248 
THE FLORIST. 
plant about 20 acres as underwood and cover for game, he asked me 
where he was to get the bog earth from ; “ for,” said he “ my beds in 
the garden cost me 20/. each for that article alone.” I saw, too, in a 
periodical the other day a writer gravely assert the Rhododendron 
refused to grow on the chalk or soils containing lime. If they do not 
grow with him it is not so elsewhere with my two proteges ; for I shall put 
out of the question for the present everything else. My first endeavour 
will be to get country gentlemen to HU their woods with them, and 
planters to make them a substitute for common Laurel and Privet, 
when fiUing up masses. Both kinds are equally hardy, but I will take 
for preference the R. ponticum, which I can prove will grow in any soil 
which will support a Laurel, and in many where this refuses to grow 
at all. As for situation or exposure, it is not at all particular, excepting 
on very dry banks, and even there it may be managed, if the directions 
I give further on are attended to. Both of them, however, grow 
fastest on sandy or peaty loams—and with no more preparation than is 
necessary for the Laurel on stiff clays. 
When large breadths of evergreens are required to form shelter, or 
for blocking up, or as undergrowth for woods, the common Laurel and 
sometimes Privet are usually planted; the cheapness of Laurel at first 
cost and its rapid growth are its chief recommendations for filling up in 
the eyes of the planter. But with the exception of the Holly, Berberis, 
and Tree Box—three plants I have no wish to interfere with—I beg to 
submit that R. ponticum is a much superior plant for the purpose, 
admitting time into the consideration. Granted that common Laurel 
by growing faster produces a more immediate effect; yet, after the lapse 
of a dozen years, it will require an annual expense in heading down, 
supposing it planted for cover, or it soon becomes naked at the bottom ; 
and when employed as a shrubbery plant either for producing shelter or 
forming masses, it requires when the first half dozen years are over, 
constant pruning with the knife, and with this even'it will in time over¬ 
grow the knife and require heading back, which gives it for a time an 
unsightly appearance. Perhaps I may be somewhat prejudiced against 
the Laurel, from having to deal with acres of them, and knowing the 
annual expense in keeping them within bounds. Had I the same 
quantity of Rhododendrons to keep in order, they would not cost a tenth 
of the sum now paid for the former, and we should get the addition of 
their display of bloom in June, and a more compact mass as an ever¬ 
green during the rest of the year. There is abundance of proof that 
in ordinary soils the R. ponticum will form a bush of 18 or 20 feet 
high, and as many through, and with only cutting in a straggling shoot 
iiow and then, will form a dense mass of foliage, unequalled in my 
opinion in its way. It takes some time to get to this size ; but in open 
situations it grows bushy from a young plant, and as such it becomes 
valuable for the shrubbery; either for grouping in masses, or as single 
plants, or for filling up under trees, where, however, it should not 
be mixed with other evergreens. I can also strongly recommend it as 
a suitable plant for small villa residences, where a good deal of massing 
for effect is wanted in a small space, and for which its compact growth 
and dense habit particularly qualify it. 
