G 8 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[May, 
they should, if possible, he removed into an 
intermediate house while the flowers become 
fully expanded. By this means the flowers 
will remain longer in perfection than if allowed 
to open fully in the forcing house. 
Though Rhododendrons are still used but 
sparingly in the many positions for which they 
are so admirably adapted, there has been no 
lack of industry and enthusiasm on the part 
of the few who make a specialty of their cul¬ 
tivation ; and while they have vastly improved 
the shape, colour, and substance of the 
flower, they have not been forgetful of the 
habit and constitution of the plant, which is 
now such as to entitle many of the varieties 
to be classed as the finest of hardy shrubs. 
Some selections of these are appended.—G. 
Thomson, Knap Hill, Surrey. 
Early or Free-flowering Rhododendrons 
suitable for forcing :— 
Auguste Van Geert. 
Beauty of Surrey. 
Blandyanum. 
Brayanum. 
Brouglitonii. 
Cardi Dalis. 
Caucasicum pictum. 
Cynthia. 
Duchess of Bedford. 
Everestianum. 
Fastuosum flore-pleno. 
Grand Arab or Vesuvius. 
Glennyanum. 
Hendersoni. 
Iago. 
Jacksoni. 
John Waterer. 
Kate Waterer. 
Lady Armstrong. 
Limbatum. 
Michael Waterer. 
Miss Osven. 
Mrs. Shuttleworth. 
Mrs. Fitzgerald. 
Mrs. John Penn. 
Mrs. John Waterer. 
Marchioness of Lans- 
downe. 
Purity. 
Princess Mary of Cam¬ 
bridge. 
Prince Camille de Bohan. 
Sappho. 
Sir Robert Peel. 
Salmoneum roseum. 
Titian. 
Varium. 
Victoria. 
Verschaffeltii. 
MAIZE TO MATURITY 
A Select List of Rhododendrons 
In an English Garden. 
which are never known to suffer from the 
severity of the weather:— 
Alexander Dancer. 
Atrosanguineum. 
Beauty of Surrey. 
Caractacus. 
Charles Bagley. 
Charles Dickens. 
Coriaceum. 
Delicatissimum. 
Delicatum. 
Everestianum. 
Fair Helen. 
Fastuosum flore-pleno. 
Giganteum. 
Guido. 
H. H. Hunnevrell. 
H. W. Sargent. 
James Bateman. 
James M'Intosh. 
James Marshall Brooks. 
John Spencer. 
John Walter. 
Kate Waterer. 
Kettledrum. 
Lady Armstrong. 
Lady Annette de Traf- 
ford. 
Lady Eleanor Cathcart. 
Lady Clermont. 
Madame Cavalbo. 
Marchioness of Lans- 
downe. 
Minnie. 
Mrs. Frederick Hankey. 
Mrs. Harry Ingersoll. 
Mrs. John Clutton. 
Mrs. Mendel. 
Mrs. Milner. 
Mrs. R. S. Holford. 
Mrs. Shuttleworth. 
Old Port. 
Ralph Sanders. 
Sappho. 
Scipio. 
Sigismund Rucker. 
Silvio. 
Sir Thos. Sebright. 
The Warrior. 
Vauban. 
Other Good Rhododendrons, 
but which at times are more or less injured by 
frost:— 
Concession. 
Crown Prince. 
Duchess of Bedford. 
Earl of Shannon. 
Frederick "Waterer. 
John Waterer. 
Lady Tankerville. 
Lady "Winifred Herbert. 
Mrs. Charles Thorold. 
Mrs. John Penn. 
Michael "Waterer. 
Mrs. William Bovill. 
Nero. 
Perfection. 
Picturatum. 
Princess Mary of Cam¬ 
bridge. 
Purity. 
Salvini. 
Sappho. 
Snowflake. 
Stella. 
Sylph. 
The Maroon. 
The Queen. 
Titian. 
A r andycke. 
William Austin. 
W. E. Gladstone. 
SUFFICIENTLY brief and expressive 
heading for the contents of this paper 
does not readily occur to me. 
I cannot write of Maize as a “florist 
flower,” for being an apetalous plant, there is 
no laying hold of such a blossom except 
botanically. Neither is it any manner of 
“pome,” that it should find a place in the 
fruit department of the Florist and Pomo- 
logist. I am not here advocating its cul¬ 
ture as a decorative plant, or as a competitor 
of the higher vegetables of the kitchen garden, 
or as a fodder for the beasts. But I would 
speak of it as a plant acutely responsive to 
the interesting process by which florist flowers 
and cultured fruits are improved. 
Most plants are grown for the beauty or 
curiousness of their flowers or foliage ; but 
here is one that possesses great variety, and 
charms of a lasting nature, in its ripened 
heads of seed, which when preserved in their 
loosened leafy envelopes are much prettier 
than if stripped and stiff, as we are wont to 
see them when imported. I have grown 
ears perfectly filled, and perfectly ripened; 
and those that grew twenty seasons since are 
as fresh in colour as those that ripened hut 
last summer. 
As briefly as I may, I will describe the round 
of culture that has succeeded in by no means 
the kindliest climate of England, and will 
state some of the results of crossing varieties 
that differ in form and colour of the grain 
