JUNE 14, 1%.] 



Garden and Forest. 



259 



larger part are positively beneficial, and the folly of offering 

 bounties for their indiscriminate destruction, as has been done 

 in several states, is conclusively shown. Only six of the 

 seventy-three species and subspecies found within our terri- 

 tory can be called positively injurious. Of these, three are so 

 rare that they need not be considered in their economic rela- 

 tions, leaving only three, namely, Cooper's Hawk, Sharp- 

 shinned Hawk and Fish Hawk, that can be considered the 

 enemies of man. The remainder are either wholly beneficial 

 or mainly so, destroying a vast quantity of harmful mammals 

 and insects, and only exceptionally committing depredations 

 on game or poultry. As an instance, the case of the two com- 

 mon hawks, universally detested by farmers, under the name 

 of Hen Hawks (Buteo borealis and B. lineatus), may be cited. 

 An examination of 562 stomachs of the former showed only 

 fifty-four to contain the remains of poultry or game birds, and 

 of 220 stomachs of the latter, only three contained such re- 

 mains. The great preponderance of food was found in both 

 cases to be mice, insects and other noxious animals. It will take 

 time for the average farmer to understand that his prejudices 

 must give way before such significant facts as these, but it is 

 to be hoped that their plain statement in this volume may 

 have some effect. Certainly the knowledge of them should 

 have the widest possible circulation. 



The illustrations by the Ridgways are excellent, the descrip- 

 tions in plain, untechnical language, and the accounts of the 

 habits full and interesting, making the work one of the best 

 contributions to American ornithology that have recently ap- 

 peared. 



The Columbian Exposition. 

 Rhododendrons. 



RHODODENDRONS have made the most conspicuous dis- 

 plays on the grounds during the first days of June. 

 Nothing can be more showy than a mass of Rhododendrons, 

 and, unlike many other showy plants, they carry an air of mass- 

 iveness and stability which makes them impressive. They 

 are the most architectural of the plants which can be made to 

 endure our northern climate, and it is, therefore, a happy 

 thought with Mr. Olmsted that he should have hanked nearly 

 six hundred of them against the long architectural terraces in 

 the basin, or the magnificent space which lies between the 

 Manufactures and Agricultural Buildings, headed by the noble 

 Administration Building, and constituting what is known as 

 the Court of Honor. The plants used in these banks com- 

 prise a long list of varieties, and the sizes and colors are ar- 

 ranged with bold effect. The masses are four in number, two 

 lying against the terrace of the Manufactures Building on the 

 north of the lagoon, and two against the Agricultural Building 

 on the south. The plants are entered as competifive exhibits, 

 although they are made to form a part of a landscape picture. 

 Of the plants in these long masses, Anthony Waterer has con- 

 tributed 229 ; Moser, of Versailles, sixty-two, and the Belgian 

 commision 267, making a total of 558 plants, nearly all well 

 bloomed. 



Unfortunately, the other Rhododendrons are widely scattered. 

 The greater part of the exhibits are thrown into the southern 

 portion of the island with little reference to landscape-effect, a 

 large formal plantation extends across the north front of the 

 Woman's Building, and some of Moser's best specimens have 

 been flowered under the dome of the Horticultural Building, 

 where they have attracted great attention. The best effect in 

 these various plantations, ail things considered, is undoubtedly 

 obtained in the terrace-banks in the basin, although it has 

 been necessary to screen them from the sun by a temporary 

 awning. Aside from these plants which Mr. Olmsted has used 

 for architectural effects, the Rhododendrons are under the 

 immediate charge of the Horticultural Department. 



The Rhododendron exhibits may be roughly grouped under 

 two classes for the purposes of this account — small or 

 young plants, and large ones (including standards). The small 

 plants are shown by the Boskoop (Holland) Nursery Associa- 

 tion in 102 varieties ; Blaouw & Co., Boskoop, Holland, fifty-six 

 varieties ; W. Van Kleef & Sons, Boskoop, thirty-four varieties ; 

 Parsons, Long Island, sixteen varieties ; T. J. Seidel, Dresden, 

 five new varieties, and a small collection by Ellwanger & 

 Barry. The plants in these collections range from one to three 

 feet high, and there is little or no attempt to train them to a 

 single trunk, although Parsons' plants, which are the only 

 American-grown Rhododendrons in the entire exhibition, are 

 somewhat larger. These American plants are not yet in bloom, 

 and the buds of some of them are destroyed, evidently by the 

 winter. A conspicuous variety in the Dutch exhibits is the 

 mauve R. Catawbiense. This is used to excellent effect in the 



Kleef exhibit as a backbone, or centre, of a long and thick 

 clump. 



There are some excellent specimens of standard Rhododen- 

 drons shown by John Waterer and by Moser, some of the 

 tallest in the former collection standing eight feet high. Very 

 strong plants are shown by Anthony Waterer, Knap Hill, in 

 ninety-three varieties and fifteen seedlings ; by Moser, of Ver- 

 sailles, in sixty-nine varieties ; Croux & Son, Sceaux, near Paris, 

 forty-nine varieties ; John Waterer, forty-one varieties ; Pitcher 

 & Manda, fourteen varieties, and the Belgian Commission, 

 fifty varieties. The Belgian plants are contributed bv Ch. Vuyl- 

 steke, Desmet Brothers, Alexis Dallaireand the Horticultural 

 School, all of Ghent or its vicinity. It is surprising to note the 

 liberality with which the European nurserymen have con- 

 tributed in many ways to the Exposition, and one must admit 

 that they have given it a decided and unique value by the mag- 

 nificent shows of Azaleas and Rhododendrons. Some of 

 Moser's plants are fifty years old and are worth as many dol- 

 lars, and some of the large plants in the John Waterer collec- 

 tion sell in England for seventy-five dollars each. The French 

 plants, especially those from Moser, are the most perfect in 

 form of any on exhibition, and the John Waterer plants are the 

 largest, but, taken all in all, considering hardiness a prime fac- 

 tor, no collection surpasses that of Anthony Waterer, if, in 

 fact, it equals it. Without exception, the collections of' all 

 foreign exhibitors are marvels of vigor and profuseness of 

 bloom, especially when one considers the journey to which 

 they have been subjected and the fact that all were planted 

 this spring. 



Among so many meritorious varieties, it is impossible to 

 mention all those which possess special charms. If any one 

 variety can be said to be better than others the merit must fall 

 to Everestianum, a hardy variety with magnificent trusses of 

 rose-lilac crimped flowers. H. 'Waterer, who represents his 

 father, Anthony Waterer, in America, considers the following 

 to be especially valuable for this country because of their har*^ 

 diness : Everesfianum, Purpureum Elegans, Album Grandi- 

 florum. Album Elegans ; Mrs. Shuttleworth, scarlet, light 

 centre, spotted ; Mrs. Milner, crimson ; Lady Clermont, rose, 

 deeply blotched ; Sappho, white blotched maroon ; James 

 Macintosh, rose ; Edward S. Rand, deep scarlet ; Guiclo, red ; 

 H. W. Sargent, crimson ; Charles Dickens, dark red ; Charles' 

 Bagley, cherry red ; Lady Armstrong, pink rose, spotted ; Ket- 

 tledrum, purplish crimson. Among the novel or little-known 

 varieties of special merit, Mr. Waterer mentions Memoir, 

 white ; Martin Hope Sutton, scarlet ; Florence, pink, light 

 centre ; Sappho ; Edward S. Rand ; Morion, rose, blotched ; 

 H. W. Sargent; Sylph, pink; Charles Fisher; Kettledrum! 

 Mr. Moser, who represents his father at Chicago, considers the 

 following to be the best varieties, having special reference to 

 American conditions: Everestianum; Blandyanum, brilliant 

 red and a profuse bloomer; Lady Eleanor Cathcart, salmon- 

 red ; Caractacus, red ; Album Elegans, white ; Princess Mary 

 of Cambridge, light rose, with darker border ; Catawbiense 

 Boursault, deep mauve ; Annica Bricogne, clear mauve ; 

 Catawbiense Alba, white. 



Among the varieties which seem to attract most attention 

 are Blandyanum, Roseum Elegans, Catawbiense, Caractacus, 

 Helen Waterer, Everestianum, Michael Waterer, Strategist, 

 Fastuosum flore pleno, Cetewayo, the nearest approach to a' 

 black Rhododendron ; Lady Eleanor Cathcart, Queen, Lord 

 Wolseley, Frederic Waterer, Princess Mary of Cambridge, Old 

 Port, Princess Louise, Notabile, Cynthia, Matchless and Helfene 

 Schiffner, an elegant new white by T. J. Seidel. The excellent 

 specimen plants of Moser and Croux have excited great in- 

 terest because of their bold position by the Woman's Building, 

 and the former have the great merit of being distinctly labeled. 



Rhododendrons are so much confused by hybridization that 

 it is impossible to refer many of the prominent kinds to given 

 species. Those who have been long familiar with the varie- 

 ties, however, become very expert in judging of the blood 

 and hardiness by the appearance of the leaves. The hardy 

 kinds are those in which our native Rluxlodendron Catawbi- 

 ense is the chief or only component. These are distinguished 

 by the leaves, which are broad and obtuse, or, at least, not 

 conspicuously pointed. Everestianum is probably pure Cataw- 

 biense, and it shows its parentage in the lilac flowers as well 

 as in the foliage. The variety which the nurserymen sell as 

 Catawbiense, and which I have mentioned in this letter, has 

 flowers of a similar shade, and it is supposed to be a straight 

 development from the species. The greater part of the nanied 

 Rhododendrons partake largely of R. Ponticum blood. This 

 species originally had darker flowers than our native plant, and 

 the leaves are narrower and more prominently pointed. It is 

 native to western Asia, and is tender in our northern states. 

 R. arboreum, a Himalayan species, is supposed to have en- 



