1871.] NOTES ON RHODODENDRONS. 105 



constant succession may be secured from December till the genial 

 warmtli of spring and early summer tempts those that are outside to 

 expand their blooms. They should be potted as soon as possible after 

 the flower-buds are fully formed, and placed in an open sunny situation 

 out of doors until severe frost (to which they ought never to be ex- 

 posed) necessitates their removal to more comfortable quarters. The 

 earliest lot may be introduced into heat about the beginning or middle 

 of December, according to the time they are wanted in flower, or the 

 amount of heat that can be applied. From two to three weeks will 

 generally suffice in an ordinary plant-stove temperature to expand the 

 earliest varieties, while those that are later will require longer periods, 

 according to their natural season of flowering when out of doors. 



In potting, the balls should never be reduced more than is absolutely 

 necessary. It should always be borne in mind that every root cut off 

 inflicts an injury upon the plant, and though they will expand their 

 blooms after being considerably mutilated and cramped into unnatur- 

 ally small pots, the evil effects of such treatment will be seen for years 

 after. 



While forcing, a moist atmosphere should be constantly maintained, 

 the plants twice a-day syringed overhead, and the roots abundantly 

 supplied with tepid water, with an occasional dose of w^eak liquid man- 

 ure after the buds begin to swell. After the flowers are fully ex- 

 panded, and not a day before, as they will be completely checked and 

 make no further progress with a sudden change of temperature, they 

 may be transferred to the conservatory, where the more they are shaded 

 from the sun, the longer they will continue in perfection, adding to 

 its attractions, and eliciting from even the most unimpressionable of 

 its visitors the warmest expressions of admiration. 



Forced plants, after their blooms are decayed, should be kept under 

 glass till such time as they can be put outside without danger of suf- 

 fering from frost, to which, after the heat they have been subjected to, 

 they are peculiarly susceptible ; and as they very rarely set a sufficient 

 number of buds the first season to make them eligible for the 

 following winter's work, they should be replanted in the borders 

 as soon as the weather is mild enough to permit its being done with 

 safety. 



While all the varieties are available for forcing, and may be induced 

 by strong heat to flower considerably earlier than their natural season 

 out of doors, the subjoined list of the earliest flowerers comprises a 

 selection of the best sorts for forcing, to come in early in winter, or 

 for potting for the decoration of the conservatory in spring, with no 

 other heat than is necessary to exclude frost : those in the first division 

 are most effective in the open air in mild springs, but so early that they 



