THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
aii(i the l)ost position for lli('S(' j)lanls is on llu' north sish' 
l)ut not too iH'ar conifc'i'ons trees, as tln^y ar(‘ plant(*(l 
in the AiToretinn. In sneh jiositions tlii'y ari' proteeted 
Iroin the diri'et rays of tin* sun in Mareh and April, for in 
this eliinate wln'ri' tin' roots ari' in frozi'n ground in win- 
tei' and tliei’efore eannot taki' u[) moisture, it is important 
to reduee as iniieh as possihh' winti'r and I'arly s[)rinp’ 
evaporation from tin' leaves. It is this evaporation from 
the leaves of evergn'i'us g'rowinjjf in frozen soil whieh 
makes it impossihh' to keep alive many of them in this 
eountry; and this is the reason why it is desirable here to 
water thoroughly l{hodod('ndrons just before the ground 
freezes in the autumn. Hhododendrons imported from 
Europe suffer here from the stoek on which they have 
been grafted. The almost universal custom among 
European nurserymen is to use l{hododendron jiontiriun 
as the stoek for these plants because it is easily and 
quickly raised and readily grafted. H. ponticum is not 
at all hardy here, and there is little doubt that our want 
of success with Rhododendrons imported from Europe is 
due, in jiart at least, to the stock on which they have been 
grafted and that the gradual or sudden death here of large 
plants which have been uninjured by cold or drought for 
twenty or thirty years is due to this cause. 
The familiar Rhododendrons of New England gardens 
are so-called Catawbiense Hybrids and were raised in 
Europe many years ago by crossing J{. cataivhiense, a na¬ 
tive of the highest summits of the Ap{)alachian Mountains, 
Avith Himalayan species, notably the scarlet-flowered J{. 
arboreum. It might he expected that plants obtained 
from these crosses would he hardy in proportion to the 
predominance of the American plant but, judging by the 
color of the flowers, this is not always true. Varieties 
like Atrosanguineum, Charles Dickens and H. W. Sar¬ 
gent, which have flowers as bright red as those of R. ar¬ 
boreum, are among the hardiest of all garden Rhododen- 
dions; but varieties with white or pale flowers are more 
tender than those with rose pink or purple flowers which 
most closely show the influence of the Catawbiense par¬ 
ent; and unfortunately the varieties with light-colored 
flowers marked at the base with large brown or chocolate- 
colored blotches, like Sapho, are not at all hardy here. 
The hardiness of these hybrid Rhododendrons can only 
be determined by trial, although in selecting varieties for 
trial it is safe to assume that plants with broad leaves re¬ 
sembling those of R. cataivhiense, like Everestianum, Mrs. 
C, S, Sargent, Roseum elegans, Henrietta Sargent, Cataw- 
hii'iisc album, and all tin' vaiii'lii's with light or daik 
purph' 1 low ('I S ar(' liki'ly to provi' hardii'r than tin' plants 
with narrow Icavi's lik(' Mrs. .lolm Clutton. Tln'ri' an*, 
of cours('. ('xc('plions to such a ruh*. Eor ('xam|)h'. Rink 
Pearl has broad h'aves and is vi'iy f('nd('r; and Conn'r 
W at('i‘('i‘, although it has h'avi's as hroad as thosi* of anv 
ol tln'S(' hybrids, usually suffeis in wiidi'r and almost in¬ 
variably loses its flow('I'-buds. 
Pei-sons w ho w ant to plant Calaw hi('ns(' Hybrid Rho¬ 
dodendrons should tak(' advanlag(* of tin* know h*dg(! 
which has In'C'ii lahoriously and ('xpi'iisivi'ly obtained 
about tin'se plants at Wi'llesh'y on Mr. Ilumn'weirs ('state, 
where Rhododendrons have be('n l('st('(l on a larg(' scale 
for sixty years, and In'ia* at the ArhoiH'tnm wh('r(' many of 
the hardiest kinds rais('(l in England, Cermany, and the 
United States w ill now soon he in flowa'r. 
There are other exergreen Rlnxhxh'ndrons which are 
not as often cultivated hen* in Massachusetts as tlu'y 
might be. R. catawbiense itself is jx'rfectly hardy and 
none of its hybrids have handsomer foliage. It grows 
slowly, however, and mwer to a very large size, and the 
flow ers are of a disagreeable jiurjile rose color. 
Rhododendron maximum, w hich grow s naturally as far 
north as southern New Hampshire, is a large jilant some¬ 
times treelike in habit, with handsome, long, narrow' 
leaves and small clusters of beautiful pink and white 
flowers. It is the last of the Rhododendrons to bloom 
here, and the flower-buds do not open until the new 
branchlets have nearly finished their growth, so that the 
flow er-clusters are a good deal hidden by them. 
The varieties and hybrids of the dw arf Rhododendron 
cancasicuni bloom before the Catawbiense Hybrids, and 
the flowers have already faded. The latest of this race 
to flow er, and perhaps the best of them all here, is a low', 
broad, compact plant with pure white flowers called 
Roule de Neige. This is a perfectly hardy, free-flow er- 
ing plant which might to advantage be more generally 
planted in Massachusetts. 
FRENCH NURSERY STOCK FOR UNITED STATES 
A French Ministerial order of September 17, reported 
by the Consul General at Paris on the follow ing day, per¬ 
mits the exportation of trees, shrubs, and nursery stock 
to the usual allied and American countries. This order 
is in derogation of the embargo decree jmhlished in 
Commerce Reports for August 29. 
BOX BARBERRY 
A New Dwarf Japanese Barberri/. 
Were you to ask the gardener, florist, nurseryman, 
landscape architect, park sujierintendent, or the well 
versed amateur, what was the most needed hardy jilant 
for northern gardens today, the general answer would lx* 
to the effi'ct that it w as a dw arf hardy shrub suitable for 
low' edge or hedge purjioses, —a shrub that would accep¬ 
tably take the jilace of the, border-box and till an ('ven 
wider field of usefulness. 
Happenings in horticulture are often of giT'at impor¬ 
tance. Nature puts before our eyes now and then rare 
natural variations from the commoner tyjies that often 
go unnoticed, which if duly appiT'ciated, would ma¬ 
terially advance our horticulture. It is the discernment 
of the occasional sensitive mind that has brought to light 
and to wide usefulness many of tlu* standard jilants of 
today. The true gardeix'r is ('vei' on tin* watch for 
something new that may he hettei’ than present forms. 
Some fifteen years ago. among a bed of many 
thousand Japan Barberry seedlings, a tiny jilant apjieared 
which, as the first season advanced, looked so difl’erent 
