kingdom. R. grande or argenteum is equally fine, being Tree Ferns 



about eighteen feet in height and of a like diameter, and has 



borne four hundred of its great flower-trusses. At Trebah, the 



tender greenhouse Rhododendrons are grown as shrubs in the 



open, such varieties as R. fragrantissimum, Countess of Sefton^ 



Lady Alice Fitzivilliam^ and Gibsoni having formed bushes 



from five feet to seven feet in height. Probably the finest 



specimen of R. Griffithianum, better known as R. Auckland^ 



in the kingdom is that at Killiow, which is fifteen feet in 



height and twenty-two feet through. The sight of this 



splendid plant in full bloom, smothered with pure white flowers 



five inches across, nine of these being often carried on a single 



truss, is a pleasing recollection, and one that well bears out an 



ardent horticulturist's description of the plant as " the glory of 



the Himalayas and the queen of all flowering shrubs." 



Cornish gardens, replete as they are with varied charms, 

 provide no more beautiful picture than that afforded by their 

 Tree Ferns, which are grown in almost every garden of note. 

 At Bosahan, on the southern bank of Helford River, a few 

 miles distant from Falmouth, a deep and narrow tree- 

 embowered coombe runs, winding downwards, from the higher 

 ground to the water's edge. On either side the tall brown 

 stems stand crowned with coronals of lace-like spreading fronds 

 that lend a tropical character to their environment. Here, in 

 their sheltered and shadowy retreat, where no hint of man's 

 handiwork intrudes upon the eye, they might well have sprung 

 from seed, so perfectly do they harmonise with their surround- 

 ings. Some of the glorious ferns are twelve feet in height, with 

 a frond-circumference of over fifty feet. 



The Bananas or Musas are also most picturesque in 



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