In

if allowed, should be pinched off as they appear. this way they make fine plants for planting by the end of September, and will bloom more or less according to the weather, but most profusely in spring, up to the middle of May.

Hardy Spring-flowering Shrubs, suitable for Beds and Shrubbery Borders, and that thrive best in peaty soil; but succeed very well in a compost, such as is described for Rhododendrons. E. are evergreen, D. are deciduous.

RHODODENDRONS.-Hybridized Varieties.

I. Early Varieties flowering from the beginning of February to the middle of May.

Lord Clyde, blood.

Mrs. Hemans, white, shaded pink.
Mammoth, deep rich red.
Mooreanum, rosy crimson.

Ne plus ultra, purple, light centre.
Neige et cerise, white and red.
Omar Pacha, purplish crimson.
Ornatum, dark scarlet.

Pictum, white, buff spot.

Sir Charles Napier, rose, spotted.
Stamfordianum, claret, black blotch.

Schiller, blue, shading into

purple.

Ingrami, blush white, with spots.
Nero, dark rosy purple, spotted.
Paxtoni, like Lady E. Cathcart;
fine foliage.
Perspicuum, milky white.
Towardi, rosy lilac.

The Gem, white, striped pink.
Zuleika, delicate blush.

III. Late Varieties, blooming mostly in June.

Butlerianum, white, bold flower.
Candidissimum, white, perhaps

the finest.

Celebrandum, claret crimson,
dark spots.

Colonel, deepest crimson; late.
Concessum, deep rose, light

centre.

Maculatum nigrum superbum,

purple, dark spots; very late. Marguerite, white, washed with

lilac.

Minnie, white, chocolate spots.

Mr. John Waterer, bright car

mine.

Mrs. John Waterer, bright rose, spotted.

Mrs. Standish, pure white, brownish spots.

Standish's Perfection, pale peach, ochre spots.

Star of England, pale pinkish
white; large.

Leopardi, rosy lilac, red spots.
Vandyck, bright red.

Many more varieties might be added to each of these sections. Those under the first head having a large infusion of the blood of R. arboreum, campanulatum, and Caucasicum, flower early, and their blooms are often destroyed by the spring frosts. They can hardly be dispensed with, and may be associated with springgardening. Besides, some of them grown in large pots or tubs afford useful ornamentation in the conservatory. The later varieties under heads II. and III. have had R. Ponticum and Catawbiense for their female parents. They are perfectly hardy as shrubs, but sometimes the

R

blooms of class II. suffer a nip from the dry frosts towards the end of May. Group III. cannot be too strongly commended, particularly the white varieties, which are extremely effective in the decoration of shrubberies.

The Sikkim and Bhotan Rhododendrons, from which so much was at one time expected, are scarcely suited to the out-of-doors climate of Britain. Even where they survive the winter, they seldom form flower-buds. The following have bloomed occasionally in the open air near Edinburgh-viz.: R. glaucum, ciliatum, fulgens, Thomsoni, and perhaps some others. Probably, if they were treated like Camellias, much might be effected with them. R. Edgeworthi, Dalhousii, Jenkensi, Maddeni, Aucklandi, Nuttalli, etc., form admirable greenhouse and conservatory plants.

The foregoing lists of Rhododendrons have been looked over by men who are well acquainted with the very numerous varieties of this beautiful hardy flowering shrub; and such have been selected as are first-rate, in every respect, for a select and limited collection. There are many newer varieties which are very fine, but still so high in price as to prevent their being popular. Those who wish to know about these can refer to the catalogues of those nurserymen who grow them.

There is not another flowering shrub that deserves or will repay attention so well as the Rhododendron. It is magnificent beyond all rivals when in bloom, while few evergreens excel it as such at any season of the year. To grow them in the highest perfection, there is no doubt that a peaty soil is best: but let not this debar any from attempting to cultivate so splendid a flower. I have seen them succeed well on almost any soil,-from

a heavy clayey loam to a light sandy soil, provided there is no lime or chalk in its composition. They will not only not do well in limy soils, but in some cases will literally die out altogether in course of years. All who can procure a peaty soil should of course do so; and now that railways have opened up almost every tract of country in the kingdom, peat is much more easily and cheaply procured by those who are remote from peaty localities.

But the employment of peat in the culture of Rhododendrons, though highly desirable, is not necessary. Rhododendrons may be, and are, grown well without a particle of it. In some localities there naturally exists a light silky loam, which suits Rhododendrons remarkably well, especially after a considerable proportion of well-decayed vegetable matter, such as leaf-mould, or the vegetable rot-heap which exists about most gardens, has been mixed with it. But where a compost has to be entirely made up for Rhododendrons, and peat is not attainable, then a different course must be followed. This becomes necessary where the soil is either a hard impenetrable clay, or a poor hungry soil, which is too dry for such a moisture-loving plant as this. To prepare beds or borders for Rhododendrons under such circumstances, the first thing to do is to remove the unsuitable soil to the depth of about 18 inches or 2 feet, and in clayey soils to see that the drainage is good, for, though fond of moisture, stagnant water about the roots is highly injurious. Into the bottom of gravelly hot soils 6 inches of a heavy loam may be put with advantage in as far as it will help to secure a cool subsoil. The staple may be composed of loam, turfy material from the sides of highways or ditches or