Ma* 4, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



1 



THE 



<§arbemrs'Cbramcle 



No. 1J23.—SATUBDAY, May 4, 1912. 



CONTENTS. 



Alcohol, the production 



of, from plants 



Books, notices of— 



Roses # --- 



Publications received 



Bread fruit and the 

 mutiny of the 



14 Bounty*' — . — 

 Bruges, International 



Exhibition at... 

 Burchellia capensis ... 



CI i an thus puniceus 

 magnificus 



Corn crops, the 



Dahlias, collarette 



M Farrer" cup for rock 

 plants 



Flax fibre 



Forestry information 

 for landowners 



Fruit crops and frost ... 



Gazaland, the economic 



flora cf 



Geifrye's garden, 



Hii peastrum, a fine 



white 



Horses poisoned by 

 Equisetum arvense ... 



Imperial College of 

 Science and Techno- 

 logy # — 



International Horticul- 

 tural Exhibition, 

 the 302, 



Kew Guild dinner 



Market fruit garden ... 



300 



292 

 303 



302 



301 

 2fa2 



294 

 308 

 21 G 



304 

 803 



803 

 304 



296 

 302 



292 

 301 



H. 



N. 



and 



301 



303 

 301 

 294 



Narcissus Mrs. E. 



K rel age and 



CEnone 



Obituary — 



Beaton, John ... 



Davidson, A. ... 



Faster, John ... 



Innes, Robert... 



Jon*: s, T. 



Oger, Peter 

 Ryan, Martin E. 

 Orchid conference 

 Orchids, Malayan 



Papuan 



Peach trees, bud-drop- 



ping in 



Pears, an archway of ... 



Primula Juliee 



Rhododendron s 



in China 



Rosary, the 

 Sing'eton, Mr. Robert 



Societies - 

 Midland Daffodil ... 

 National Auricula and 



Primula 



Nursery and Seed 



Trade 



Royal Horticultural... 



Royal Meteorological 



Shropshire Hort. 



Strawberries, pot 



Sweet Peas, early 



Vines, red spider on 



Weeks work, the 



Zoological Gardens 



298, 



294 



310 

 310 

 310 

 810 

 3 

 310 

 310 

 300 



802 



292 

 301 



293 



291 

 U93 

 301 



307 



309 

 305 

 301 

 309 

 304 

 304 

 304 

 199 

 302 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Cups offered at the International Horticultural 

 Exhibition ••■ 



Dahlias, collarette, two choice varieties of ... 2S6, 



"Farrer" cup for rock plants 



International Horticultural Exhibition, constructing 

 the big tent for the.. 



Narcissus Mrs. E. H. Krelage 



Narcissus CEnone 



Odontoglossum Uro-Skiuneri Burford variety ... 



Pears, an arohway of 



Primula Juliee 



Rhododendron chartophyllum 



Rhododendron forests in China (Supplementary 



Illustration) 



303 



297 

 304 



302 

 294 

 295 

 807 

 301 

 293 



291 



RHODODENDRONS IN CHINA. 



(See Supplementary Illustration.) 



THOUGH Rhododendrons are in- 

 digenous to most parts of China, the 

 real home of the genus is, unques- 

 tionably, those high Alpine regions on the 

 Chino-Tibetan frontier, which form the 

 basins and watersheds of the Salwin, 

 Mekong, and Yangtze. It is no longer in 

 the Himalayas and their tributary ranges 

 which compass India on the north that we 

 must look for the majority of the represen- 

 tatives of the genus, but on their exten- 

 sions which run east and south-east of 

 Bhotan into China. There, somewhere 

 about 98°-101° E. long, and 25°-31° N. lat., 

 the genus reaches its optimum. 



Of some 350 known species fully 140 are 

 indigenous to China ; new species are con- 

 tinually being discovered, and, as explora- 

 tion becomes more general and less diffi- 



point they form the dominant feature in 

 the vegetation either as undergrowth in 

 the forests of Conifers, or by themselves 

 as dense thickets and forests. The les 



The flowering period for most species is 

 April to June, and, at that season, the 

 forests with their wealth of bloom form 

 a scene of indescribable beauty, and 



species take the place of our Heath or paint the flanks of the mountains with 



Calluna, carpeting miles of the Alpine 



pasture, both above and below those 



forests. 



In stature they vary from the tiniest 



Alpine of 6 inches or less, such as R. 



bands of the richest colours. 



Naturally some ranges bear a greater 



number and variety of species than others. 

 The Sung-kwei-Langkong range, where 

 the photographs were taken which are re- 



campylogynum to trees of 30-45 feet in produced in fig. 141 and the Supplemen- 



height, as R. lacteum and calophytum. In tary Illustration, is particularly rich in 



colour of flower they range from the species. It is part of the Mekong system, 



darkest purples, throurh all shades of and, crossing it by the Sung-kwei Pass, 



Fig. 141. 



RHODODENDRON CHARTOPHYLLUM IN 



FL »WERS WHITE TO ROSE-LAV 



*?«"*- 



[Photograph by George Fonest, 



ITS CHINESE HABITAT: 

 ENDEK. 



I was most fortunate in striking it when 



non oecomes more general ana less aim- j fc f ortu nate m striking it 



cult many more will ccrta.nly be added to —^^^oX clearest rhl plants were at their very finest, 

 the list. white, ana some aie ai&o ui miV.^u t y,*a nrn SSP H it several 1 



Though I had crossed it several times 



Though the range of altitude is practic- and brightest yellows. Dr eviouslv it had not been just at that 



ly from sea-level to the limit of vegeta- With the exception of a few species P r ^ouslj ', » knowledge of 



tion, yet except ,or a few low-level types, such as E ~-~£*t*52& ir^t^TJteiZt^t™ 



such as Rhododendron spinuliferum, E. decorum, all •Vflg^'gJfiSlI not prepared for the gorgeous sight which 



Mariesii, R. indicun, E. oxyphylluu, and *^£^^ " Only a ew of The ZTST^ - -broke clear of the 

 •R. smense, all snecies are to be found and altitudinai range, ymy , , , the western 



species found in the Yangtze basin are 



" the areas drained by the 



smense, all species 

 above 5,000 feet. From that altitude up- 

 wards they occur as isolated specimens 



or small groups growing in thickets and i«^ UU6 — ~- . ranees 



forests of mixed dicotyledonous shrubs of th« lateral spurs of the huge ranges 

 and trees, gradually increasing in num- separating those basins bear species 



dense forest which clothes the 



flank of the range. No matter how skilful 



M^g or Salw -n, and vi^e versa. Many the writer, words fail to describe such a 



scene. 



be 



rs up to 10,000-14,000 feet, at w 



hich indigenous to themselves alone. 



The pass is a comparatively shallow 

 depression, a broad cleft running almost 



* 



