478 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jana 18. 1887. 
now considered synonymous, there has been some con¬ 
fusion. About 1829 this plant was brought into notice 
under the name of A. sinensis in “ Loddiges’ Botanical 
Cabinet,” and in the “ Botanical Register ” as A. pontica 
var. sinensis. It appears to have been obtained from 
China several times by Loddiges of Hackney and Mr. 
Wells of Redleaf, but Lindley considered it an imported 
plant,and remarked that he thought it “extremely probable 
that these Azaleas have found their way to China from the 
Caucasus by the intervention of some of the Russian 
caravans which annually visit Nertcliinsk for the purpose 
of trading with the Chinese, and he could not detect any 
characters to separate it specifically from A. pontica.” In 
18G7 an Azalea was introduced from Japan and named 
A. mollis ; it attracted the attention of horticulturists on 
the Continent, and during the past twenty years many very 
handsome forms have been raised from it, surpassing all 
the others in the size of the llowers and trusses, but 
wanting fragrance, and the colours only consist of shades 
of yellow, orange, or reddish orange. They are, however, 
extremely handsome, very early, and especially useful on 
this account for forcing, as though hardy they are some¬ 
times damaged by our late spring frosts. 
The first systematic attempt on a large scale to improve 
these hardy Azaleas was made by Mr. Gowen at Higliclere, 
the seat of the Earl of Carnarvon, and by 1831 about 500 
seedlings had been raised from various crosses between 
nudiflora, pontica, and calendulacea. About 400 seedlings 
were obtained from the plants fertilised with pollen from 
A. pontica, and it was observed that, curiously enough, 
three-fourths of them closely resembled the latter in habit 
and foliage. From these thirty of the most distinct 
varieties were selected, named and described, giving a 
great impetus to the culture of hardy Azaleas. Several 
British nurserymen took them in hand, especially Mr. 
Waterer of Knap Hill, Woking; the Belgian growers 
rapidly increased the number of forms, and they became 
favourites in many gardens, a position from which they 
have partially declined, but to which they amply deserve 
to be restored. 
At the Royal Horticultural Society’s meetings on 
May 24th this year Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons showed 
several interesting hybrids between Azalea occidentalis 
and A. mollis, two of which were certificated—namely, 
Maiden’s Blush, warmly tinted with rose, the upper lobe 
yellow, very fragrant and profuse; and Beauty, delicate 
blush tint with a yellow blotch in the upper lobe, also 
fragrant and free. The flowers were large, tubular, but 
open and very beautiful. These are shown in the two 
lower trusses in the illustration (page 487), while at the 
upper part are some varieties of the occidentalis type 
shown by Mr. Anthony Waterer on the same occasion and 
certificated. Snowflake is pure white, very fragrant, and 
one of the best of its class ; the other, Peach Blossom, is 
a double variety of the same type, bright pink, and 
similarly fragrant.—L. C. 
:SIZE V. QUALITY IN POTATOES. 
WE have received the following characteristic letter from Mr. 
Robert Fenn, a veteran in Potato growing and a pioneer in the 
i nprovement of varieties :— 
I have sent you a few of my pedigree seedling Potatoes to eat 
, (. f you think them good enough), as I pitied you when reading the 
wad about Potatoes degenerating. I felt sympathy for your 
system. Indigestion and its attendant evils, if the esculent has 
become so scarce an adjunct for food, must prove inevitable. Is it 
so ? Have we not equivalents ? I know the old sorts of Potatoes 
are scarce, and to attempt to grow them profitably is labour in vain. 
I grew them as old friends loth to be parted with as long as I could 
till they dwindled away, but I have handed down their flesh and 
blood, so to speak, by years of consecutive crossings, and thus have 
them in memoriam. 
In the Sir Charles Douglas I send you may possibly detect the 
combination of the old Regents, Daw’s Matchless, Fluke, Cam¬ 
bridge Kidney, Onwards, Red Emperor. In the first early, 
Faith, you may possibly recognise the old Early Ashleaf, Shutford 
Seedling, Turner’s Union Round, Hogg’s Coldstream, Onwards, 
and in both of them the best features of the American Rose and 
Snowflake. At any rate, the above is their mixed origin, and I 
could ring you the changes on all my seedlings, in combination of 
the best of our old English sorts, which, like nearly all my old 
friends, are gone. 
There is a lot of rubbish taking their place (Potatoes, I mean), 
and there will be more as long as the rage for mere size sways the 
fashion of the day. I scarcely know whether I ought not to con¬ 
sider myself obsolete, but let me hold you by the button a few 
minutes longer as an old friend in horticulture, and to the Potato 
in particular, to assure our friends that we have as good sorts now 
as we had sixty years ago, and to prophesy that in sixty years to 
come there will be quite as good, if not better, sorts then than 
there are at the present time, but study for quality versus mere 
size will have to play its part to achieve it. 
Apropos, a Potato grower and merchant a few months ago in 
conversation said he did not approve of my sorts. His were the 
coming Potatoes ! his were to be the seedlings of the future! (I 
do not think he ever raised one). They veould produce for him 
five to six tons per acre more than mine for the market, and that 
so soon as I was dead my seedlings would die with me, and be heard 
of no longer ! Well, as I am about to strike seventy, this consoling 
intelligence cannot be at a very distant date. I congratulated 
my friend, but at the same time I begged to assure him that our 
ideas about Potatoes were as far apart as the poles assunder ; that I 
merely studied the Potato in its features as sustaining food, and 
that I doubted his philosophy reached no farther than his breeches 
pocket, counting on mere size and sorts bibulous of water, which 
would fill so many sacks per acre. I think this breeches pocket 
improvement has much to answer for anent the depreciation of 
Potatoes ; at any rate I have not offered any of my seedlings lately 
to commerce. I am, nevertheless, pulling against the stream, in 
hopes of seeing the tide turn, and working as hard as ever on my 
favourite study, with no hopes whatever of being able to better 
what I have done, as I delve amongst the wildings, unless I could 
live over another lifetime ; but the labour is in stronger hands, 
hiving youth at the prow, and more power to their elbows. I 
think, however, I can feel an undercurrent running in the press 
against the unwieldy size that has of late years been fostered by 
dealers and horticultural societies. I got such a cold-shouldering 
at the Royal at South Kensington last autumn, to forbid my ap¬ 
pearing there again till their rage for size is over. Many sorts of 
the Potatoes there exhibited, and gaining prizes by being pampered 
to an abnornal size during their process of growth, were of my own 
crossings, whilst my selection exhibited, as bringing a life’s work 
into view as instructional, was passed over by the judges and the 
committee without a “ Thank you.” 
I am your oldest contributor, although the honour is claimed by 
others, and I want to try to persuade your younger people against 
unnatural hankering after monstrous vegetables, fruits, or flowers ; 
all become deteriorated by coarseness, and to gain this coarseness 
large extra sums of money must be spent, and the credit goes to 
the longest purse for spoiling that which is intrinsically good, and 
1 thus again the cry of deterioration is fostered. Having been a co¬ 
writer with Donald Beaton in these pages, I cannot forget the 
valuable advice I obtained from him against abnormal size in 
everything, and I feel positive poor old Donald was right. Print 
this if you like to do so.— Rout. Fenn. 
[We have no hesitation in printing Mr. Fenn’s letter, first because 
he is an old friend whom we shall always esteem both for the ex¬ 
cellence of his motives and the merit of his work ; and, secondly, 
because a vein of wholesome truth runs through his communicatior. 
Mr. Fenn in his life work has been endeavouring to do good, and he 
has done much. He has striven for high quality in his intercrossings, 
and this he has stamped on many of his seedlings. This is apparent 
in those which he has been good enough to send to us in a moment 
of commiseration for our unfortunate condition in having, as he 
thinks, to rely on London market Potatoes. In that event there 
would be good grounds for his sympathy, for we are obliged to 
confess, notwithstanding all the prizes that have been offered 
towards the improvement of the Potato, that in our opinion the 
average quality of the great bulk of the produce now sold in London 
is lower than it was a quarter of a century ago. The Potato 
Exhibitions, “ International ” and otherwise, have done good, 
inasmuch as they have stimulated to better culture. They hive 
