102 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 2 , 1888. 
places where it might be planted with advantage, if right means were 
taken at first to insure success. Unfortunately, this is not always done, 
and the consequence is a failure, when it might have been avoided, and 
the cultivation of the plant is abandoned. Perhaps a little considera¬ 
tion of the conditions under which the plant was growing prior to its 
being tried on such a spot, may tend to explain the reason of failure, and 
point out a course more likely to be successful. 
This plant seems to flourish best in the dry upland peaty soils which 
are met with in many districts ; there its cultivation is desirable, and 
although for special purposes we often see large quantities of suitable 
soil removed to a considerable distance to make a bed, this cannot be 
done in all cases where the Rhododendron is to be grown. On the other 
hand, it must be admitted that there are many soils and situations 
where this plant will refuse to grow, but then these are much fewer 
than is generally supposed, and a due regard to some other points of the 
plant’s culture will show that the number of intermediate sites or soils 
is very large, and that there are not many neighbourhoods which 
do not possess a suitable soil, Few plants more readily adapt themselves 
to removal than the Rhododendron, provided the operation be performed 
at the right time and in the right manner. The subject is so important, 
and the cases where failure occurs so numerous, that some remarks on 
these and the mode to obviate them seem desirable ; I shall, therefore, 
under different heads make the remarks which may seem applicable. 
Soil. —Although much as has been written on this, I believe there 
are few who have planted the Rhododendron extensively on different 
soils who will not acknowledge they have been several times deceived 
in the results. Either the plants have not succeeded well when they 
were expected to do so, or they prospered where they were scarcely 
expected to grow at all ; in fact, the soil requisite to support the 
healthy growth of this plant is far from being generally understood, 
and often a just knowledge of the matter is only attained by a trial. 
A number of plants are tried on some soil that appears to be suitable, 
and the result watched with interest; if successful, all is well, but if 
otherwise, the ingenuity of the planter is set to work to ascertain the 
cause, and a trial elsewhere is perhaps determined upon. I will now 
direct attention to the soils and situations in which this plant is found 
to thrive with more than ordinary luxuriance, and I will endeavour to 
point out how far they can be imitated elsewhere. 
In taking a casual survey of certain districts it will often be found, 
that although a certain class of soil generally prevails, now and then 
patches of quite another kind are met with, entirely surrounded by soil 
of the prevailing character, and varying in size from less than an acre to 
the extent of several parishes, and it not unfrequently happens that 
suitable sites for the Rhododendron occur in such isolated plots. For 
instance, some places in the neighbourhood of Dorking are well adapted 
for the growth of the plant in consequence of the favourable soil 
cropping out, while the district generally is chalk, with a thin crust of 
overlying soil almost as white as the chalk itself ; yet here and there 
patches of peat, or a close resemblance to it, meet the eye, while farther 
westward in the same county peat appears to form the staple soil of the 
district, extending from almost the centre of Surrey a considerable way 
into Hampshire, with occasional breaks and irregularities. This neigh¬ 
bourhood, so favourable to the growth of the Rhododendron, has been 
taken full advantage of, and some of the largest nurseries for the rearing 
of plants have been formed there. 
Other districts also furnish similar sites. A peaty soil well adapted 
for the purpose exists in large breadths throughout many of the midland 
and western counties, Cornwall affording as many varieties of soil, with 
as large a proportion favourable to the growth of this plant, as any 
county. Speaking, too, without a thorough knowledge of the matter, I 
believe most of the eastern counties possess a much less extensive range 
of dry upland peat, although that of a marshy kind may be plentiful 
enough. Large tracts, however, exist in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, 
but the wet mosses of Lancashire have to endure a course of draining 
and cultivation before they become fitting abodes for this highly 
ornamental plant. Farther north peat is p'entif ul, and it is questionable 
whether any spot in the northern part of the kingdom can be found 
which is ten miles from a peaty moor, or some place of a like kind. 
Indeed, I am certain that there are not many places in any part of the 
kingdom half that distance from some spot where the Rhododendron 
will flourish, for a black peat is not the only soil that it will thrive upon, 
as it often exhibits every appearance of vigorous health on soils that to 
an ordinary observer look the very opposite of peat, and these, too, so 
different from each other that I am convinced the numerous places 
suitable for the growth of the plant have not yet had a fair trial. The 
black sandy peats of Surrey and elsewhere, with scarcely a stone in them 
as large as a boy's marble, bears no resemblance to some upland gravels, 
where stones varying in size from that of a cricket ball to a bean form 
at least three-fourths of the staple material the plants have to grow in, 
and yet fine healthy plants are met with blooming abundantly. 
Colour of soil is no criterion, for a light grey, bright yellow, and now 
and then a dark red, as well as all intermediate colours, seem to answer 
almost as well as the black peat, while occasionally the latter is rejected. 
Most low-lying peaty morasses are unsuitable, especially those from 
which peat is dug for fuel. A period of cultivation may bring them 
into a suitable condition, but such peat is not so in its crude state ; in¬ 
deed, I hardly know what crops are most suitable for low, flat, peaty 
mosses, scarcely raised above the ordinary water level. I would caution 
the inexperienced against using this boggy peat in the formation of 
Rhododendron beds, as I have seen evil results more than once arise 
from its being employed. I cannot clearly say why it is so, but it 
would appear that the long period during which the moss has been 
soaked with water has rendered it unfit, for a time at least, to support 
vegetation of any kind, except the few species which occupy it in its 
natural condition, and the Rhododendron is not one of them. I have 
seen several fruitless attempts to obtain a healthy growth of this plant 
in situations of the kind referred to. 
A soil which of itself contains all that is wanted for the well being 
of the Rhododondron, is infinitely superior to any mixture of ingredients 
that the most skilful or scientific operator can make. Although many 
plants seem to relish the composts made for them, it is but seldom the 
Rhododendron does so, while very often the worst results follow. 
Therefore, when the natural soil of the place appears to be favourable 
to the growth of the Rhododendron, it is best to let it alone. Adding 
other materials is often injurious instead of beneficial. 
When the natural soil presents the features which are favourable to 
Rhododendrons, try to grow these. The indications are weeds and other 
natural growths, and after much experience I have found no reason to 
depart from an opinion I gave many j-ears ago, that one of the best 
tokens of a soil suitable to Rhododendrons is the common Foxglove,, 
which if seen growing extensively in a wild state, I regard as denoting 
suitable soil, as much as the Heath, and certainly much more so than 
the common Brake Fern, although both the latter are generally asso¬ 
ciated with the Rhododendron when it is left to Nature. Some allowance 
must, of course, be made for the forms under which each is found ; 
usuully the Brake (Pteris aquilina), disappears in tilled ground, but 
this it not the case with the Foxglove, the latter flourishing in dry 
ground ; while the wild Heath is often found in positions where there 
is scarcely the depth of soil neces ary for Rhododendrons. Amongst 
trees the presence of Birch and Scotch Fir often indicates a suitable 
soil, that of the Beech the contrary. Furze is often found along with 
Heath, but it is not so safe a guide as the Foxglove. Perhaps, however, 
the Bilberry or Whortleberry may be taken :as the criterion of a first- 
class Rhododendron soil; but this plant is not so widely disseminated 
as the preceding, and Rhododendrons will thrive well where this high¬ 
land fruit is rarely met with, often in places far removed from it and 
similar moorland productions. 
A gravelly soil sometimes suits Rhododendrons, sometimes a certain 
kind of sand is equally beneficial, while now and then ground composed 
almost entirely of stones, and these often large ones, seems equally 
serviceable in supplying the wants of the plant. At a short distance 
from where I write many hundreds of Rhododendrons are growing in a. 
soil of the latter description ; stones angular, as if recently broken, 
being mixed up with a yellowish soil by no means prepossessing in 
appearance, and the stones forming at least two-thirds of the whole. 
Many of them are three or four times the size of road metal, and a less 
likely place for success could not well be found, yet the plants flourish 
remarkably well in it; and during the hot weather we had last summer 
I did not perceive indications of any flagging or injury in any of the 
plants at that place, while at others full-grown plants in prepared beds 
succumbed to the heat and drought. The situation is elevated, being 
400 feet or more above the sea level, and the stones found upon it are 
hard and well adapted to road-making, although widely different from 
flint and Kentish rag. It cannot be too well known that the character 
of the stones found upon land constitutes an important feature, and 
their too extensive removal has often been attended with bad results. 
A very useful soil is often met with in a yellow sandy loam, not the' 
hungry sandy soil which exists in some places, but sufficiently stiff to- 
meet the requirements of many other plants, and which when laid down 
in grass is often covered with a multitude of wormcasts. Tracts of this, 
character are found in many places, and in such there are healthy quick- 
set hedges. I am not aware of any soil much better than this for the 
Rhododendron. A large extent of soil of this description exists near the 
southern boundary of the county of Kent, and near Tunbridge Wells 
and other places. It also commonly occurs in Devonshire, and I recollect 
a friend near Plymouth pointing out to me in a park there the line of 
demarcation between it and a soil of an opposite character. On one side- 
of this line the Rhododendron grew well, and the flowers of the Hydrangea 
were blue ; on the other side the flowers of the latter were pink, and the- 
Rhododendron dragged on a miserable existence. The soil alluded to- 
does not make even a remote approach to peat, being bulk for bulk 
much heavier, and in no respect resembles it excepting in its capabilities 
of supplying the wants of the Rhododendron. Tracts of this kind of 
soil are met with even in close proximity to the chalk formation, for 
instance, near Dorking, but they are less common among great breadths 
of stiff clay.—R. J. B, 
(To ba continued.) 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
July 24th. 
Scientific Committee. —Dr. H. Scott in the chair. Present : 
Messrs. Pascoe, W. G. Smith, G. F. Wilson, J. O’Brien, D. Morris, Dr. 
Hogg, and Dr. Masters. 
Heteroioism, in Fungi. —Mr. Plowright, in acknowledging the letter 
of thanks addressed to him some time since by the Chairman, on behalf 
of the Committee, made the following remarks :—“ It was my hope when 
I began my cultures that the general outcome would tend to a lessening 
of the number of the species of the Uredineie. This, however, is not 
the case ; on the contrary, I feel convinced that physiological investiga¬ 
tion will show that these parasitic fungi are much more numerous than 
we at present imagine. To take one instance only—that of the Uromyces, 
