Plate 363. 



RHODODENDRON— COUNTESS OF DERBY. 



This beautiful Ehododendron belongs to a race of spring- blooming sweet-scented 

 varieties, raised by Mr. Isaac Davies, Brook Lane Nursery, Ormskirk, Lancashire, that 

 are remarkable for their large and handsomely formed white flowers, which are richly 

 fragrant, and produced on quite tiny plants in such numbers as to hide almost any vestige of 

 leaf. Mr. Fitch made his sketch from a plant in quite a small pot ; in fact, the drawing is a 

 life-size representation, thus showing that quite small plants flower with wonderful freedom. 



This fine variety, with others, was raised from E. multiflorum and B. Edgworthi, its 

 habit of growth being intermediate between the two parents. The flowers, which are of 

 great substance, and measure from three to four inches in diameter, are pure white, bell- 

 shaped, most deliciously fragrant ; and so free blooming that the smallest cuttings bear a truss 

 of flowers. This fine variety, and others, have received several First-class Certificates 

 of Merit. 



These Rhododendrons do well in a cold house during winter. They are nearly if not 

 quite hardy, but their great value as spring flowering plants demands that they be cared for 

 in a cool house during winter. When they have gone out of bloom, they should be 

 repotted if required, kept in a greenhouse for a time to perfect their growth, and then stood 

 out of doors to set their flower-buds. The freedom with which they flower every year checks 

 anything like a redundancy of growth. 



Plate 364. 



HYACINTH— DUCHESS OP CONNAUGHT. 



This beautiful single blue Hyacinth is one of a number of new varieties exhibited by 

 Messrs. James Yeitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nurseries, King's Road, Chelsea, S.W., during 

 the past spring. It is a remarkably fine variety in a very strong class — viz., the pale single 

 blues. This peculiar tint of colour is found associated with large and finely-shaped bells, 

 and bold massive spikes of great beauty. 



Although there are a number of fine pale blue Hyacinths, the variety now figured has 

 great distinctness of character ; the face of the bells is of a delicate shade of blue lilac, the 

 reverse clear sky-blue; and the drawing made by Mr. Fitch gives a very correct representa- 

 tion of the size, density, and symmetrical outline of the spike of flowers. It was accorded 

 a First-class Certificate of Merit by the Royal Botanic Society at its first Spring Show in 

 March last. 



We have already stated that the present year has been singularly rich in new 

 Hyacinths ; Messrs. Yeitch & Sons bloomed scarcely less than one hundred new varieties. 

 Some of them at least are certain to become standard varieties, and among these we give a 

 high position to the subject of our illustration. 



