RHODODENDRON. 
in circumference; it had above a | 
thousand blossoms on it expanded | 
splendid flowers; which are gene- 
rally grown in sandy peat, kept 
at one time ; and it continued pro- 
ducing a succession of flowers from 
August to the middle of November. 
Ruopt'ois.—Crassuldcee.— Rose- 
root. There are only two species of 
this genus ; one of which is a British 
plant, strongly resembling the House- 
leek, with a thick fleshy root, smell- 
ing so much like a Rose as to have 
given the name to the genus. ‘The 
flowers are yellow and terminal. 
The plant is a perennial, and should 
be grown in a moist situation on 
rock-work. 
Ruopocui'ton.—Scrophularinee. 
R. volixbile, formerly called Lophos- 
permum Rhodochiton, is a Mexican 
climbing plant, with abundance of | 
very handsome flowers. It was at 
first kept in the greenhouse, but it 
is now found to flourish most in the 
348 
open air, as it will not flower well | 
when its roots are confined. It 
should be planted in spring, in a pit 
about two feet square, formed in the 
open border, and filled with loamy 
soil, enriched’ with leaf-mould or 
rotten manure. As the plant grows, 
a little leaf-mould may be added 
from time to time over the roots; 
and the plant must be trained up a 
wire frame, or against a evuservative 
wall. When ic nas done flowering, 
it should be cut down to within a 
few inches of the ground, and cover- 
ed with tan or sawdust, and a pot 
turned over it, the hole in the pot 
being stopped up to exclude the rain; 
or’what is better, the plant may be 
wrapped in moss and thus protected. 
The species is propagated by cut- 
tings struck in spring or autumn, or 
by seeds sown on a hot-bed in Febru- 
ary and planted outin May. When 
wanted for a balcony or greenhouse, 
it may be grown in a pot, all that 
need be attended to being to grow 
the plant in good soil, and to allow 
it plenty of reom for its roots. 
RnopopE’NDRON. — Ericadcee. — 
RHODODENDRON. 
The Rose Bay. Well-known ever 
green shrubs and low trees, with 
rather moist. Though one of the 
most common of the kinds, R. pon- 
ticum, is a native of Asia Minor, 
and others are natives of other parts 
of Asia and of Europe, the greater 
number of them being American, 
the part of the garden in which they 
are grown is generally called the 
American ground. The Rhododen- 
drons vary very much in size, as 
well as in the colours of the flowers, 
some being trees and others trailing 
shrubs. The handsomest of the tree 
kinds is the Nepaul species, R. ar- 
boreum, which grows about twenty 
feet high, with immense bunches of 
dark scarlet or crimson flowers, 
which have the rich hue of velvet. 
These flowers secrete honey in such 
abundance, that when the tree is 
shaken the drops of liquid honey fall 
from it like rain. ‘The leaves are 
large, and silvery beneath. There 
are several varieties, one of which 
has wax-like white flowers, and 
another cream-coloured flowers ; 
others have the leaves rusty beneath. 
Most of the tree Rhododendrons are 
too tender to stand the winter in the 
open air; but a rose-coloured variety 
of R. arborea, and that with snow- 
white flowers, are nearly hardy. 
Besides the true tree Rhododendrons, 
are some grown as standards, by 
training a plant of R. pénticum, or 
some other kind, to a single stem, 
and then grafting it six or eight feet 
from the ground, with some choice 
sort. ‘The mode of doing this is to 
destroy all the side shoots as soon 
as they appear, and to rub off all 
the side buds, till the main stem has 
reached the required height. The 
stock is then grafted or budded ; and 
when the scion begins to grow, its 
branches are suffered to hang down, 
so as to form an umbrella-like head. 
Some beautiful specimens of these 
o- Shia . 
