SEEDLINGS n 



surely to be expected, seeing that Himalayan Rhododen- 

 drons are mostly social plants, and it is borne out by 

 our experience with the old-fashioned R. ponticum, which, 

 when kept apart from other species and hybrids, con- 

 tinues true for many generations. Certainly, for the first 

 generation, the seedlings of Himalayan Rhododendrons are 

 often produced in great numbers, almost absolutely alike. 

 Sometimes this uniformity descends to later generations, 

 and sometimes even to hybrids. Thus Mr. J. Sheppard has 

 raised about 150 hybrids between R. Edgeworthii and R.for- 

 mosum ; most of the seedlings have bloomed, and he can see 

 no difference whatever in any of them. I must not, however, 

 at present go so far afield, but confine myself to the asser- 

 tion that carefully collected native seed will, when grown 

 in this country, faithfully reproduce the parent type. 



" The circumstances attending the collection of wild 

 Rhododendron seeds, and the fact that ripe seed and blos- 

 soms are seldom to be seen together, will explain how 

 many smaller differences have escaped the observation of 

 collectors who have gathered the same species from different 

 localities, from different elevations, or perhaps from different 

 sides of the same valleys. Such an explanation is surely 

 more philosophical than the notion that so many variations 

 have arisen not gradually, but all of a sudden from 

 cultural influences. My readers will apprehend how in- 

 teresting botanically it is to find such a variety of types 

 packed together in so small a compass, for instance, as 

 Sikkim ; but they will, of course, remember the character 

 of the country and its climate, where alpine and almost 

 tropical conditions occur side by side. The Heaths at the 

 Cape of Good Hope give an example of great variation in 

 the same family, but Dr. Becarri's remark on the Rhodo- 



