NOVEMBER. 



161 



RHODODENDRON PRINCESS ALICE. 



WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 



The acquisition in this country of the fine species of Rhododendron, which, 

 grown on the cool hills of India, was a great fact in garden botany, and we are 

 now beginning to reap some of the advantages which have sprung therefrom. 

 It had all along been felt, that as garden plants, they would be less important 

 in themselves than in respect to the progeny which it was expected Mould 

 spring from them ; and, in consequence, many heads and hands were set to 

 work in hybridising them one with the other, in various ways, as desirable 

 crosses suggested themselves to the mind of the operator. Now the fruits are 

 beginning to fall in. During the past spring alone some half dozen or more 

 of fine white and for the most scented varieties have made their appearance in 

 public ; and on one day at Kensington three of these received First-class 

 Certificates. The certificated plants bore respectively the names of Countess of 

 Jladdinyton, Sesterianum, and Princess Alice. 



The last-mentioned of these, Rhododendron Princess Alice, is the 

 subject of our present illustration. It is a hybrid raised between R. Edgicorthii 

 and R. ciliatum, and is in the hands of Messrs. Veitch & Son, of Exeter and 

 Chelsea ; by whom it was exhibited along with R. Sesterianum on the occasion 

 referred to, and to whom we are indebted for the specimen figured. 



The principal features of this variety, which we anticipate will be a very 

 useful one in the hands of cultivators, are its dwarf bushy habit, its flat clean- 

 looking foliage, and its delicately-perfumed white flowers. The leaves are 

 rather small, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, and very slightly rugose on the 

 surface. The flowers are moderate-sized, bell-shaped, white, with a flush of 

 pink outside, and scented like the parent Edgioorthii. The plant well deserved 

 the First-class award which was made to it ; and, moreover, w r ell deserves 

 general cultivation. M. 



RELATING TO STRAWBERRIES. 



1. The Fragarium. — This should be a dead flat, and lying open to the 

 morning, midday, and setting sun. It should be free from the shade of trees, 

 and from the intrusion of their roots. A pump should be near. 



2. Soil. — The best soil for Strawberries is that which most abounds in 

 potash, which is the grand constituent of a Strawberry. Any soil can be 

 made to bear them. They, like Roses, have an affinity for alumina ; but I 

 would undertake to grow them in sandy or chalky soil. The best compound 

 is in equal thirds — clay, black dung from a decayed heap, and sand or ashes. 

 If the land is stiff clay, unfermented manure is better than decayed, and sand 

 or sifted cinders, or burnt field ashes are indispensable to keep the land open. 

 The land, of whatever kind, should be deeply trenched. 



3. Planting. — The best time for planting is in the spring, or early in the 

 summer. The runners must be kept off. My new plantations, with the exception 

 of spring-planted trial plants, were put in by the 24th of July, and are now strong 

 plants that will fruit next year. August and even September may not be too 

 late for sorts of quick growth and establishment ; but they are too late for sorts 

 generally, and for such seasons as we have lately had. Such late-planted sorts 

 should be disfruited in the spring, and should have their runners kept off; and in 

 the year following they will come out in their true form, and will well repay for 

 the delay. The runners, unless wanted, should be at all times cut off. After 

 fruiting dress the plants and water them " thoroughly ;" they will then make 



