248 THE GARDENER. [June 



as Pi. pra3coxand the Ghent Azaleas, especially the Mollis varieties, are 

 liable, when their growth is completed early, to flower about the month 

 of August if the season proves hot and dry. If planted out it is difK- 

 cult to prevent this — that is, if the growth has been made indoors first; 

 but when in pots they can be placed in a northern aspect if advancing 

 too rapidly, and the risk of blooming prevented, besides giving them 

 a more complete rest. Deutzias and Prunuses will scarcely be ready 

 for turning out, as the wood will not yet be sufficiently matured. If 

 in small pots and full of roots, liberal feeding should be resorted to. 

 Some cultivators allow all the growths on Prunuses to remain that 

 start away when cut back after flowering ; but this is a mistake, as the 

 second growths are not so strong. Disbudding is as essential with this 

 plant as it is in the culture of the Peach ; and if plants are crowded with 

 shoots, it is not too late yet to thin them out, as they not only ripen 

 better, but flower more profusely. A few well-flowered shoots are pref- 

 erable to a host of weak badly-flowered ones. To have the shoots 

 thin and thoroughly ripened is the secret of doing well either P. 

 sinensis flore-pleno or triloba. The former strikes freely if the 

 young shoots are taken off with a heel, and grows much stronger and 

 better upon its own roots than when worked ; with the latter I have 

 found some difficulty in propagating from cuttings, and it appears to 

 do better when worked. 



The varieties of Azalea indica that have been making their growth 

 under the shade of Vines and Peaches, should be moved to a lighter 

 position for a time, until the flower-buds are well formed — afterwards 

 gradually bringing them to cool treatment, and finally placing them 

 outside. I am not much of an advocate for Azaleas being placed out- 

 side, and yet some little advantage is to be gained by subjecting the 

 early batch to this treatment for a short time. A good position should 

 be selected, and the plants placed upon a moist bottom, or better still 

 if they can be plunged, to prevent the sun striking direct upon the 

 pots. The system of placing them by the side of garden-walks, so fre- 

 quently practised, proves anything but beneficial to them. The little 

 advantage cultivators may think they gain by so doing will not com- 

 pensate for the destruction of quantities of roots that are at the outside 

 of the ball, which cannot fail to perish when subjected to this drying 

 ordeal. Later batches, and those that have only just flowered, should 

 be pushed forward to make their growth before autumn approaches, as 

 they can afterwards be retarded for late flowering by being placed in 

 a house with a northern aspect, and the frost only excluded. 



Heaths and Epacris will be in frames and now growing vigorously, 

 and should have all the light possible consistent with the wellbeing of 

 these plants, to harden their growth, with abundance of air circulat- 

 ing amongst them day and night. Care must be taken that they 

 never suffer for want of water, or they will soon present a sickly 

 appearance, and the foliage turn yellow, and eventually fall off. 



