NAMED HYBRID RHODODENDRONS 
The Rhododendrons you see covered with large, 
gorgeous bloom are not wild shrubs from the hills, 
but garden varieties selected through a century of 
hybridizing and breeding. 
As these do not come true from seed, they must 
be propagated by cuttings, layers or grafts. Graft¬ 
ing, the usual method, results in a quick growth of 
weak wood, which often fails and dies after a few 
years. Superior plants are produced by cuttings, 
but the method of rooting them, discovered recent¬ 
ly, is still known to a few only. When that famous 
plantsman, E. H. Wilson, was told of it, he replied: 
"This is a decided step forward and one for which 
Rhododendron growers of the future will probably 
bless your name.” 
For years growers have forced small hybrids to 
set flower buds by practises which strain the vitality 
of the plants, often killing them. When such buds 
open, they seldom show true color or full size, and 
these exhausted plants commonly fail altogether to 
bloom the next year. Such destructive methods are 
