RHODODENDRON LANATUM. ! 2 1 



be found best adapted for, any care they may receive will be amply repaid by the 

 great beauty of their flowers. . 



< As regards their cultivation, situations having a great amount of atmospheric 

 moisture should be chosen. In bogs drained two or three feet deep, they would 

 succeed well But it must be remembered that, while they will require a moist 

 and cool subsoil, it must not arise from stagnant moisture. In the damp climate of 

 a great part of Ireland, on the southern and western shores of England, and at the 

 base of the mountains on the western coast of Scotland-situations where there 

 is always a large amount of atmospheric humidity with little frost-these beautiful 

 plants will doubtless succeed well. To those already possessing young plants, we 

 recommend the following course of treatment : -Procure a quantity of peat soil 

 containing a large amount of vegetable matter, as it is necessary that it should be 

 very rich^ to which add about one-fifth of silver sand; well mix it, and place a 

 layer of it about six inches deep in the bottom of a frame, in which place the 

 plants at distances according to their size, allowing each plenty of room, and while 

 "rowing shade from the direct influence of the sun, and keep them saturated with 

 moisture. At a corresponding season, on their native mountains they are deluged 

 with rain- and it is from not affording them sufficient water, that many persons 

 have failed in their cultivation. From the want of it, the leaves, especially at the 

 points and edges, become withered and brown. _ 



'A great point to be attended to in the cultivation of the Rhododendron, especially 

 when°under glass, is never to allow the temperature to get too*high, nor the 

 atmosphere dry. Nearly all the species are natives of cool and moist regions ; and 

 if these (to them) unnatural conditions are allowed to occur, their healthy economy 

 is sure to be materially deranged. 



'In placing them in the open ground, August will be the best season; rainy 

 weather should, if possible, be chosen, and the plants should not be less than a foot 

 hio-h After planting, boughs should be stuck in and around the groups, to afford 

 them a partial shade, as well as to prevent evaporation; and, of course, the plants 

 will have been gradually prepared for their final removal. 



' From the fact that many of the species were discovered epiphytical on rocks and 

 trees it has been inferred that corresponding conditions for their culture must be 

 secured in this country. But from our own experience, we think that little 

 importance, in a cultural point of view, should be attached to this circumstance ; 

 and we are confirmed in our opinion by that of Dr. Hooker, in his very elaborate 

 paper in The Journal of the Horticultural Society for the present year. The localities 

 in which any of the species of an epiphytal character were found, were always 

 excessively humid, often in dense woods. And the same species which there 

 occurred as epiphytes, became terrestrial in more open and, of course, drier situa- 

 tions This character must, therefore, be considered as merely local or accidental, and 



