tlTfje ii^fjotjobentiron ^ocietp 
“ Lady Eleanor Cathcart,” that most Pelargonium-hke of Rhododendrons, 
“ Sir Joseph Whitworth,” “Sir R. Peel,” “Auguste van Geert,” “Lady 
Falmouth,” “Camille de Rohan,” and many more. 
Among whites were “ Mrs. John Glutton,” and a very fine form or hybrid 
of R. ARBOREUM ALBUM, densely spotted. “ Broughtonii,” which carries the 
largest truss I know (except that of a stupendous hybrid in the Temperate- 
house at Kew), had gone by, and been removed, together with “ Grand Arab ” 
and other early scarlets ; but I saw the plants later at the nurseries. 
Mr. Downie, by years of skilful treatment, has induced a habit of early 
blooming in these his show plants, so that now with very httle heat they bloom 
in the earliest days of spring, keeping all their brilhancy of colour. At the 
back of the house I found a splendid plant of a scented Rhododendron, called 
“ Duchess of Buccleuch,” evidently a hybrid of the “ Sesterianum ” breed. 
Large white flowers, flaked with delicate primrose, covered the bush below in 
hundreds, while above rose a mass of yellow buds in a later stage of bloom. Not 
far off was R. “ fragrantissimum,”* another hybrid of a similar type, not so 
large, but very fragrant. 
Young Mr. Laird took me out to the nurseries, where amid multitudes of 
herbaceous plants, the grand Rhododendron specimens are prepared for the 
public eye. 
I was much pleased to see the attentive care bestowed on them, and what a 
thorough Rhododendron fancier Mr. Downie is. He showed me plants of 
R. Veitchianum and javanicum and Veitch’s “ Princess Royal” (which last 
had bloomed for six months continuously), and a very fine variety, or perhaps 
species (the flowers were unfortunately over), with Falconeri leaves but 
ARGENTEUM blossoms, which Mr. Downie had named ‘‘ Lady Balfour of 
Burleigh.” Large trees of R. Dalhousi^ and hybrid “ Countess of 
Haddington ” were not yet in bloom, but I received the last truss of the king 
of hardy Rhododendrons, “Broughtonii.” 
Mr. Laird kindly accompanied me to a private collection, where I saw that 
curious Rhododendron of the Malayan type, R. RETUSUM.f The flowers, small 
and tubular, are coral-red, not unlike those of some Fuchsias. I find that it vill 
thrive in a temperate house, although a little more heat is desirable. 
Mr. Davies, of Ormskirk, has, I hear, mated it with R. javanicum. 
R. Thomsonii was in bloom in the same collection, and a form of Calophyllum 
or Jenkinsii in bud, under the name of R. “ Walkeri.” 
By this remark I do not mean to imply that Calophyllum and Jenkinsii 
are one and the same species, but that I am awaiting the distinctions which 
Mr. C. B. Clarke will probably explain. 
My visits to the Botanic Garden, the Lawson Compan}^, Messrs. Dickson, 
of the Pilrig Park Nurseries, and Messrs. Backhouse, of York, I hope to describe 
in my next. 
J. H. M. 
* ? EDGEWORTHII X FORMOSUM. 
t Figured in Box. Mag. 4869, and Flore des Serres X. pi. 1044 
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