45. 
be uprooted and, judging from the poor growth and small leaves 
produced by many others during 1922, it seems probable that 
the tale of losses is far from being complete. Although the weather 
during the latter part of May and early June was hot and dry, 
the summer on the whole was dull, cool and damp, but the total 
rainfall has not been quite up to the average, nor has it sufficed : 
to moisten the ground through. In many places it was still, 
in early December, dry and caked at depths of two to three feet. 
Nor is it certain how much the salt water from the Thames 
(see Kew Bulletin, 1922, pp. 13-15) is still affecting the vegetation. 
Many of the rhododendrons both out of doors and in the Himalayan 
House have the growth of the past summer scorched and poorly 
developed. But with the hardy ones at least it is possible that 
this may in part be due to the after effects of the drought. 
It is many years since so plentiful a crop of fruit was produced 
on hardy trees and shrubs at Kew. Nothing was finer than the 
common pyracanth (Pyracantha coccinea). Judging from our ex- 
perience at Kew this shrub is not sufficiently grown as a shrub 
in the open ground, being nearly always planted against a wall, 
where of course it is also very handsome. But it is perfectly 
hardy and fruits freely without any wall protection, as a group 
of the species near the Rock Garden shows. This autumn they 
were covered from top to bottom with scarlet fruits. Cotoneasters, 
thorns, whitebeams, mountain ashes, and barberries were all 
exceptionally good. 
The inside of the Aroid House (No. 1) was repainted and some 
of the woodwork renewed. The interior of the Himalayan 
House was also repainted. 
Thanks in a great measure to the magnificent gift of Orchids 
by Sir George Holford (see Kew Bulletin, 1922, p- 155), there 
was a very fine display of Cattleyas and Laelias in the Orchid 
House i in late autumn—unfortunately cut short by the November 
fogs. 
One of the most interesting plants which flowered during 1922 
was Pachira macrocarpa, a native of Mexico, of which there is 
a fine tree in the Palm House. It is a curious member of the 
Mallow Family. Some of the flowers developed fruits. 
Three special exhibitions were arranged during the year. 
es illustrating the development of the modern garden varieties 
etunia, another showing the wild tuberous Begonias from the 
Andes and. their modern decorative derivatives, and the third 
the winter-flowering Begonias of the Gloire de Lorraine type 
resulting from the cross between B. Dregei and B. Socotrana 
and the hybrids between the latter and the tuberous Andisen. 
varieties. 
AppiTions To GARDENS, 1922. The number of separate 
consignments of living plants, seeds, etc., to the Gardens was 
465. The most important were the following : -— 
Aberdeen University Botanic Gardens. Pie vine fae siamensis ; 
seeds of Widdringtonia Whytei. 
