108 



EVERGREENS. 



which entirely unfits them for open-air culture, except 

 in a few favoured localities. 



As an example of the success which has attended 

 their cultivation in a bleak and naturally sterile 

 locality, we give in detail the practice adopted in our 

 own nursery, and the results which have followed. A 

 situation more unpromising in appearance than its 

 original and uncultivated condition can scarcely be 

 imagined. A black sandy soil, some twelve or fifteen 

 inches deep, resting upon a clayey subsoil, almost 

 wholly deficient in vegetable matter, has by cultivation 

 been rendered in the highest degree productive. 

 Our first operation was to drain it from three- 

 and-a-half to four feet deep ; it was then trenched two 

 feet deep ; and to every acre so treated, a dressing 

 of from thirty to forty tons of good farmyard manure 

 was given. Previously, however, to occupying the 

 ground with American plants, it was deemed advisable 

 to take a root crop, to exhaust the rankness of the 

 manure. After this treatment the plants were found 

 to thrive amazingly ; but like all others occupying 

 very poor soils, they derive great benefit from the 

 application from time to time of suitable enriching 

 materials. When, however, manure is given directly 

 to the plants it should be well decomposed. 



The erroneous opinion that peat or bog earth are 

 the only suitable soils for the growth of Rhododen- 

 drons cannot too soon be dispelled. The implicit 

 belief in such has alone debarred many from attempt- 

 ing their cultivation, when no really formidable 

 obstacle was present. An excellent compost for them 



