ES)e l^fjobotjenbron ^ocietp ^otesi 
The stock does not appear to have affected the scion, for the result is 
essentially a bush, not above 6 feet high, and with a very floriferous habit. On 
blooming this year, for the first time, it bore no less than seven trusses. Its 
glossy green foliage was so striking that I had written about it as well worthy 
of a visit long before the blossoms appeared. Whether there would be any flowers 
at all this year seemed to me then very doubtful (the blossom and leaf-buds are 
provokingly alike). Mr. Binder, however, took a more hopeful view, and he 
was right. Early in May, I received a kind note from Professor Thiselton-Dyer, 
intimating that there was something worth my seeing in the temperate-house, 
and so indeed it proved. No description of mine or plate can do justice to the 
exquisite delicacy of the corolla or the grandeur of the truss. This may appear 
high-flown language, but much better pens than mine have indulged in 
unmeasured admiration. 
One well-known writer says : “ It is difficult to find an adjective sufficiently 
expressive of the majestic loveliness of the flower.” Sir J. Hooker calls it ‘‘ the 
superb species.” Mr. Otto Forster says that “ nothing in the whole vegetable 
kingdom is more beautiful,” and Mr. Anderson-Henry calls it the gem of his 
collection. The defects, if one may venture to say so, are perhaps the looseness 
of the truss and the insignificance of the stamens, which appear somewhat out 
of proportion with style, stigma, and everything. The cultivation of Himalayan 
Rhododendrons, in spite of isolated successes, is still in its infancy. 
Not many in these hurried times have the patience to watch the gradual 
growth and eventful flowering of these glorious plants, and many, having begun, 
have wearied of the pursuit and turned to other subjects. A good deal of 
misapprehension, too, has contributed to this result. At first the plants were 
too rashly supposed to be altogether hardy ; now they are as rashly thought to 
be wholly tender. The truth lies somewhere (it remains to be proved where) 
between ; and I am glad to see that at Kew they are making fresh experiments 
(observe a bed recently planted near the Fern house). Some species, 
undoubtedly, such as R. Nuttallii (I once lost ten plants by my rashness), 
R. Dalhousi^, and Maddenii, must have glass, but with the greater number 
of them it is not the severity of cold which injures, as I had proved over and 
over again with R. Aucklandii, but the early growth and the spring frosts. 
One mode of meeting the danger is by lifting and checking the plants in early 
spring, another by planting in backward aspects, and yet another by offering 
some slight protection, not from the cold, but from the sun and sudden thaws. 
A glasshouse without any heat is certainly the best, although a great deal 
may be done without glass ; and any one who has seen the plants in their glory 
will admit that they deserve a little, or rather a great deal of trouble. In truth, 
these are not subjects to be attempted by persons who have not energy and 
patience. The suitable aspect, soil, and treatment have still in many cases to 
be discovered, but there is this to charm away the difficulties : that these plants 
in a garden form a feature wholly unique ; when they do flower well they create 
quite a sensation in the neighbourhood. Even when they do not flower, the 
foliage presents very great variety and beauty, and the crimson scales hanging 
round the young leaf-shoots of one variety of R. Aucklandii are well worth a 
102 
