the pride of 

 European gardens, possessing as they do the most varied attractions 

 to be found in any class of flowers, combined with the elegant habit 

 and foliage of our finest evergreen shrubs, rendering them indispens- 

 able alike in the shrubbery, the flower-garden, or the conservatory — in 

 each of these occupying a unique place, and never failing to elicit the 

 highest admiration of all who have any appreciation of the symmetri- 

 cal in form or the beautiful in colour. 



This wonderful improvement has been effected chiefly through the 

 crossing of the hardy late-flowering species with the early Indian sorts, 

 particularly "Arboreum," itself too tender for open-air culture in this 



