462 Propagation of the "Rhododendron dauricum^ 



size, they may be planted out with safety, and will stand the 

 winter. 



This plant, when forced, is well adapted for supplying the 

 greenhouse, in the beginning of summer, with its brilliant flowers. 

 In the month of October, I take 8- or 12-sized pots, and fill each 

 with as large a ball of the strongest plants as the pots will admit; 

 protecting them till they are required for forcing. This I do 

 every year, and have from six to twelve trusses of flowers in 

 each pot. 



Blair- Adam Gardens^ Aug. 7. 1841. 



Art. IX. On the Propagation of the l^hododendron d'duricum, and 

 other Species of the same natural Family^ by Cuttings. By S. O. 



A GOOD many years since, the attention of the noble proprietor 

 of one of the finest garden establishments in Scotland was at- 

 tracted by the beauty of the precocious blossoms of the profuse- 

 flowering i^hododendron dauricum : a mandate was forthwith 

 transmitted to the gardener, to have the plant increased by all 

 possible means. The fertile mind of this eminent cultivator and 

 excellent man was rich in expedients. The comparatively slow, 

 and, in many instances, uncertain, process of propagation by 

 layers, appeared very unlikely to meet the wishes of his em- 

 ployer; the more expeditious practice of cuttings presented 

 itself, as more likely to answer the desired end. 



At the proper season cutting-pots were prepared, and I, as 

 foreman of the plant department, filled them with cuttings, under 

 the directions of my superior; and afterwards watched their 

 progress with a considerable degree of interest. Success was 

 complete beyond expectation ; out of several hundred cuttings 

 there was scarcely a failure. The rooted plants remained in the 

 cutting-pots during the winter, and were potted off" the following 

 spring; towards the close of the year they were fine healthy 

 plants, the greater part standing 6 in. from the surface of the 

 pots. At that time the idea struck me, that the practice might 

 be extended with advantage to other species of the same and 

 allied genera. Shortly after putting in cuttings of the same 

 plant the second year, 1 went to take charge of a gentleman's 

 garden in a distant part of the country. Amidst a multiplicity 

 of other pursuits, the propagation of the jRhododendron dau- 

 ricum was lost sight of for several years. Leisure returned, and 

 with it the desire to prosecute what I had seen so successfully 

 begun. Cuttings of the i^hododendron dauricum, R. dauricum 

 atrovirens, P. hirsutum, R. ferrugineum, and a number of the 

 slender-growing azaleas were tried, almost all with the same 

 degree of success. The R. ferrugineum takes a longer time to 



