INTEODUCTION. 



'' I "HE object of the present volume is to introduce 

 to popular notice a class of plants -which, in 

 England, forms one of the most attractive orna- 

 ments of the garden. They are commonly known 

 as " American Plants; " as the earliest known Rho- 

 dodendrons, the Kalmias, and some of the Azaleas, 

 are natives of this continent. The name has, how- 

 ever, been extended to embrace many other plants 

 that require the same general culture, but which 

 are not indigenous to America. 



It is a singular and most unaccountable fact that 

 these plants are in this country but little known in 

 cultivation. 



The hillsides, from Massachusetts to Virginia, 

 are glorious masses of the Mountain Laurel (Kal- 

 mia) ; and all through the Middle States, and up 

 the slopes of the Alleghanies, we find thousands of 

 acres of the Rose Bay, or " Great Laurel" (Rhode- 



