140 Rkododcndrons. 



RHODODENDRONS. 



By C. M. HovEY, Boston, Mass. 



" To obtain bloom the next year, or even good growth, it is absolutely 

 essential to cut otT the seed-vessels immediately after blooming." 



In a very excellent article in your December number on that magnifi- 

 cent shrub, the rhododendron, by Mr. Parsons, of Flushing, I find the 

 above remark, and am rather surprised at the statement. In our expe- 

 rience in the culture of this shrub, extending back thirty years, we have 

 had a fair opportunity to know something of its habits, its mode of 

 growth, its blooming, and its general characteristics ; and I cannot omit 

 the opportunity to correct what I consider an error, which might preju- 

 dice man}^ against its cultivation. 



Our collection of rhododendrons is very large, and, without doubt, 

 contains older and larger specimens of the fine hardy varieties than 

 any other in the country. In 1S44 ^"^^ visited Europe, and made it a 

 specialty to inspect all the best collections near London ; among others 

 was the well-known establishment at Knap Hill, belonging to the 

 Messrs. VVaterer. Here, after learning all that we could of their col- 

 lection, the hardiness of the kinds, etc., we selected several hundred 

 rhododendrons and azaleas, the former embracing the very kinds Mr. 

 Parsons names, as follows : Album elegans^ Album gratidijlorum^ 

 Everestlanum^ Purpureum elcgans^ Roseum elegans^ Celestlnum 

 and Graiidijloruin ; and, in addition, GloriosJim^ Bicolor^ Diultimacu- 

 latum^ and some others. 



These plants arrived here in March, 1S45, in good order, and were 

 planted in April in the open groimd. They all grew finely, and flow- 

 ered abundantly in 1S46. The plants have now, such as were unsold, 

 been planted twenty-five years, and are, many of them, twelve feet 

 high and twelve feet broad ; and each displayed last spring some thou- 

 sands of heads of bloom — forming such a rich array of flowers as 

 could nowhere else be seen except at Knap Hill or in similar establish- 

 ments in Europe. Nor is this bloom exceptional ; not a year has passed 

 — but one, when the buds were injured slightly by the winter — but what 



