i88i.] GREENHOUSE PLANTS— THE AZALEA. 11 



tings, and these principally with a view of supplying stocks on which to 

 graft less free-growing kinds. September is a good time to put in the 

 cuttings. When selecting them, choose mature shoots, of from 2 to 

 3 inches long, of the current season's growth. Sever them from the 

 parent plant with a sharp knife, and trim off a few of the lower leaves 

 from each. This done, insert them in well-drained pots or shallow 

 pans, filled with peat and silver-sand in equal proportions, well mixed 

 together and firmly pressed in the pots. After the cuttings are in- 

 serted give them a good watering by means of a fine-rose watering- 

 pot, for the purpose of settling the compost firmly about them ; then 

 place the pots containing them on the bed or on a shelf in the propa- 

 gating-pit, and cover them with bell-glasses : shade them from direct 

 sunshine, and supply them with water as required until the following 

 spring, when they will be rooted and ready for potting off into separate 

 pots, using a compost similar to that in which they were rooted. 



After the little plants are potted off place them in a temperature of 

 about 65°. Shade them from sunshine, and maintain a close humid 

 atmosphere about them for two or three months. Under this treat- 

 ment they will grow apace, the object being to get them on as fast as 

 possible the first year. Those plants intended to be used as stock for 

 grafting other varieties on should not be permitted to make more than 

 one shoot each, and if all goes right they will be strong enough to re- 

 ceive the grafts in eighteen months from the time they were put in as 

 cuttings. When about to be grafted, the stocks should be placed in a 

 temperature of about 70°, a week or two previous to the operation of 

 grafting taking place. This will cause the sap to be moving in them 

 at the time the scions of the desired varieties are attached to them, 

 and thereby the union between stock and scion will more readily take 

 place. The scions should not be more than 2 inches long, taken from 

 the points of the shoots ; and the method of grafting should be what 

 is known as splice or whip grafting. Side-grafting is also a successful 

 method ; and both these are so well known to gardeners that I need 

 not describe them. After the operation is complete, the plants 

 should be placed in a close case in the propagating - pit, and 

 kept shaded and moist until the union is complete, and afterwards 

 treated as established plants. I would remark, however, that at the 

 present time the propagation of Azaleas, in any way, is not much 

 practised by private gardeners. Young plants in a flowering state can 

 be purchased at the nurseries much cheaper than what the same sized 

 plants could be produced for at a private place ; besides, it is not at 

 every place where the necessary accommodation is at hand for propa- 

 gating Azaleas, either by cuttings or grafting. 



Repotting established Plants. — This may be done at any season, but 

 just as the plants have done flowering is perhaps the best time to do 

 so. Before transferring the plants from smaller to larger pots, the 

 balls of soil about their roots should be thoroughly moist. It is also 

 important to success that the drainage be ample, and neatly arranged 



