RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON. 679 



Beauty of Tremough, Gauntletti, Dawn, 

 Beauty of Little worth, etc. Ciliatum 

 hybrids : Praecox, Rosy Bell. Arbo- 

 reum hybrids : Duke of Cornwall, and 

 the old series Altaclerense, Noble- 

 anum, venustum, pulcherrimum, and 

 Russellianum. Others are named Mrs 

 Henry Shilson, Harry Mangles, Rose 

 Queen, Pride of Penjerrick, Glory 

 of Penjerrick, and Gertrude Jekyl. 

 Though hardy in all that concerns 

 growth, some of these fine plants bloom 

 too early for the open air, losing their 

 flowers by frost before they can 

 expand ; others are fully hardy. But 

 we need to know more about most of 

 these kinds before planting them in 

 the flower garden. Most of them are 

 fully described in "Flora and Sylva," 

 vol. hi., p. 38. A correspondent in 

 the south of Ireland, in Fermoy, sends 

 to The Garden the following account of 

 the kinds he has found to do well 

 there quite hardy without protec- 

 tion and also of his failures : 



As I have taken much pleasure in 

 cultivating and hybridising Rhododen- 

 drons for about twenty-five years, 

 especially with a view to acclimatise 

 those of Sikkim and Bhotan, I think 

 the results at which I have arrived 

 may be interesting. In order to avoid 

 occupying too much space, I shall first 

 give the names, as furnished to me, of 

 those varieties which I have found 

 perfectly hardy trees without the slightest 

 protection, although some of those which 

 bloom early (about March) have their 

 flowers occasionally spoiled by the spring 

 frosts : 



Alpinum ; /Eruginosum ; Anthopogon ; Arboreum 

 album ; Arboreum roseum, very beautiful ; Arboreum 

 nepalense ; Barbatum, magnificent ; Calyculatum 

 Camel liaeflorum ; Campanulatum ; Campbell! ; Campy 

 locarpum; Ciliatum ; Cinnamomeum ; Cinnabarinum 

 Crispiflorum, not bloomed ; Eximium, fine, like 

 Falconeri ; Falconeri, grand ; Fulgens ; Falconer 

 superbum, not bloomed ; Glaucum ; Hodgsoni, grand 

 has not yet bloomed ; Hookeri ; Key si ; Lanatum 

 Lancifolium, not bloomed; Metternichi ; Massangei, 

 beautiful bloom this year ; Niveum ; Nobile, a grand 

 plant, never bloomed ; Ochraceum ; Roylei ; Virgatum ; 

 Wallichi, I think same as Niveum ; Wighti. 



The following were more or less injured 

 last spring (those marked * I have not 

 yet succeeded in acclimatising) : 



Argentum, much injured, growing well, not 

 bloomed yet ; Aucklandi, much injured, growing well, 

 bloomed well in 1878-79-80; Calophyllum, apparently 

 killed, but growing well; *Dalhousianum, 1 do not 

 give this up ; *Edgeworthi, I do not give this up ; 

 Formosum Gibsoni, much injured, but growing well; 

 Jenkinsi, much injured, doing well, never injured in 

 twenty years previous; Kendricki, I doubt its name; 

 Longifolium, much injured, growing well, has never 

 bloomed; Lindleyanum, much injured, growing well; 

 Maddeni, much injured, growing well (I see no 

 essential difference between this and Jenkinsi ; centre 

 of Jenkinsi flower rose, of Maddeni yellow) ; Nilghiri- 

 cum, not bloomed, much injured ; *Nuttali, many 

 plants killed, I fear hopeless ; Thomson!, much 



injured, but growing ; Windsor!, very much injured, 

 but growing well. The last two plants appear to me 

 less hardy varieties of R. arboreum. 



I have not included any European 

 hybrids in my list, of which, between 

 Himalayan sorts alone, I know many, 

 and have a great number of my own 

 rearing also, and the reason I do not 

 give up Dalhousianum and Edgeworthi 

 is that I have seedlings from crosses 

 of them which promise well to be hardy, 

 one especially, between Edgeworthi and, 

 I think, calophyllum, which only lost its 

 bloom-buds last spring, I am very proud 

 of ; its fragrance is far beyond any I 

 know Rollisson's fragrantissimum and 

 Lindleyanum being, so far, the best. I 

 have named it the Empress of India in 

 honour of our Queen. H. H. 



Indian Mountain Rhododendrons 

 may not only be successful in the 

 southern parts of England and Ireland, 

 but very fine flowers have been sent me 

 from Scotland (Stonefield, Tarbert, 

 Argyllshire), kinds thriving there that 

 do not always prove hardy in the south. 

 Mr D. Robertson, who sent the flowers, 

 said the effect produced by them was 

 very fine, and the following kinds have 

 flowered in that place without any 

 kind of protection : Falconeri, arbor- 

 eum, arboreum album, niveum, cinna- 

 momeum, Campbelli, campy locarpum, 

 Thomsoni, barbatum, fulgens, Wallichi, 

 ciliatum, Roylei, Edgeworthi, glaucum, 

 Gibsoni, candelabrum, setosum, and 

 pumilum. Another Scotch correspon- 

 dent, writing from Edinburgh, gives 

 the following additional kinds as hardy 

 and flowering well in his garden : 

 Mruginosum, argenteum, barbatum, 

 blandfordiceflorum, cinnabarinum and 

 its fine form majus, Fortunei, fulgens, 

 Hodgsoni, lepidotum, longifolium, and 

 virgatum. 



NEW CHINESE RHODODENDRONS. 

 These are not yet much known in our 

 gardens, and yet a few kinds have 

 already shown their value. On the 

 whole they approach the Rhodo- 

 dendrons of N. India in fact, several 

 species in the one region have an 

 almost exact counterpart in the other. 

 On the other hand, not a few are quite 

 unlike any other known kinds, such as 

 the charming R. racemosum, in which 

 we have a distinct new type of Rhodo- 

 dendron. We may hope, too, from 

 the latitude and elevation at which 

 many of them grow, that they will 

 prove hardier than the Himalayan 

 species. 



R. aucubcefolia is a fine species with 

 white flowers and bold leaves 6 or 8 

 inches long. R. Augustinii has large 



