SEEDLINGS 
63 
partial shade, setting them in rows about 3 inches apart, 
and watering them well in, shading them in bright sun- 
shine. They are all the better for a slight protection in 
winter, such as that afforded by a loose layer of bracken or 
spruce branches. Here they may remain till the following 
September, when they will be large enough to be trans- 
planted to an open bed, setting them about 8 inches apart. 
In about two years they should be healthy plants with 
stems as thick as a lead pencil and of the size preferred 
for grafting. 
The age at which seedling Rhododendrons may be 
expected to flower varies from two years to an indefinite 
time. Sir Joseph Hooker sent home from Sikkim in 1848-9 
seeds of many new species. The first of these to flower 
was R. ciliatum, when it was two years old. The volumes 
of the Botanical Magazine for 1855-6-7-8 contain figures 
of a number of these species which had been prepared from 
plants raised and flowered for the first time in this country. 
The ages of some of them were : R, Falconeri, R. china- 
barinum, R. Hookeri, R. campy locarpum, seven years ; R. 
Thomsonii, eight years ; R. Griffithianumy nine years ; R. 
Niittalliiy eighteen years. Of those more recently intro- 
duced from China, R. ciliicalyx flowered when it was eleven 
years old ; R. Delavayiy fifteen years ; R. intricahim, four 
years ; R. racemosum, four years. From these figures it will 
be seen that Rhododendrons flower when they are from three 
to eighteen years old. Probably the garden races flower at 
an earlier age. The Indian Azaleas (R. indicum) and Swamp 
Honeysuckles (R. sinense) flower at from two to three years. 
With regard to seedling hybrids or crosses, the first 
flowers are not, as a rule, as good in quality as they are 
when the plant is older. In the case of the former, expert 
