3 
The buds of the Japanese Corylopsis Gotoarui have for the first time 
been injured, and those of C, paucijlora, which has never been very 
hardy in the Arboretum, are destroyed. 
As compared with last year the season is a late one. The Silver 
Maple {Acer saccharinum) was in flower, however, on the 15th of 
March, only six days later than last year. Other flowers which were 
to be seen in the Arboretum this year in March were those of half a 
dozen species of Hazel (Corylus), Salix acutifoLia, S. gracUistyla, the 
native Alnus incana, and those of several exotic Alders. On March 
29th the native Arbor Vitae {Thuya occidentalia) and the native White 
Cedar {Chamaecyparia thyoidea) were in bloom, 
Mag^nolia stellata. On March 26th last year the flowers of Magnolia 
stellata were opening; this year the plants in front of the Administra- 
tion Building were nearly in full bloom on April 15th and have not yet 
been injured by the late frost which often destroys their flowers after 
they have opened. This Magnolia is a perfectly hardy shrub of excel- 
lent habit and good foliage; it never fails to cover itself with flower- 
buds, and if it could be persuaded to bloom two weeks later it would 
be one of the best plants for the decoration of small New England 
gardens which has been brought from Japan. 
The Siberian Rhododendron dahuricum blooms as early or a little 
later than R. mucronulaium, but the flowers are more sensitive to 
cold than those of that plant and are usually disfigured or destroyed by 
frost after they have opened. Although some of the flower-buds had 
been killed on the plants on Azalea Path, they were well covered with 
expanded flowers by the 12th of April and have not yet been injured. 
The variety with persistent leaves (var. aempervirens) has lost more 
of its flower-buds than the typical deciduous-leaved plant. Like Mag- 
nolia stellata this little Rhododendron would be a better garden plant 
in New England if it would flower two or three weeks later. 
Erica carnea began to flower in the Shrub Collection during the first 
week in April. This is a common European plant often covering in 
the northern countries considerable areas of sandy or gravelly soil. It 
is an evergreen plant only a few inches high, with dark green leaves 
and small rose-red flowers. There is also a variety with white flowers. 
This is an excellent plant for the rock garden or to form the edging 
for walks. When it finds the soil and position which suit it it will 
soon spread into a broad mat. There are no Heaths native to the New 
World, and the neighborhood of Cape Town in South Africa, where 
there are some four hundred species, is the place where they are most 
abundant. They flourish, too, in the countries adjacent to the Medi- 
terranean and in central Europe but of them all only Erica camea is 
really hardy in New England, although one or two other species, es- 
pecially E. Tetralix, can with care be kept alive here for a few years. 
Prinsepia sinensis is covered with its bright yellow flowers. It is a 
hardy shrub with long gracefully ascending and spreading branches fur- 
nished with stout spines, and covered with bright green leaves which 
are almost the first to appear on any plant in the Arboretum and are 
