174 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



"The only way to overcome this pest successfully is to 

 pick oil these galls and burn them. It is possible that 

 other leaves and branches may have been affected by the 

 disease : but it is impossible to be sure till later. So it is 

 advisable to inspect your plants occasionally to see if the 

 disease is reappearing'. ()n azaleas a similar fungus can 

 sometimes be found which also forms galls. This disease 

 is destroyed in the same way as that on rhododendrons.'' 



A new pest, the lace-wing fly, must now be contended 

 with. It has been brought upon plants of /\. iiia.vimiim 

 from some of the southern states. Into the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia it seems to have been introduced by plants 

 obtained from England soon after the outbreak of the 

 great war at a lime when the British growers were 

 obliged to omit the usual precautions. It is an insect 

 scarcely more than the sixteenth of an inch long, not 

 larger than a midge. There should be .spraying, in May, 

 June and September, with five pounds of whale-oil soap, 

 half a pint of nicotine and fifty gallons of water. 



Azaleas sometimes have leafspot — scptoria azaldc. 

 cured by spraying with lime-sulphur or paris green. Small 

 crowded orange spore dots on the under side of the leaves 

 do not much affect the plant's health. 

 Prop.^gation 



Concerning the raising of kalmias, rhododendrons and 

 azaleas from seed there appeared, nine years ago, an ar- 

 ticle from the pen of William Anderson, superintendent 

 of the Dayard Thayer estate at South Lancaster, Mass., 

 the gist of which it would be worth while to give here. 

 He has raised several hundred thousand without diffi- 

 culty. The seed should be gathered in November and 

 sown in February or March in a house, in four parts of 

 the leaf-soil, two of chopped sphagnum moss, and one of 

 sand, all put through a fine sieve. Clean six or eight- 

 inch pans should be filled one-third full of crock or rough 

 material of other kind and tamped with moderate firm- 

 ness. Sow the seed rather thickly and do not cover. Set 

 upon a well shaded bench in a temperature of 55-60 de- 

 grees. In most houses little or no watering will be 

 needed, after the preliminary drenching, for three or four 

 weeks. Then, whenever the pans become fairly dry, water 

 tlioroughly with a very fine rose. Do not permit water 

 to stand or to be excessive at any time. Pure moss can 

 be used ; but the seedlings then can not be transplanted 

 so early nor so safely nor so easily. When three or four 

 leaves have formed, in about three months from the time 

 of sowing, transplant into small flats, with drainage, of 

 soil made from eight parts of leaf-soil, three of loam and 

 two of sand, and firmed moderately. For kalmias avoid 

 the black peat, which is fairly good for rhododendrons 

 and azaleas. The first Summer keep the flats in the 

 greenhouse, for careful watering, and shade with frames 

 of lath. If any indication of dampening off appears in- 

 crease the ventilation and sprinkle the affected parts with 

 hot sand. 



If a cold frame is used sow around .Mav 15 and let 

 grow on in seedpans the first season, protected from se- 

 vere frost the first Winter. They would be kept best in 

 a cold cellar. The following ?klay transplant into flats, 

 using small tweezers with which to take hold of them. 

 Place them into frames under glass, with a screen of lath 

 above them, but with plenty of light and air admitlcd 

 during the day. Remove the shades toward evening, but 

 keep on the glass to protect against heavy showers. In 

 April, or before the young plants make growth for the 

 third season, transplant into frames, with soil only slight- 

 ly firmed. Use light loam, into which fork three inches 

 of leafsoil. Set the plants four inches ai)art and shade 

 with lath till September 1. when remove the shade and 

 expose to the full sunshine during the Fall months in 



order to ripen the wood. At the end of October mulch 

 with thick leafy covering and later cover with evergreen 

 boughs also. Rhododendrons and azaleas grow more 

 quicklv than kalmias and need less care. 



At Lindenhurst Air. Dodds has found that the seed of 

 various rhododendrons, both native and some of the 

 hybrids, germinates very freely when sown in chopped 

 sphagnum moss or in moss or leafsoil, in pans, in Janu- 

 ary. He will prick the plants off into boxes filled with 

 two-thirds peat and one-third fibers- loam. When large 

 enough they will be planted out into frames and kept 

 thinned out as they grow. In two years, it is expected, 

 they will be large enough for the nursery row. 



Of the azalea, both the native and the foreign, Mr. 

 Dodds has had excellent success with cuttings. In 1920 

 he put the cuttings in in September in sand in the house. 

 They took nearly four months to root. Last year he put 

 them in in August and they rooted in four weeks, ninety- 

 five per cent of them. Mr. Koster thinks that June cut- 

 tings are still belter. Cuttings of the growing wood of 

 rhododendrons are sometimes employed ; but the percent- 

 age of those that strike, in the case of the tall-growing, 

 both of the species and of the hybrids is small. The cut- 

 ting should be of half-ripe wood, preferably cut to a heel, 

 about three inches long, inserted in peat and sand, per- 

 haps better under a bell glass, in August, and kept at a 

 temperature of 45-50 degrees, increasing later to 69 

 degrees. 



The best way to propagate rhododendrons, however, 

 is by means of layers. The layers should be put down 

 in Spring, preferably in March or April, according to one 

 authority, or in early Autumn. Peat with a (|uantity of 

 sand added is the best soil for the purpose. 1 f the branch 

 can not readily be brought down to the grcnnid a notch 

 may be cut half way through the branch so that it will 

 bend but not break wholly away. Last season's growths 

 make the best layers. Strip oft" a few of the lower leaves, 

 then make a cut about one and a half inches in length 

 with a sharp knife up the center of the shoot. This is 

 technically called tonguing the shoot. Bend the prepared 

 shoot very gently and fix it into the soil with .some wood- 

 en or wire pegs in such a manner that the tongue formed 

 by the cut points downward. See that it rests upon the 

 soil at the bottom of the opening made to receive it and 

 then press the soil firmly around the layer. 



It is advised by some that the starting of the root 

 growth can be advanced l)y merely twisting the branch 

 a little, instead of tonguing the shoot, or 1>\- remnving a 

 bit of the bark. 



Grafting upon seedlings should be performed in lul\'. 

 after the potting has been done in the preceding .Spring. 

 The ]>lants are either kept growing in the house or car- 

 ried through the \^'inter in cold frames. P.ut to handle 

 them in frames one needs two sashes, the one several 

 inches below the other, and extreme care must be taken 

 to protect against the sun. For the first week or so the 

 jjlants are not disturbed in any way. They are left lying 

 on their sides, partly covered with moss, .\fter this first 

 week and daily for the next three weeks the water ding- 

 ing to the under surface of the lower glass must be al- 

 lowed lo run off by a slight tipping up of the sash. .'\t 

 the end of another week, during wliich the plants have 

 been aired a lillle every day, some of the wild stock may 

 be cut away. ,\fter the scion is well grown into the stock 

 the wild stem is cut ofl' completely. The lower sash is 

 now lemoved and the ])lanls stood upright. They can he 

 put out in the nursery in the Spring at the same time as 

 those that have been growing in the house. Instead of 

 the f'onlicitui should be used seedlings of the Ma.viininn 

 or cala^i'bioku', for hariliness and ]iermanencv. 



