1878.] 
AZALEA ROLLISSONI.-DESTRUCTION OF LAWNS. 
35 
a pit is not available, a common frame will 
grow tliem admirably during the summer 
months. 
As to varieties, they are but few. The old 
typical form Poinsettia pulcherrima has long 
been a most popular useful variety for general 
purposes. The new P. p. plenissimci is a very 
splendid sort, producing magnificent heads of 
a deep vermilion colour, and is very useful in 
succession to the typical variety, being quite 
a fortnight later in flowering, with the addi¬ 
tional advantage of standing twice the length 
of time in condition. Notwithstanding the 
discordance of opinion as to the merits of this 
plant, I hail it as a welcome addition to our 
plant stores for winter blooming. The variety 
named P. p. major is a pleasing sort, with a 
dense, compact habit, holding its ample foliage 
longer than the old kind, and producing freely 
fine heads of coloured leaves of a rosy hue. 
This sort is well worthy of more attention for 
decorative purposes. The white variety, P. p. 
alba , is also pleasing for its lasting properties, 
as it stands long in condition, and affords a 
good contrast.— Geo. Westland, Withy Court 
Gardens. 
AZALEA ROLLISSONI. 
f lllS name has been given to a dwarf- 
liabited evergreen shrub recently im¬ 
ported from the mountains of Japan 
by the Messrs. Eollisson, and which, on account 
of its profusion of elegant blossoms, will be a re¬ 
markably useful plant for small decorative work. 
The plants, moreover, may probably prove to 
be hardy, in which case it will be a valuable 
addition to the alpine rockery, associating well 
with Rhododendron ferrugineum. It is of very 
dwarf and compact growth, having spreading 
branches, which bear small lance-shaped or sub- 
spathulate strigosely hairy leaves. The flowers 
are small, about 1-g-in. across, symmetrically 
double, and of a light salmon-red colour, very 
freely produced, and of quite an ornamental 
character. It may possible prove to be of a 
distinct specific type from A. indica. 
The plant first appeared in public at the 
Royal Botanic Society’s Exhibition last summer, 
and was certificated as a promising subject for 
small decorative plants and for market purposes. 
It is of much the same habit as a set of dwarf¬ 
growing Azaleas, raised by Mr. Carmichael— 
crosses, we believe, with A. amcena —and of 
which some half-dozen very pretty and useful 
Azalea Rollissoni. 
varieties are about to be sent out by Mr. 
Williams, of Holloway.—T. Moore. 
DESTRUCTION OF LAWNS. 
OTpT may not be out of place, at this season 
L p of the year, when so many renovations 
and improvements are being pushed 
forward, to hint to the inexperienced the 
evil—a growing one, it is to be feared—• 
of cutting up lawns into flower-beds, or 
planting borders and groups of shrubs at 
random, under the impression that this is im¬ 
proving the garden. One may have a desire to 
increase the apparent extent of the place, and to 
show as much as possible the beauties of the sur¬ 
rounding country, provided there is nothing 
opened up that can offend the eye, or be otherwise 
objectionable; but nothing can be more strongly 
opposed to good-taste than cutting up a green¬ 
sward, and leaving a number of bare spaces, even 
although they should be in geometrical form. 
Let there be a flower-garden, by all means, but 
only in its proper position. I lately visited a large 
place of some note, and saw that nature only 
had been assisted in the first instance, when the 
beautiful grounds had been laid out. Beautiful 
glades running into the park and plantations 
beyond are some of the telling features, but in 
the open lawn a large conservatory has been set 
down, which obstructs the view and changes the 
whole character of the scene. What is much 
worse, a number of large circles are cut out, 
and piled up with earth till they form pyra¬ 
mids ; and standing bare as they do, and more¬ 
over, being seen from nearly every point of the 
d 2 
