152 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ July, 
vacuum all round with moss. When making and maturing their growth, they 
are also greedy of water; and they do all this best if placed where they will be 
partially shaded from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 
As to soil, peat is best, with a sixth part sharp silver sand, and a few pieces of 
freestone, the size of pigeons’ eggs, for large plants. Charcoal forms the best 
drainage. The plants dislike lime and chalk. They will grow well in a mixture of 
loam (if it is not calcareous), leaf-mould, and decomposed cow-dung, two parts 
of each of the former to one of the latter, but peat is best, and then stimulants 
may be given in moderation. Weak manure-water made from cow-dung seems to 
suit them best. 
As to potting, the less frequently it is done the better. The soil must be 
made very tight, without injuring the extremities of the roots ; and herein lies a 
difficulty. The whole root run is appropriated, and compressed into a ball, almost 
hard enough to charge a cannon with, and the problem is slightly to loosen this 
without breaking the roots, and then to make the new soil approximate in hard¬ 
ness to the old, also without bruising the roots. If this is not done, the whole 
of the water will pass away from the roots into the new soil, which will become a 
drain to dry the roots to death. But with proper care the roots will speedily lay 
hold of and occupy their fresh feeding-ground, and when this happens, the danger 
of the shifting process is past. 
Standard Rhododendrons are admirable for forming lines along conservatories, 
centres for beds, for staircases, halls, landings, &c. ; and many of the newer sorts, 
from the beauty of their leaves, and the sweetness and profusion of their flowers, 
rival the Azalea itself in usefulness for furnishing rooms, vases, baskets, windows, 
and even for bouquet work. 
Considering the richness, variety, grandeur, and beauty of this magnificent 
tribe of plants, I think it must be admitted that its cultivation under glass has 
by no means kept pace with the multiplication of varieties, nor even with their 
extended use for out-of-door decoration.—D. T. Fish, Hardwicke. 
EARLY OR FORCING PINKS. 
S OME very fine varieties have recently been exhibited which are really great 
acquisitions to this class of Pinks, particularly Gibbon's Lady Blanche , a 
f very fine pure white, a good, useful-sized flower, moderately full, and which 
has a good pod, so that it does not burst; it is of very free habit, and 
blooms most profusely, producing from twenty to thirty fine blooms on each 
plant. This is really a first-class variety, and will be found particularly useful 
for bouquets. 
Lee's Princess Louise , a fine bright scarlet and a large full flower. This blooms 
very profusely, and is of a very dwarf habit, growing only ten inches high. I 
think it is a hybrid, as it has the perfume of the Carnation. 
Watson's Alba Midtijlora is a fine pure white flower, large and full without 
