36 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



SECTION IV SECTION V 



Purpureum ^ ^ , r . , . I caucasicum \ . 



AI* i V Queen Victoria. VConaceum. 



AltaclarenseJ | Arboreum albumj 



SECTION VI SECTION VII 



Catawbiense .\ \campanulatum \ Hybrid Cam- 

 Large Yellow Ghent ^Deception. u ., . \ . , 



A & Hybrid maximum J panulatum. 



Azalea . . . J 



The second half of the nineteenth century saw a develop- 

 ment of the Rhododendron along certain lines. There was 

 plenty of good material available for breeding, but the 

 species were set aside in favour of the hybrids and crosses 

 that had resulted from the operations of the earlier breeders. 

 The principal workers in this field were the Waterers, 

 Standish and Noble, Veitch, Cunningham, Dickson, and 

 Lee, and every year brought a number of new seedlings 

 which generally were advances on the earlier sorts. Their 

 aim was to raise plants that were hardy, sturdy and shapely 

 in growth, so that when not in flower they were good- 

 looking shrubs, whilst the flower-heads, to satisfy the re- 

 quirements of the time, were to be large and full, the flowers 

 holding themselves up, of good substance, the colours 

 pleasing, and, most important of all, they were not to expand 

 before June. All these requirements were obtained in more 

 or less degree, for we have now a considerable number of 

 garden Rhododendrons in which they are in evidence. It 

 is doubtful if this section of the family can be further im- 

 proved, and breeders themselves admit that the plants that 

 were raised twenty years ago were as good as any that have 

 been raised since. Changes, of course, there have been, and 

 will continue to be, but they are not necessarily advances. 



