THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 369 



can be detected. Let the soil be ricli, the planting firm, the mulch- 

 ing thick, the watering in dry weather in the spring be copious, and 

 with auspicious fortune there will be abundance of lovely blossoms to 

 make the garden glow, to adorn the vases, and to decorate the button- 

 hole. W. D. Pkiob. 

 Woughton House. 



THE AZALEA INDICA. 



illlS noble plant is now in process of being forced, for the 

 decoration of the conservatory, the first batch in good 

 establishments usually coming to perfection in Decem- 

 ber, and being succeeded by others until May, when 

 the pelargonium takes its place, as the most showy 

 greenhouse plant. 



Though, in common with many other fine subjects, it is very easy 

 to grow and flower the Azalea in perfection, it is nevertheless very 

 easy also to make the plant a mockery of itself and its cultivator, 

 or, I might say, its destroyer. I hope I shall uot oflfend any of the 

 readers of the Elokal "World by saying that amateurs rarely do 

 this plant well, but professional gardeners ai'e generally expert in 

 handling it. However, should what I have said offend any one, I 

 will endeavour to make amends by a short and useful essay on the 

 subject. 



The plants are now at rest, or have lately been put in to force. 

 "We will therefore consider their treatment as it commences from 

 this season. The plants may be kept in a cool greenhouse, until the 

 natural warmth of the advancing spring causes them to bloom 

 naturally, or they may be made to bloom at any time during the 

 winter by placing them in a genial temperature. If kept cool, they 

 require but little water during winter, but it is most important, 

 winter and summer, never to allow azaleas to become dry at the root. 

 If dried up for a week or two, as in some greenhouses they are, the 

 flower-buds never open, except in the likeness of bits of chaff, which 

 fall from a sort of leafy eye when the plant commences its spring 

 growth. But if forced, water must be supplied in exact proportion 

 to the amount of heat, and the syringe must be used freely and 

 frequently, not only to wet the leaves, but also the bark. A fierce 

 or sudden heat is most injurious — more injurious, in fact, than a 

 little frot't to those treated on the cool system. Plants to be forced 

 should be removed from the pit to the greenhouse, and, after a week 

 or ten days, may go to the stove, or forcing-pit. If the temperature 

 can be regulated to a nicety, it ought to start from 50', which will 

 di;<pose them to move quietly, to (30^ which will cause a very pro- 

 mising swelling of the buds, and thence rise to 70^, which is the 

 maxiuuim heat for forcing this flower. A humid atmosphere is 

 essential to success, and the plants should be as near the glass as 

 possible, to enjoy all the light that they can have at this dark 

 season. After the flowers fairly begin to open, cease using the 



TOL. 1. — >'0. XII. - 24 



