110 



ANNALS OF HORTICULTUKE. 



showy than a mass of rhododendrons, and, unlike many other 

 showy plants, they carry an air of massiveness and stability 

 which makes them impressive in habit. They are the most 

 architectural of the plants which can be made to endure our 

 northern climate, and it was, therefore, a happy thought with 

 Mr. Olmsted that he should have banked nearly six hundred 

 of them against the long architectural terraces in the basin, or 

 the magnificent space which lay between the Manufactures and 

 Agricultural Buildings, headed by the noble Administration 

 Building, and constituting what was known as the Court of 

 Honor. The plants used in these banks comprised a long list 

 of varieties, and the sizes and colors were arranged with bold 

 effect. The masses were four in number, two lying against the 

 terrace of the Manufactures Building on the north of the 

 basin, and 1#vo against the Agricultural Building on the 

 south. The plants were entered as competitive exhibits, 

 although made to form a j)art of a landscape picture. Of the 

 plants in these long masses, Anthony Waterer contributed 229 ; 

 Moser, of Versailles, 62, and the Belgian commission 267, mak- 

 ing a total of 558 plants, nearly all well bloomed. 



Unfortunately, the other rhododendrons were widely scat- 

 tered. The greater part of the exhibits were thrown into the 

 southern portion of the island, with little reference to landscape 

 effect, a large formal plantation extended across the north front 

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

 were flowered under the dome of the Horticultural Building, 

 where they attracted great attention. The best effect in these 

 various plantations, all things considered, was undoubtedly that 

 obtained on the terrace banks in the basin, although it was 

 necessary to screen them from the sun by a temporary awning. 

 Aside from these plants which Mr. Olmsted used for architect- 

 ural effect, the rhododendrons were 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 

 were shown by the Boskoop Holland Xursery Association in 

 102 varieties; Blaouw & Co., Boskoop, Holland, 56 varieties; 

 W. Van Kleef & Sons, Boskoop, 35 varieties; Parsons, Long 

 Island, 16 varieties; T. J. Seidel, Dresden, five new varieties, 

 and a small collection by Ellwanger & Barry. The plants in 

 these collections ranged from one to three feet high, and there 

 was little or no attempt to train them to a single trunk, 

 although Parsons' plants, which were the only American grown 

 rhododendrons in the entire exhibition, were somewhat larger. 

 A conspicuous variety in the Dutch exhibits was the mauve 



