216 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



HIMALAYAN RHODODENDRONS AND TJ3EIB HYBRIDS. 

 By Sik John I). Llewelyn, Bart. 

 [Paper road before the Horticultural Club.] 



NY h at a blessing it is that in horticulture we do not all aim at the 

 same goal ! \Vhat a dull world it would be if we all grew only Cabbages, 

 or only Roses, or only Apples, and nothing else ! No doubt we should 

 have each kind larger or brighter, or more tempting, if possible, than 

 they are ; but variety is charming, our pleasures are pure, and our 

 opportunities are endless in the pursuit of hybrids or varieties in 

 vegetables, flowers, and fruits. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter 

 call for new and improved plants, and our aim is to provide them ; and 

 if the increasing interest of the public, as illustrated and evinced by the 

 ever-growing crowds at our shows, or the membership of the R.H.S., 

 be taken as an indication, our success as horticulturists is emphatic and 

 pronounced. Some are interested by one branch, others by another. 

 Florist, Botanist, Pomologist, let them all come ; we cater for them all ! 



Perhaps, as president of the club, I run less risk of being called to 

 order for digression from the strict letter of my theme than if some 

 unsympathetic critic occupied the chair ; but I will try to be merciful, 

 not to worry you too long, or too dictatorially in the way specialists are 

 tempted to do. Restriction, indeed, is needed, for the claim of the 

 genus Rhododendron to admiration is testified to by the fact that the 

 u Botanical Magazine " figures illustrations of nearly 100 species, varieties, 

 or hybrids, as being worthy of notice in its highly critical pages, and 

 our excellent secretary invited me to read this paper on the Himalayan 

 species only, afterwards adding the words "and their hybrids." Had 

 I objected to this qualification, of course I should have disclaimed at 

 once, and indeed I was at first inclined to do so, for I cannot pretend 

 to know what everybody else is doing in the domain of hybridisation. As, 

 however, our object is to learn by discussion, I let the title of the 

 paper alone, and I hope we may have some criticisms and additions to 

 what I have to say here to-night. 



Here I hold myself excused from treating of Mr. Veitch's lovely 

 hybrids of jasminifiorum, javanicum, Tejismanni, and multicolor; they 

 have given me pleasure which I should fail in describing, they have 

 a delicacy and richness all their own, but they are greenhouse plants 

 and not Himalayan. Far too lightly must I touch on Davies of Ormskirk's 

 hybrid Edgeworthii ; they are not quite hardy enough for the outdoor 

 garden, though the parent is a Himalayan, but Mr. Paul and Mr. 

 Luscombe have given us some Fortunci hybrids. Fortunei comes from 

 China. Much advantage and pleasure are to be obtained by those who 

 will exercise their judgment and utilise their experience in discriminating 

 between the species of Himalayan Rhododendrons which have proved 

 and are being proved hardy in this country. I fear it is idle to expect 



