1876.] 



AND EORTIGULTURIST. 



259 



these we add varieties — of which Mr. H.'s collec- 

 tion largely consists— we should perhaps have 

 double or more of them. On running over the 

 list given of the specimens he has, I find of the 

 one hundred and seventy-two, about one hundred 

 are kinds not native to the United States. Be- 

 sides the gratification missed by such an admirer 

 of trees as Mr. Hovey in not having in his col- 

 lection the beautiful native trees I have named, 

 it seems hardly justice to give his list forth to 

 the horticultural world as the result of his en- 

 deavors " to procure every tree which would be 

 likely to prove hardy in our climate." 



THE RHODODENDRON AND AMERICAN YEW. 



BY J. A. NELSON, INDIAN RUN, PA. 



It is said Rhododendrons should not be over- 

 hung by trees, as the Toots of trees would be 

 injurious. It is also recommended to use char- 

 coal liberally. Growing in their native places, 

 they do not get charcoal ; neither do trees or 

 roots appear to injure them, being found under 

 trees and in thickets. In the beginning of the 

 month of June, 1873, 1 was on a rambling excur- 

 sion on what is called the Seven Mountains, near 

 the central part of Pennsylvania. My visit was 

 partly to see and study the native habits of sev- 

 eral evergreens, seldom found elsewhere; then 

 try to imitate them as near as possible. I took up a 

 lot of small Rhododendrons from two to six inches 

 high and packed them in damp moss. They were 

 out of the ground one week before I got them 

 home. I prepared a bed for them, planting 

 them rather shallow, imbedding their roots well 

 in wet moss, with a covering of moss and a mix- 

 ture of sand, with some light loose loam over all 

 as a mulch. Above the bed, some two feet high, 

 was placed a partial shade made of evergreen 

 boughs; the first sunsmer when dry weather 

 came an occasional watering was given. Every 

 plant lived and made a growth of from six inches 

 to one foot annually. The third season several 

 bloomed ; the fourth season — this year — they all 

 bloomed, and a more beautiful sight was seldom 

 seen. For the two last summers I transplanted 

 on our lawn, clo^ up under evergreen trees, in 

 the shade among their roots. They all did 

 finely. They need some protection, particularly 

 in the winter, from the noon-day sun and winds. 



The American Yew is another evergreen shrub 

 that is but little known. I have succeeded very 



well in growing this from cuttingp. It will grow 

 upright from cuttings. It requires near about 

 the same mode of treatment when permanently 

 planted as the RhododendroTi. These two Amer- 

 ican evergreen shrubs I consider the best amongst 

 all our foreign and native trees and shrubs. Last 

 spring I potted several Rhododendrons and 

 placed them in the greenhouse. About the 1st 

 of July and for several days when in bloom we 

 had no plants to compare with them in beauty. 



RHODODENDRONS. 



BY C. M. HOVEY. 



It is gratifying to learn from your last number 

 that the grand display of Rhododendrons brought 

 out by Mr. Anthony Waterer has been so satis- 

 factory, and attracted, as it ought, so much 

 attention at the Centennial Exposition. It will, 

 no doubt, bring this comparatively little known 

 native shrub, with its superb varieties, into more 

 prominent notice, and accelerate its more gen- 

 eral introduction into our gardens. Certainly it 

 must show how safely they can be transplanted, 

 when it is recollected that the plants, some of 

 them quite large, were out of the ground at 

 least three weeks, and yet produced a magnifi- 

 cent display of flowers. 



Your remark .that "not one in a hundred of 

 the thousands of visitors has ever seen one 

 before," reminds me of the article on the Rhodo- 

 dendron in Applet07i's Encydopmlia (first edi- 

 tion). Who prepared it I do not know; but its 

 value or correctness may be estimated when 

 it is stated "that in the Northern United States 

 the great Rosebay [R. maximum), will alone en- 

 dure the winters." As this was written before 

 Alaska was purchased, I do not know what 

 Northern States are intended ; for the R. Cutaw- 

 biense and its varieties are the only kinds that 

 are generally grown in the gardens of Massachu- 

 setts; R. maximum, although a native, being far 

 less common than the former. For forty years 

 in our grounds they have not suffered from the 

 winters, and have outgrown in the same time 

 the maximum. If the writer had seen or even 

 heard of Mr. Hunnewell's fine collection at 

 Wellesley, he must have known the Catawbiense 

 endures our winters as well as the maximum. 



Such authority is, of course, not of any import- 

 ance to intelligent cultivators ; but to those unac- 

 quainted with the plants, it helps to retard their 

 introduction into our grounds. In fact, beyond 



