16 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



these countries, this Azalea has been cultivated for cen- 

 turies by the natives, and we owe some of the varieties 

 that we grow in our greenhouses to-day to their skill in 

 breeding. It may with truth be said that the Azaleas are 

 to Japan what the Heaths are to Europe, the sides of the 

 hills often being covered with them, and the improved 

 varieties are in almost every garden there. The most effec- 

 tive of them is R. sinense (Azalea mollis), which American 

 travellers declare to be quite equal to their own R. calen- 

 dulaceum in the great blaze of colour it produces when 

 it bursts into flower in spring. It was introduced into 

 England in 1824, and again in 1845 by Fortune. There 

 are now produced annually in Europe more plants of 

 R. sinense and R. indicum than of all the others put 

 together. 



INDIAN 



In British India there are about fifty species of Rhodo- 

 dendron. They are most abundant in the Sikkim Himalaya, 

 where they cover large areas. Their beauty and interest are 

 shown in Hooker's Rhododendrons of the Sikkim Himalaya. 

 There is also an interesting paper on them by Sir Joseph 

 Hooker in vol. vii. (1852) of the Journal of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society. To Sir Joseph Hooker we owe the intro- 

 duction of many of the species as the result of his botanical 

 explorations in the Himalayas about sixty years ago. He has 

 told us that : "It is especially between 10,000 and 14,000 feet 

 that the genus prevails ; several species comprising three- 

 quarters of the bulk of the vegetation above the forest region 

 (12,000 feet). There Rhododendron wood supplies the 

 natives with fuel, and various utensils. The bark and leaves 

 are also brought into service. They are the traveller's 



