8 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



full of the roots of grass and tough fibrous peat, with a sixth part of 

 the whole bulk of silver sand. 



Azaleas are strictly greenhouse plants, but they receive immense 

 benefit from the assistance of a genial temperature when making 

 their growth in the spring. When the stock is fresh potted, place 

 it in a temperature of about 65°, and maintain a healthy atmosphere 

 by frequently sprinkling the paths and stages ; also syringe overhead 

 lightly morning and afternoon. Water sparingly, because the roots 

 are too much deranged to take up a large supply ; and, to keep up 

 the balance, the evaporation must be checked in the manner pointed 

 out above. Hundreds of azaleas are killed annually through im- 

 proper watering, for they are remarkably impatient of being 

 tampered with at the roots. It is a very common practice to give 

 just ' sufficient to wet the soil to a depth of three or four inches 

 below the surface, without troubling to ascertain whether the lower 

 portion is wetted or not. When once the lower part of the ball gets 

 dust-dry, it is no easy task to moisten it without dipping it into a 

 vessel of water. When any plrmt looks sickly, or evinces any flac- 

 cidity in the leaves, and the soil is moist on the top, turn it out of 

 the pot, and probably the soil will be found dust-dry at a few inches 

 from the surface. The water should always run through the hole in 

 the bottom of the pot after its application, and you should continue 

 to fill up the space on the surface until it does. Guard against 

 giving too much water at the roots, for that is as injurious as an in- 

 sufficient supply. 



Give liberal ventilation as soon as the stock has recovered from 

 the check received in repotting, and increase it as the growth pro- 

 gresses. Although a moist and warm atmosphere is essential to a 

 healthy growth, it must not be kept too close, or the shoots will be 

 weak and long-jointed. When the growth is completed, harden ofi" 

 by opening the ventilators night and day, and then place out of 

 doors, in a shady and rather sheltered position, until the middle or 

 end of September. A light, airy greenhouse, with a temperature of 

 40° or 45°, is all that is required during the winter months ; and 

 give the treatment already advised during the following spring and 

 summer. Good specimens can be, and are, grown without a taste 

 of artificial heat, excepting what is necessary to keep the frost out ; 

 but to grow them like the magnificent specimens staged at the 

 metropolitan exhibitions, the preceding directions must be strictly 

 followed. 



When a nine-inch pot is reached, a shift once in two years will 

 be quite often enough, unless large specimens are required at the 

 earliest moment possible. Extra care will be requisite in watering 

 during the second year, to prevent them suffering from drought, 

 without keeping them too wet. Water with rain-water at all 

 times, except when they are making new growth the second year 

 after a shift, and then water with weak liquid manure, made by 

 steeping sheep or cow-manure in rain-water, and allowing a sufficient 

 time to settle before using. It should be diluted with soft- water 

 until paler than pale ale. 



With regard to training the specimens into shape, the pyramidal 



