PREFACE 
It is difficult to understand why a book on Rhododendrons, 
within the means of ordinary gardening folk, has been so 
long in making its appearance. That there has been a 
steady and growing demand for such a book is a well-known 
fact. The reason is probably that there are very few people 
qualified to write the book, and it is doubly fortunate that 
Mr. Watson has been induced to undertake the task. No 
one is better qualified ; no one is more familiar with the 
cultural requirements of Rhododendrons or has a more 
thorough knowledge of this interesting genus in all its 
species, varieties, and hybrids. Mr. Watson has already 
done much to develop the popular taste for Rhododendrons, 
and to help and encourage other workers, but by writing 
the present volume he has earned the gratitude of every 
cultivator. 
As to the merits of Rhododendrons there can be no 
question, and no one who has seen a good collection at 
flowering time, or who has quietly enjoyed half-an-hour on 
a bright day in early summer studying the effects of large, 
mixed clumps of even the commoner and older varieties, 
will disagree with the statement that they are by far the 
most valuable of all hardy evergreen flowering shrubs ever 
introduced." I certainly do not quarrel with it. Of many 
plants it is said, or has been said, Their day has come." 
The day of the Rhododendron came with the introduction 
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