6 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



minima and P. deorum, Ltoydia serotina, Gentiana punctata and 

 G. pyrenaica. A most interesting plant on Beilmaken is the true 

 Rhododendron myrtifolium. It is a pretty spreading shrub, the leaves 

 are oval, only h to £ inch long, scaly on the underside, and the pink 

 flowers are diminutives of the Alpenrose (R. hirsutum). 



On the 29th we said good-bye to The O'Mahony and I then saw 

 Mr. Cowley off at Kostenetz station on his homeward journey. With 

 a Bulgarian companion I left the railway and drove across country 

 to Tchamkouri, where I was to meet Herr Kellerer. For three days 

 there was a continual downpour of rain, and we learned that the road 

 to Rilo was washed away and also part of the railway to Sofia, so it 

 was a case of having to stay. Tchamkouri is near the Rhodope 

 mountains, about 50 miles from Philippopolis, pleasantly situated in 

 the Pine and Spruce forest, and many of the townspeople spend 

 their summer holidays there in pretty wooden houses. One sees 

 buffalos and large slaty-grey oxen drawing timber, and in some 

 villages we saw oxen on their backs with their legs tied to a pole and 

 the blacksmith busy shoeing them ; also it is curious to see beech and 

 oak branches dried to use for winter fodder. 



With Herr Kellerer I visited the gardens at the Prince's and 

 King's beautiful mountain homes not far from Tchamkouri. Each 

 one has a rock garden where many difficult alpines thrive, such as 

 rare Gentians, Daphnes, Androsace glacialis, &c. On the hillside 

 near the gardens, 4000 feet altitude, Carlina acanthifolia is plentiful, 

 its large thistle heads, 6 inches across, resting upon rosettes of leaves 

 lying flat on the ground. Sikne Lerchenfeldiana grew in the crevices 

 of rocks; another quaint species had round capitate heads of white 

 flowers, while plants of S. macropoda brought to Glasnevin seem to 

 be evening- flowering ; the flowers are small and white with buff reverse. 

 In stony places Sempervivums were frequent ; S. Pittoni with yellow 

 flowers and pretty ciliated leaves is very pleasing. By the side of these 

 Dianthus Noeanus was growing. In cultivation it is making a cushion 

 of hard spiny foliage and bears white fimbriated flowers ; it is rather 

 like a large D. petraeus. In another place I collected D. Grisebachii 

 (fig. 3) with soft foliage more in the way of our D. deltoides, but having 

 bright crimson flowers prettily zoned. On another excursion we found 

 a showy Linaria dwarfer than L. dalmatica, but larger in the leaf and 

 flower ; also a tall Bellflower which Kew say is probably Campanula 

 mocsiaca (fig. 4). Under good conditions it is a beautiful plant, 

 growing 2 to 2 J feet high, with narrow radical leaves and the hairy 

 flower-stem clothed from top to bottom with sessile and erect bells 

 of a pretty pale blue. Unfortunately it seems to be only of biennial 

 duration. Another walk was along the Belliskr stream. Here the 

 upland meadows rival those of Switzerland ; the beautiful Polygala 

 major, a foot high, clothed in blue, white, or pink flowers, mingles with 

 the annual Gentians, and is topped by tall Umbellifers and Spiraea 

 Filipcndula. In places there were colonies of Botrychium Lunaria 

 and Orchis sambucina, 0. lati/olia, 0. Simia, &c. In the same way 



