12 THE GARDENER. [Jan. 



and water applied with the syringe over the foliage once a-week will 

 also help to ward off green-fly, &c, which are sometimes troublesome 

 when the growths are young and in a succulent state, and when it 

 would be dangerous to apply the fumigator, as we have invariably 

 found that the tobacco-smoke kills the young shoots, making them 

 quite black and shrivelled before the fly seems to suffer. All plants, 

 either in pots or planted out, must have an abundant supply of water 

 at their roots during the growing season, not given in dribblets, but a 

 thorough soaking at a time ; and weak liquid-manure occasionally will 

 be found very beneficial up to the time the plants have finished flower- 

 ing. They are also the better of a little shade in hot, sunny weather, 

 until they stop growing, when they should be fully exposed to light 

 and air, so as to thoroughly ripen the wood, on which depends a great 

 deal the quantity and quality of the flowers. After the plants are done 

 flowering they should be kept very cool, and have less water at the 

 roots, but be by no means allowed to become too dry, as they will in 

 that case suffer. Dundonian. 



[Along with this we received a bunch of blooms, which are wonderful for 

 size and substance. — Ed.] 



DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE-PLANTS. 



THE AZALEA. 



The rage or fashion for fine-foliage plants, chiefly denizens of the 

 plant-stove, which has existed for a number of years, has been the 

 means of causing a great many of our finest greenhouse-plants, and 

 particularly the hard-wooded section of them, to be elbowed almost 

 out of cultivation. This state of matters may have arisen partly 

 from the fact that what are generally termed "foliage-plants," whe- 

 ther of stove or greenhouse, are much easier of cultivation than the 

 section of hard-wooded flowering-plants, and partly from the fact that 

 the culture of foliage-plant3 has received an almost undue amount of 

 prominence and encouragement from our horticultural societies, to 

 the all but total exclusion of the greater proportion of greenhouse- 

 plants proper. Excepting such things as Azaleas and Heaths, it is 

 very rarely that we see a well-grown specimen greenhouse-plant on 

 our exhibition tables; while stove-plants, such as Crotons, Dracamas, 

 Palms, &c, are shown in numbers and varieties almost bewildering, 

 a great many of the new varieties, indeed, being very slightly, if at 

 all, different from many of the older varieties. And the cry is, " Still 

 they come ! " Undoubtedly such plants are better adapted for house 

 and table decoration than the general run of greenhouse-plants, and 

 are available for this purpose at all seasons, whereas the others are 

 not ; and while the fashion for such decorations continue, foliage- 



