CHAP. V VILLA GARDENING 169 



that where a dozen or so of varieties are grown the season of 

 blooming may extend over several months. The Azaleas are per- 

 haps the most useful of the allied families noticed above, but the 

 Rhododendron is indispensable where forced flowers are required 

 in spring, and the Indian species are well adapted for planting 

 in large cool conservatories. Grafted plants are best, and they 

 may be obtained of difterent heights, some grafted low down, 

 the lower branches to be trained down over the pot, and the 

 others led upwards to form a cone or pyramid. Others may 

 have stems of difterent heights up to a yard or more. These 

 latter, when their heads have attained to some size, are very 

 effective over a groundwork of other plants distinct in colour and 

 growth. Any one starting with young plants will have to wait a 

 few years for them to become large specimens, but every year they 

 will become larger, and every year also an abundant croj) of flowers 

 will be produced. ]\Iaking a small plant into a large one is simply 

 a question of time, which the skilled plantsman usually shortens 

 considerably by the judicious application of heat and moisture during 

 the growing season. When the flowering is over, the seeds should 

 all be picked off immediately ; the plants should then have a 

 good syringing, and either be placed in some warmer house to 

 make their growth, or grouped altogether at the warmest end of 

 the hoiise, and kept close till the growth is made. After it is 

 completed the plants should be cooled down to harden it, and in 

 Jidy, when the buds are showing up, place the plants in the open 

 air to finish the maturation. They must be housed again before 

 the heavy autumn rains set in. 



Training. — Whatever training is necessary should be done 

 after the flower buds are set, but the training of Azaleas is very 

 often overdone. Not only does this excessive formality oftend the 

 eye, but it cramps the growth, and sometimes seriously injures the 

 health of the plants. It is like the tight -lacing of the human 

 figiu-e : the strongest may stand it apparently uninjured, but we 

 have no statistics of the number prematurely killed. 



Soil and Potting. — Fibry peat, with about a sixth part of 

 clean silver sand, forms'] the best material for Azaleas. Exact 

 quantities, perhaps, should not be stated, as peat varies in quality, 

 and less or more sand should be used in proportion to its absence 

 or presence in the peat. Potting should be done either just im- 

 mediately after flowering or just after the growth is comjDleted. 

 No i^lant should have a larger pot until the one it occupies is full 

 of roots, but young plants should not be allowed to become pot- 

 bound. Old specimens, if the drainage is clear, may be kept in 

 good health for several years without repotting by the judicious 



