i6 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 
these countries^ this Azalea has been cultivated for cen- 
turies by the natives, and we owe some of the varieties 
that we grow in our greenhouses to-day to their skill in 
breeding. It may with truth be said that the Azaleas are 
to Japan what the Heaths are to Europe, the sides of the 
hills often being covered with them, and the improved 
varieties are in almost every garden there. The most effec- 
tive of them is R. sinense (Azalea mollis), which American 
travellers declare to be quite equal to their own R. calen- 
dulaceum in the great blaze of colour it produces when 
it bursts into flower in spring. It was introduced into 
England in 1824, and again in 1845 by Fortune. There 
are now produced annually in Europe more plants of 
R. sinense and R, indicum than of all the others put 
together. 
INDIAN 
In British India there are about fifty species of Rhodo- 
dendron. They are most abundant in the Sikkim Himalaya, 
where they cover large areas. Their beauty and interest are 
shown in Hooker's Rhododendrons of the Sikkim Himalaya, 
There is also an interesting paper on them by Sir Joseph 
Hooker in vol. vii. (1852) of the Journal of the Royal Horti- 
cultural Society. To Sir Joseph Hooker we owe the intro- 
duction of many of the species as the result of his botanical 
explorations in the Himalayas about sixty years ago. He has 
told us that: ^Ht is especially between 10,000 and 14,000 feet 
that the genus prevails ; several species comprising three- 
quarters of the bulk of the vegetation above the forest region 
(12,000 feet). There Rhododendron wood supplies the 
natives with fuel, and various utensils. The bark and leaves 
are also brought into service. They are the traveller's 
