618 



H H T I C U L T IT H E 



May 8, 1915 



in winter, but v admit tlint our neglected beds 



suficred least. '' ., "iiigh and dry," on a bank, 



with little water and hardly any leaf covering, came 

 through in f lition, and it has alwayi. 



Sonu- n..! - of my acqunintjiiKo declare 



that w: "delusion and a snare." In 



some r' nee during this late \vinter, 



seenis t contontion. Certain it is that our 



yoi!!^" i.drons and kalmias in the vegetable 



gar !y hit. 1 can't believe they could have 



8u;' ■-■ if no prot«?tion at all had been given. 



Al p«>r (-ont. are dead or badly injured, but 



»•);■ ■ half a dozen plants together 



as ^ liocu no winter at all and all 



around them plants dead, one is hard put to for an 

 explanation, or even a theory. This sort of thing we 

 find throufrhout all our beds — plants standing, so to 

 say, alone in ' ' .Ml these plants were well watered 

 right up tu Lhcy were covered for tlie winter, 



so as to niaki" turu ihey did not go into the winter dry. 



Tsuga cjindiniana and T. canadensis badly scorched 

 under protection in the vegetable garden, are hardly 

 touched in the open with the full sweep of the westerly 

 wind. 



I am convinced, however, ti'.at evergreens wiiich go 

 into the winter dn' do sutler in just such weather as 

 we had this past Marcii. It is almost an axiom that 

 evergreens must be root active in winter. Whether pro- 

 tection is a fake or not we shall continue to protect our 

 evergn"eens as usual. 



WeUfgleu^ Mn.ox.. May 2. 1915. 



What Rhododendron maximum 



Needs 



Editor Horticulture : 



I have read with mufh interest in your issue of April 

 24, your article on rhododendrons, telling how they 

 have come through the winter in first class condition. 

 I have also read in last week's issue Mr. Wilson's letter 

 and your editorial on rhododendrons. Of course, as I 

 understand it, you are both referring to hybrid rhodo- 

 dendrons but Rhododendron maximum are somewhat 

 the same as far as those conditions go. 



I have been studying for several years the natural 

 conditions of Rhododendron maximum in their native 

 home and find many interesting points about them. 

 Nature provides certain places for all trees and shrubs. 

 The seeds are carried by birds to different places, but 

 unless the soil is right, the seed of the tree or shrub 

 may sprout and grow but never mature to the size it 

 would attain in its natural location. Soil conditions 

 are taken in consideration to some extent. Some trees 

 and plants are in their natural place on the level land, 



others on liillsides, some must have a soutliern exposure 

 and others a nortiiern, and this is my point — a rhodo- 

 dendron's natural home is in a northern exposure. 



The point (hat Mr. Wilson made about the sun during 

 the month of March turning the leaves browni as they 

 had been seorehed, is certainly correct. It is the March 

 sun that causes the destruction, but had these rhodo- 

 dendrons been planted on a side-hill with a northern 

 expo-sure, or elsewliere and protected by tall hemlocks 

 or other evergreen trees, the March sun would not affect 

 them, for the destruction is done when the frost Ib in 

 the leaf and by the time the sun is high enough to reach 

 them in their protected places it is in the wanner part 

 of tiie day when the frost is out. 



A rhododendron as it grows in its natural home is 

 never scorched by the March sun except where it has 

 grown under the protection of some large evergreen tree 

 which has been removed by the woodman's axe. The 

 point of planting rhododendrons is to follow the rules 

 of nature, for in their natural home they are not affected 

 by the cold of winter or the hent of piinimer. 



/^^^V^^Ay^ "^ 



Callkooii, N. y. 



Lilium myriophyllum (regalej 



Some two or three years ago, when this lovely 

 lily was first brought to our attention, we published 

 two or tliree illustrations of it as seen growing at 

 the Farquhar nurseries and as a cut flower. So 

 well has this no\elty justified the prominence given 

 it at that time that we feel it to be worthy of still 

 another presentation as "a cover illustration for this 

 issue for the inspection of those of our readers who 

 have not seen it before. Lilium myriophyllum, or 

 "regale," as it has now been designated by E. H. Wilson, 

 who first discovered it and collected it in China twelve 

 years ago, is in our opinion the finest tubular-flowered 

 lily in existence. The golden glow in the heart of the 

 flower, the flush of pink on the outside of the petals, 

 the bright orange anthers from which the pollen does 

 not shed, and its refreshing spicy perfume make it more 

 than a rival for tlie universally used longiflorum type 

 of Easter lily. Add to these good points the fact that 

 the new comer is perfectly hardy in the latitude of Mas- 

 sachusetts, is of the easiest culture and may be grown 

 from scales to flowering sized bulbs in an increditably 

 short time, and the place which this lily is destined to 

 fill in the commercial floriculture of the near future 

 may be imagined. Wiien the stock has been increased 

 so that it can be sold at a popular price it can hardly 

 fail to take its place among the leaders in florists' 

 flowers. The plants appearing in the picture are from 

 voung bulbs. 



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