164 BROAD-LEAVED EVERGREENS 



as a rule, the hardiest and longest-lived, and there is no pos- 

 sibility of their being choked to death by the miserable stock on 

 which all cheap rhododendrons are grafted. 



The "cheap" nurserymen have everything their own way be- 

 cause they have two flashy arguments. First, they magnify the fact 

 that some varieties are worthless on their own roots. The answer is 

 that those varieties are no longer offered for sale on their own roots. 



Second, they say that grafted plants grow faster than layered 

 plants. True enough for the first few years, but after that the 

 death-rate is much higher. Any kind of grafted plant has a 

 structural weakness, for the heart wood never unites only 

 the cambium layer. Consequently it is more liable to be blown 

 over. The worst feature is the suckering and killing. 



But it is hard to get rhododendrons on their own roots and 

 if you cannot afford them the next best plan is to buy plants that 

 are grafted low not high. The higher a plant is grafted, the 

 sooner it reaches a salable height and therefore the greater the 

 profit. But if you will pay a little more, get low-grafted plants 

 and set them a little deeper than they were in the nursery, you 

 give the variety a chance to make roots of its own and eventually 

 free itself from the danger of being killed by suckers. 



HOW TO BUY THE SPECIES 



For great mass effects the best rhododendrons are the two 

 American species Catawbiense and maximum. The best way 

 to buy these is in car-load lots. Nursery-grown plants cost 

 more than plants collected from the wild. There are a lot of 

 irresponsible fellows who offer cut rates on car-load lots, but their 

 stuff is poor. It is cheaper in the end to buy from an advertising 

 nurseryman who has made this work a specialty and has a national 



