HIMALAYAN RHODODENDRONS AND THEIB HYBRIDS. 27 



that some of the most glorious species, such as Nuttalli and Maddeni, 

 which grow low down on the Himalayan slopes, can be as hardy or 

 stand winters as well as those which flourish right up towards the 

 eternal snows of the mighty mountain ranges of Sikkirn, Nepal, and 

 Bhotan, to altitudes of 14,000 or 15,000 feet. 



But the word " hardy " is so comparative a term, so apt to be mis- 

 understood, so liable to be upset under conditions which I was about to 

 call " abnormal," but which are only too well known to British horti- 

 culturists, that I only use the word with the large reservation that several 

 species are quite hardy enough for the conditions they usually find in my 

 climate and soil in South Wales, and still more so in the extreme south- 

 western corner of England, Cornwall, and in Ireland. 



My experience is that if the wood is well hardened after the summer's 

 growth they wiU stand any amount of winter frost — 28° below freezing 

 point— and that the greatest risks are incurred by the species whose leaf 

 action is early and which thus are more liable to be checked by our May 

 frosts. Observe, I speak of leaf action, rather than of the inflorescence. 



March and April are the blooming period of our most common species. 

 arboreum, barbatum, Thomsoni, ciliatum, Campbellia, and campanu- 

 latum, and few seasons pass without some loss of trusses of the bloom, 

 but as leaf action will not commence till the end of May or early in June 

 the plant is none the worse, and there is no greater delight to the lover of 

 his favourites than to see the way they come up again to the scratch after 

 the knock-down blow in the first round between, say, barbatum v. Jack 

 Frost on " St. David's Day." Here is an original note copied verbatim 

 from a memorandum made eleven years ago : 



" Monday, February 27, 1898. — Wet, turning to heavy snow. p.m. 

 Thawed at dusk, but before morning 12 degrees of frost. My trusses of 

 B. barbatum spoilt — but eight days later fresh trusses were out in 

 unclouded beauty." 



Another instance of the way in which the early bloom will contend 

 with bad weather occurred about the same time, when towards the end of 

 March my Thomsoni trusses were retarded for a fortnight by severe frost. 

 They had already expanded enough to show the deep blood-red colour, 

 but waited quiescent until the thaw came and then bloomed as though 

 nothing had interfered with them. 



In various seasons our British spring amuses itself with a display of 

 alternate sun and rain, snow, wind, and frost, and I think the kaleido- 

 scopic vagaries of the weather are more marked in the west country than 

 near London. Seldom indeed do we escape mischievous spring (May) 

 frosts, and in different years I have known Oak, Ash, Bracken. Bramble 

 cut off wholesale, just as the frost chances to find the sap in the plant. 



We do not hesitate to call these native British trees and plant? 

 "hardy," but the fact is a fair illustration of my argument that the word 

 hardy must be a comparative term. 



Though the climate has much influence in success or non-success, soil 

 also is probably a more important factor in the treatment of the Rhododen 

 dron, and though I have no evidence before me to show if the species from 

 the great Himalayan range of mountains, or any of them, and if so, which, 

 resent the limestone formation in the same way as hybrids of ponticum and 



