2 
Catawbiense hybrids with R. Metternichii raised several years ago by 
the late Anthony Waterer. The varieties and hybrids, too, of Rhodo¬ 
dendron caucasicum are uninjured in leaf and bud. Of other broad¬ 
leaved evergreens Pieris or Andromeda floribunda from the southern 
Appalachian mountain region is as usual uninjured and covered with 
flower-buds soon to open. This is certainly the handsomest and one of 
the hardiest broad-leaved evergreen plants which has yet been thor¬ 
oughly tested in the northeastern states. The more common Leucothoe 
Catesbyi of the same region often loses all its leaves during severe win¬ 
ters when the plants are fully exposed to the sun, and last spring the 
native Inkberry (Ilex glabra) lost its leaves which now are as bright as 
they were in October. Even such a hardy broad-leaved evergreen as 
Evonymus radicans vegeta loses many of its leaves in severe winters 
which, however, never appear to injure the leaf-buds. This fact is im¬ 
portant for this Evonymus is the only substitute for the Ivy which can 
be successfully grown in eastern Massachusetts. The leaves of the Ivy 
which has been growing here on the Administration Building for a num¬ 
ber of years has suffered more this winter than it ever has before 
but probably will recover. This is one of the plants obtained from 
Riga on the Baltic which is probably as cold or colder than any other 
region where the Ivy grows naturally. It was hoped that plants which 
had grown in such a cold country would prove hardy here, but it now 
appears that there is little hope that an Ivy can be found which will 
prove really hardy east of Cape Cod. The Arboretum collection of 
conifers is in unusually good condition this year and there are no losses 
to report. The leaves of the southern Short-leaved Pine {Finns echi- 
nata) are as usual badly burned, and although this valuable timber 
tree grows naturally on Staten and Long Island it is now evident that 
although it can exist in the Arboretum it will never make a fine tree 
here. The Chinese Pines (Finns sinensis and its varieties) which lost 
nearly all their leaves a year ago are now in good condition; and the 
leaves of the Japanese Black Pine (Finns Thunbergii) have been less 
injured by the winter than they have been for several years. It is 
still possible to say that the most beautiful conifer in the Arboretum 
is the Carolina Hemlock {Tsnga caroliniana). 
Winter Flowering Witch Hazels. These plants have behaved in an 
unusual manner during the past winter. The species from southern 
Missouri and Oklahoma (Hamamelis vernalis) which usually blooms here 
at the end of December or early in January did not open its flowers 
until the middle of March. The flower-buds of this species, of the 
Chinese H. mollis and of H. japonica on the plants growing in low 
ground near the pond at the junction of the Meadow and the Valley 
Roads were killed. The plants of Hamamelis japonica have been grow¬ 
ing in this position for the last twenty-five or thirty years and have 
never before failed to cover themselves in late January and in Febru¬ 
ary with flowers. On high ground and in better drained soil H. mollis 
this year did not bloom until March 23, or at least two months after 
its normal time for flowering, and the flowers of the Japanese species 
were equally late. On the 21st of April the new red-flowered Japan¬ 
ese H. incarnata was still in full flower in the temperature of a hot 
July day. The flowers of this plant ar§ small with dull red-brown 
