SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, MARCH 27. 



xix 



24° of frost for about a week ; and later on, when the Rhodo- 

 dendron blooms were expanding, we had on February 19 and 20 

 14° of frost each night, with what effect upon the bloom you 

 may judge for yourself. I should say the plants receive a certain 

 amount of natural protection from adjacent trees, but absolutely 

 none of an artificial nature. Very much advantage and pleasure 

 may be obtained by those who exercise their judgment in dis- 

 tinguishing between the species of these Himalayan Rhododen- 

 drons which are being proved hardy in this country, and those 

 which require greenhouse shelter, and, given suitable soil and 

 climate, we may expect to see them more generally grown than 

 appears to have been hitherto the case. Where the wood is well 

 ripened in the summer, before the autumn and winter frosts 

 commence, many species will stand the cold with impunity, but 

 the danger arises when the spring frosts recur after the buds 

 have begun to grow. Some are much earlier than others in their 

 leaf- action, and run a risk of getting the tender foliage cut off 

 where later sorts escape, and these, of course, cannot be accounted 

 as hardy as the later species. Frost on the expanded bloom may 

 destroy a truss, and yet four or five days later fresh trusses take 

 the place of those injured, for the unexpanded pips resist frost in 

 a wonderful manner. All the blooms now sent have experienced 

 frost, namely, 6° on the 16th and 7° on March 17. Taking Sir 

 Joseph Hooker's ' Flora of British India ' as my guide, and judg- 

 ing from it of the approximate elevations at which the species 

 occur, I should consider that those which grow in their native 

 habitations at 9,000 feet or upwards above the sea-level will be 

 found to prove hardy enough to thrive out-of-doors with us. I 

 am trying and proving the following species : — 



Ehododendron grande. 



„ Hodgsoni. 



Falconeri. 

 arboreum. 

 niveum. 

 campanulatum. 

 lanatum. 

 campylocarpum. 



Ehododendron Griffithianum. 



Thomsoni. 

 Hookeri. 

 barbatum. 

 Edgworthii. 

 ciliatum. 

 glaucum. 

 cinnabarinum. 



and there are others I am anxious to obtain and try. Prolonging 

 the season is one advantage, the magnificent foliage for winter 

 decoration which is afforded by many species is another, while 

 the colours of the bloom of other species are such as no lover of 

 the genus can pass by without admiration. M. Maurice de 



