36 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[^February, 



sorts, growing to twelve feet or more. Tlie spe- 

 cimens observed seem mostly grown in shrub 

 form, and when thus grown are more attractive. 

 It gladdens one in Spring to see them clothed 

 with their white lli)wers, before even their bright 

 green leaves have fairly biuldod out. The M. 

 purpurea is quite <"ommon to Philadelphia gar- 

 dens; the M. gracilis and M. glaucanotsomuch 

 «o, but the last named is rapidly becoming bet- 

 ter known. This one when to its full size is really 

 a small tree, but as it commences to flower when 

 but three feet high, it is usually spoken of as a 

 shrub. It must not be forgotten that the flowers 

 of the magnolia.s are succeeded by cones of fruit 

 which turn in the Fall to a beautiful rosy pink 

 color, making them conspicuous and pleasing 

 objects on a lawn ; and indeed this is thought by 

 some to be a greater attraction than the flowers. 



RHODODENDRONS. 



BY E. MANNING, HARRISHURGH, FRANKLIN CO., O. 



In the September number of your valuable 

 paper I see three Rhododendron articles, one 

 from C. M. Hovey, one from J. A. Nelson 

 and one from our good friend S. B. Parsons. In 

 Mr. Hovey's article, speaking of a writer in Ap- 

 pleion's Journal who had stated that in the North- 

 ern United States the R. maximum would alone 

 endure the winter, he says, " If the writer had 

 seen or heard of Mr. Hunnewell's fine collection 

 at Wellesley he must have known the Cataw- 

 biense endures our winters as well as the maxi- 

 mum. Such authority is of course not of any 

 importance to intelligent cultivators, but to those 

 unacquainted with the plants, it helps to retard 

 their introduction into our grounds." 



Here Mr. Hovey intimates that by intelligence 

 it is practicable to grow the Rhododendron any- 

 where. 



Mr. Editor, we hear you in the same say, 

 ignorant Rhododendron culture is a costly thing 

 in America, but intelligently pursued nothing is 

 more delightful. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I shall certainly take excep- 

 tions to your remarks and to Mr. Hovey's. I 

 have tried twice to grow them and have as often 

 failed. My first attempt was with a moderate 

 preparation of the soil. I got my plants from 

 the old firm of Parsons & Co. They had good 

 balls of roots and were in fine order. They 

 bloomed well the first year, and made good 

 growth. The second season, same bloom, but 



less growth. The third season no growth or 

 bloom, and the fourtli sciison all gave up the 

 ghost. All were heavily mulched with leaves all 

 the year round. At this stage of affairs I saw 

 several articles on Rhododendron culture in the 

 Monthly and in the Ilorlicultnriiit. I sent again to 

 the Parsons' and got eight more sjjlendid plants; 

 I planted some in one bed after preparing for 

 them by digging holes three feet deep, and aa 

 man}' wide, filling up with the best leaf mould 

 mixed with decayed sod, with some simd and 

 pine bru.sh cut up short. I went by the direc- 

 tions of the Gardenrr'a Monthly and the Messrs. 

 Parsons. I mulched heavily with leaves. One 

 plant I planted on the east side of my house, 

 where it had the full sun till one o'clock. All 

 grew and bloomed, and were satisfactory the 

 first season, growing one foot in length. The 

 second season less growth and less bloom. Some 

 died at the end of four years. Lee's dark pur- 

 ple lived the longest, lasting seven years. When 

 all were dead I found on pulling them up that 

 the plants had not made any roots, or scarcely 

 any, having only the balls that came with them. 

 I now distinctly recollect that Mr. Sargent, of 

 Wodenethe, once said that if lime or chalk en- 

 tered into the composition of the soil, it was most 

 repulsive to the Rhododendron which my expe- 

 rience fully demonstrates. Here let me say my 

 soil is a strong limestone; dig where you will, 

 you will find it at one foot down, or less, and 

 down to six feet. As my bed was on the side of a 

 hill, some fifteen feet below the top, on the north 

 side, I could easily see how failure came. lift 

 wet times the bed Avould become saturated with 

 lime water from the hill above. 



Nor does Kalmia latifolia or Belgian Azalea 

 thrive any better here. If you or Mr. Hovey can 

 show me abed of Rhododendrons growing thrift- 

 ily for two years on a limestone soil, you can 

 then talk about intelligent culture. In all laurel 

 thickets that I have seen, the soil is mostly sand- 

 stone. The only way to grow these plants here, 

 is to bring the soil from where they grow, and 

 elevate the beds. 



Reluctantly I must part with the Rhododen- 

 dron here. I shall have to be content to substi- 

 tute for them the different varieties of Tree Box, 

 which does well here if not planted on too low 

 ground. The Mahonia japonica and M. Bealii, 

 Retinosporas, Cephalotaxus Fortunii, and Mag- 

 nolia glauca and its variety longifolia do well 

 here. Mahonia aquifolia is a wretched-looking 

 thing with me, worse than any deciduous shrub 



