AMERICAN PLANTS AXD CAPE BULBS. 735 



clump, and weeds and other vegetable refuse, when burnt or charred. This 

 compost, with a subsoil suflSciently retentive of moisture, and situation not 

 too much exposed to the direct influence of the sun, will grow these beautiful 

 shrubs in great perfection. 



2291. Rhododendrons may be planted in masses, clumps, or singly, if the 

 soil is suitable. This noble shrub requires a soil of rather stiff and tena- 

 cious clay, and the stations prepared for the plants should be filled with a 

 portion of this soil, mixed with peat-earth. A splendid and immediate effect 

 is produced by forming a mound, and planting them upon it ; and where the 

 space permits, this effect is enhanced by placing masses of rock at the 

 base of the mound, and bushy specimens on the ground-level ; but this 

 requires considerable space, and would be out of place in a small gai-den. 

 The best use in a small garden for these plants would be to mask some north 

 wall, which was high enough to shelter them from the southern sun, and not 

 so high as to overshadow them. 



2292. The Indian azaleas require more delicate treatment than their more 

 hardy congeners. They hve and grow in a low temperature, however, and 

 are not materially injured by a few degi-ees of frost ; but while growing, a 

 moist warmth and equable temperature are essential to their flowering pro- 

 perly. Their bloom-buds are now getting forward, and if there are any 

 lateritias or prsestantissimas, or others of the same habit in the collection, 

 their bloom should be retarded by placing them on the north side of a 

 wall. Plants only which show no bloom should be re-potted. 



2293. Pelargoniums, calceolarias, and many other soft-wooded plants, will 

 also grow in a low temperature ; but no large, full-grown specimens of either 

 can be grown in perfection to flower in the summer where they are kept in a 

 lower temperature than 50° till they bloom. The former i-equire assiduous 

 attention now ; growing plants require continual watering, so that they 

 never flag, otherwise the lower leaves, which are essential to the appearance 

 of the pots, become yellow. Manure-water, prepared from equal parts of cow, 

 horse, and sheep dung, with a little lime, mixed together in a large tub of 

 rain-water so as to form a paste : this is allowed to settle, then drawn oflf to 

 keep it clear. This applied once a week for the present, mixed with two 

 parts of soft water, will materally increase the vigour of the plants. Cal- 

 ceolarias now require a final shifting into a light rich compost, pegging them 

 down, and watering cautiously, and fumigating freely for the green-fly. 



2294. Cape Bidhs. — Charming in their foliage, abundant in their flowering, 

 and of easy culture, these plants have but one fault, — they are a very short 

 time in flower. Mr. M. Saul, the gardener to Lord Stourton, says of them, 

 " I have seen hundreds of flower-gardens perfectly dazzling with scarlets, 

 yellows, and blues of every shade ; but I declare I have never witnessed any- 

 thing to equal the beauty and grandeur of some beds of these truly delightful 

 genera which I once saw in full flower in the open garden. They were pro- 

 tected from the north by a wall, beluu',1 which grew a row of trees, and con- 



