74 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[April, 
A tank or pan one foot deep will be sufficient for the plant, which may either 
be planted out, or kept in a pot, if the surface of the soil is kept 6 in. below the 
water. It is of no use attempting to grow it in a greenhouse temperature, except 
during the heat of the summer. It has been found by Humboldt in the marshes 
west of Caraccas, in British Guiana, &c. The plant increases very rapidly by 
suckers.—W. Buckley, Tooting. 
HAEDY HIGH-COLOUEED EHODODENDEONS. 
HOUGH the Bhododendron may now be considered capable of bearing all 
'^j) the vicissitudes of our climate, yet increased hardiness of constitution is a 
f point which may well be constantly aimed at; for experience has shown 
that varieties in which the blood of B. ponticum is freely mingled, suffer 
in extreme winters from the destruction or deterioration of their dormant blos¬ 
soms, though the plants themselves, so far as regards their vegetative organs, are 
quite uninjured; while among the high-coloured sorts, where the blood of J?. 
arhoreum is present, even though filtered down by subsequent crosses with hardy 
kinds, there is a degree of tenderness both in leaf and flower which leaves little 
chance of a fine bloom after a moderately severe winter. 
Hence the importance of selecting for breeding purposes a hardier race than 
either of the species just referred to ; and such a race is fortunately at hand in 
the varieties of the North American B. catawhiense —varieties which suffer 
scarcely at all in their flower-buds, even from severe winter frosts, and which, 
moreover, have the immense superiority of carrying broad, bold, enduring foliage, 
such as not only sets off the flowers to better advantage, but during the greater 
portion of the year, when they are not in bloom, marks out the plants as ever¬ 
green shrubs of the first order. We have seen these catawhiense varieties with 
the buds fresh and full of life, while those of varieties bred from ponticum.^ when 
cut across, showed many of the embryo flowers blackened and lifeless, and those 
with appreciable arhoreum blood were hopelessly destroyed. 
Fortunately for the American garden, there are some sorts which seem able 
to withstand the utmost severity of our winters—for example, the variety called 
B. roseum elegans^ one of the early removes from the typical B. catawhiense.^ and 
which is unquestionably the best of all Ehododendrons for growing on into the 
tree form, since, under fit conditions, it always maintains a densely leafy head, 
and is annually smothered with perfectly-developed trusses of its delicate rosy 
blossoms. The following half-dozen sorts rank amongst modern varieties of the 
highest excellence both as to leaf and flower, and appear to be unaffected by the 
weather, as we have seen them uninjured after the severest winters, namely:— 
Edward S. Band : Immense trusses of splendid crimson flowers, combined 
with fine catawhiense habit. 
James Bateman : Flowers of a clear rosy-scarlet, of the most perfect shape ; 
the habit excellent. 
Mrs. Milner : Flowers rich crimson, of first-rate quality; habit of growth 
and foliage very fine. 
