HARDY RHODODENDRONS AND AZALEAS. 



143 



would stand the winter in the open ground. As to the plants 

 when grown in houses, no flowers could be obtained from them. 

 A friend, however, managed from one of the plants raised from 

 these particular seeds to produce a large number of flowers. 

 His own plants were put out with hybrid Rhododendrons ; 

 but all of them were cut down to the ground by the frost, 

 although they were not killed at the root. This occurred in the 

 southern counties, where it is possible that, owing to the short 

 distance from the sea, the soil is damper than in Wales and the 

 frosts are most destructive. 



Sir John Llewelyn said that B. arborcum was a very 

 common species in India, especially in the Neilgherries, and it- 

 would not be hardy in this country. He said he had drawn a 

 line in his paper, and he had tested its application again and 

 again. If a plant had been found at an altitude of over 9,000' 

 feet in the Himalayas, it would grow fairly well in this country. 



AMERICAN BLIGHT, AND ITS SUCCESSFUL 

 TREATMENT. 



By L. Burgoyne Pillin, L.D.S.Eng., F.R.H.S., &c. 



The terrible ravage of the " American blight " amongst our 

 Apple-orchards, and more or less all our Apple-trees, has been 

 so alarmingly rapid and serious during the last twenty years, 

 and is still increasing with such vehemence in nearly all parts 

 of the kingdom, few gardens escaping its attacks and resultant 

 evils, that a study of the subject, and its treatment or eradica- 

 tion, cannot but be of some interest, particularly to those whose 

 industry may lie in the farming of that valuable fruit. The 

 nature of the blight is so insidious that it is no wonder the 

 contamination takes place so generally. An affected tree will 

 vitiate a whole neighbourhood ; indeed so virulent is its presence 

 that its ramifications are soon evident unless the pest is at once 

 taken in hand, with a vigorous determination to arrest its 

 advance and cause its obliteration. 



To bring about such a desirable result many ways and 



