NEW THAT orchids monopolize practically the whole of the energy and resources of our professional collectors, the introduction of new plants has latterly become more a matter of chance than the result of direct enterprise. The consequence is that the flow of new introductions, other than orchids, into this country has not been, during the past few years, nearly so extensive as it was from twenty to fifty years ago. In these days, however, when almost every corner of the earth has been traversed or is within the ken of some plant-lover or other, the expeditions of specially-equipped collectors are scarcely needed, and from the commercial standpoint have probably ceased to pay.

Some of the best of our newest plants have been obtained from seeds sent by missionaries and travelers in unfrequented localities. A good deal of interest has lately been aroused by the dried specimens and seeds sent to Europe by the French missionary, L'Abbe Delavy, who is stationed in Yunnan, China, and by Dr. Henry from western China. A considerable number of these are rhododendrons, some of which, besides showing characters quite distinct from those of their known congeners, give evidence also of great beauty. Up to the present, so far as I am aware, only one of these, R. scabrifolium, has flowered, but numerous young plants of the other species are at Kew, the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, and in some of the trade establishments, where, needless to say, their flowering is eagerly awaited by the cultivators.

Irrespective of orchids, it is probable that quite two-thirds of the new plants that reach England make their first appearance at Kew. The influence and connections of this establishment are world-wide, and its value to horticulture is nowhere better evinced than in furnishing a center to which the numerous plant-lovers scattered through the British dominions may send their discoveries.

Some time ago one of our leading nurserymen observed that the globe was practically played out as regards the supply of new and horticulturally valuable plants, and that it was to the hybridizer and crossbreeder at home more than to the envoy in foreign lands that the gardener must look for new material. So far as applies to new and leading types of plants the first part of this remark appears to be just, for although varieties and species nearly allied to those already in cultivation continue to arrive, the appearance of plants that are strikingly distinct is comparatively rare. It seems doubtful if the days of Fortune and Douglas, the great collectors of the Horticultural Society of London. will ever return, when nearly every week brought forth some new excitement to the horticultural world. If, however, so much of the world is known as to lead us to doubt that there are entirely new races of plants to be discovered, three or four large areas, such as New Guinea, Central Africa and Madagascar are as yet so little opened up that we are justified in hoping they will eventually yield many valuable plants.

One of the most pleasing characteristics of present-day gardening is the revival of the culture of many old and at one time popular plants, which in the conflict with changing fashion had almost or quite disappeared from our gardens, and which to the present generation of gardeners are virtually new. At almost every meeting of the Horticultural Society some of these old favorites make their reappearance. In making a selection of interesting and ornamental plants available for greenhouse cultivation I have not limited myself to absolutely new plants, but have included such as were popular many years ago, and promise as well as deserve to become so again.