294 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tion than the Rhododendron and with so little care. It is not 

 difficult to tind good plants growing in ordinary garden soil. 

 Onl3' a short distance from here elegant specimen plants fully 

 nine feet high and well proportioned can be seen. These are 

 the Catawbiense varieties and for years they have had no other 

 care than keeping the ground clean about them, and in the 

 flowering season they are a delight to all who see them. We will 

 call 3'our attention particularly to a small bed planted at the base 

 of some ledges in Pine Grove Cemetery at Lynn, where a little 

 peat was mixed with the natural soil, and about two dozen small 

 plants set out a few years ago. Aside from seeing that they do 

 not get too dry, and placing a few pine boughs between them to 

 keep off the direct rays of the sun in winter, no further care has 

 been bestowed upon them. A good collection of lilies was 

 planted in the bed, with some plants of Andromeda floribunda in 

 the front, and on the back of the bed (which is quite elevated) 

 Kahiiia latifolia was set. This proved a very satisfactory 

 arrangement and always looked well. There is many a home 

 now devoid of anything pleasing or attractive which might have 

 a bed of rhododendrons, arranged as suggested, or varied to suit 

 the taste, which would not only add value to the estate, but would 

 be a source of pleasure and delight to the occupants. It is 

 generally believed that rhododendrons do not succeed without 

 peat, but it is not so. The writer prepared a bed two years ago 

 for the planting of one hundred plants ; he had no i>eat, but the 

 selected spot contained good loam. The bed was trenched two 

 and a half feet deep, and a liberal supply of leaf mould was 

 mixed with the loam, and it was found that it paid well to pre- 

 pare the bed thoroughly. The following varieties were selected 

 and planted in^he spring of 1887 : 



Album elegans, Giganteum, 



Atrorubrum, Kettledrum, 



Atrosanguineum. Lady Armstrong. 



Caractacus, Purpureum elegans, 



Charles Dickens, Purpureum grandiflorum, 



Everestianum, Roseum elegans, 



Not a plant died and they are all flourishing finely. In winter pine 

 boughs are set between and in front of them. The rhododendron 

 ought to be more generally cultivated and the encouragement 



