76 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
requirements. Therefore immediately they are rooted, remove to a 
cold frame and keep close for a few days. Then shift into five-inch 
pots, with a mixture of loam two parts, and manure one part, and 
ventilate freely to secure asturdy growth. After the lst of May the 
lights must be drawn off altogether during the day, to harden the 
plants sufficiently to be bedded out about the third week of the 
month. 
These flowers make the most satisfactory growth in a deep rich 
soil, and some time previous to planting apply a liberal dressing of 
manure, and dig the ground deeply. It is of no consequence what- 
ever whether the manure is quite fresh or partly decayed, although 
some cultivators recommend the latter as being preferable. 
The third week in May has been mentioned as the most suitable 
time for planting, and it now only remains to be said that for bed- 
ding purposes the dwarf varieties should be twenty inches apart, 
and the tall sorts thirty inches. When planted in borders they 
should be put in the second or third row, according as they are 
dwarf or tall, and at regular intervals; the distance to be regulated 
by the plants occupying the intervening space. The only attention 
requisite through the summer will be to place stakes to them 
according to the progress made. 
The best six dwarf Dahlias for bedding are Alba floribunda, 
nana, white; Pluton, yellow; Rising Sun, searlet; Rose Gem, rose ; 
Crimson Gem, crimson ; and Royal Purple, purple. 
CULTIVATION OF AZALEAS. 
BY W. BRADBURY. 
¥e REENHOUSE AZALEAS now form a group of plants of 
§| so much importance for the decoration of the conserva- 
tory during the spring and early summer months, that 
it may not be amiss to refer to their cultivation. Of 
late years increased attention has been paid to the im- 
provement of the habit of the plants, and the size and the colouring 
of the fowers, and as the results of the labours of raisers of new 
varieties, a large number of sorts, having flowers of immense size 
and colours of surpassing richness and beauty, have been introduced 
to cultivation. I am disposed to regard the varieties of Azalea indica 
as being of more value than the camellias ; but as they areso distinct 
in character and bloom at different seasons of the year, no good 
will result from instituting comparisons, and the only satisfactory 
course will be to judge them on their own merits. Azaleas may be 
considered one of the most valuable classes of plants for the con- 
servatory of the amateur, for with the aid of a forcing pit and a 
sufficient stock of plants, they may be had in bloom from the 
beginning of January until the end of May. They may indeed be 
had in bloom before Christmas, and two of the white varieties, 
namely, Fielderi and Narcisseflora, bloom freely throughout Novem- 
