April 20—Now the rhododendrons are coming into flower, we decided to find out a little more about them and why some are called azaleas. We discovered that, botanically speaking, the genus azalea cannot be separated from the genus rhododendron although gardeners do insist on separating them: they would never dream of referring to the deciduous azalea as a rhododendron. We found also that Linnaeus derived the name azalea from the Gresk azaleas, meaning "dry," owing to the fact that it was generally considered a dry location plant. Many of our rhododendrons come from Japan; but there a large number of species native to China. Wilson tells us that he collected 80 of the 160 species known. We remember hearing about azaleas growing over 12 feet high in the mountains near Timoshan, away beyond Hang-Chow: they must be a glorious sight when in bloom. We read that R. Farrerae was introduc: d into England from China as far back as 1829 and that R. Championii was introduced from Hongkong in 1849. We saw a really beautiful display in a local garden during the weekend. Just sufficient cheiranthus was used to form a nice contrast to the blue pansies, iris and larkspur. Red Maples were showing up well against a green background while here and there groups of Spiraea Thunbergii and marguerites were planted. The spiraea is a member of the order rosaceae like the hawthorn; we often hear them called "May", so as they are relatives, there is some excuse for this, although there are not many true "May" plants growing in Shanghai gardens. We observe that the bamboo grass is in bloom at present on lawn "Tommy" tells me that he likes to see the purple spikes; he is going to let them seed and then leave the box off the lawn-mower the first time he cuts the grass: he says that he intends to have a better lawn next year. We also notice that the small blue gentian is in flower on the lawn. While walking along a country pathway today, we came across a mass of purple milk vetch growing on the banks of a ditch. It was very attractive and we feel that it could be used with advantage in many gardens: we learn that its botanical name is Astragalus sinicus; perhaps it is not used in our gardens because it is just a common wild flower; but it is no more common than "Temple of Heaven" and this plant is very popular owing to the effective displays it makes in the spring. We did not intend to refer to birds in these notes: unfortunately, we do not know sufficient about them tó do so; but as a matter of interest we feel w2 must mention that our old friend, the Indian cuckoo is back with us again. We heard one chappie advising people to have "one more bottle" on Sunday and as it was such a beautiful day, we expect many did as advised. It is very nice to have good advice on such a perfect day.—W.J.K.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.