12 Rhododendrons. 



young maiden who should sit upon them becomes a goddess ; and the stu- 

 dent of Nature turned pilgrim here would worship her with more devotion 

 than he yields to science. 



Take her, then, young enthusiast, and make her the Dryad of this wood. 

 Lead her up this rustic avenue where violets will breathe out their grateful 

 odor to the pressure of her maiden feet. Seat her in the shade of a Dru- 

 idical oak, and fill her lap with roses which are the symbols of love, 

 and with flowers of the blue forget-me-not, sacred to remembrance. Bind 

 her forehead with arbutus as unfading as amaranth, and bring for her re- 

 past strawberries that cluster about these daisied grounds. Then will you 

 feel that mankind are unhappy only as they wander from the simplicity of 

 Nature ; and that we may regain our lost Paradise as soon as we have 

 learned to love Nature more than Art, and the heaven of such a place as 

 this more than the world of cities and palaces.* Wilson Flagg. 



Cambrtdge, July, 1867. 



RHODODENDRONS. 



If we could have but one flowering shrub, we would choose a rhododen- 

 dron ; for there is no other in which hardiness of constitution, vigor and 

 symmetry of growth, elegance of foliage, and beauty of flower, are so fully 

 combined. In spring and summer, autumn and winter, the rhododendron 

 is always attractive, and, at times, is the most brilliant ornament of the 

 garden or shrubbery. 



Yet, with all these recommendations, this plant is but little grown, and 

 very few florists or amateurs have fine collections. The reason for this is 

 found in the fact, that care and attention in the first preparation of the soil 

 are essential to success. This once well done, but little future care is neces- 

 sary ; for a plantation well made at first will grow better each year, only 

 needing occasional weeding, or, in rare cases, pruning or pinching. 



* This essay is intended, not as a satire upon dressed and ornamented grounds, without which there 

 would be a great lack of comfort in the suburbs of our cities, but as a eulogium upon Nature. The highest 

 cultivation and ornament are essential to the garden and the pleasure-ground ; and, wherever Art and 

 Nature aic necessarily combined. Art cannot be too elaborate. 



