Culture of chalk, the buyer will be quite safe. But what of the turf 



Rhododen- itself? Secure it also if possible. If stacked in a heap, grass 



drons s ^ e down, with layers of manure, for a few months, then 



chopped up and mixed with leaf mould, a compost will be 



secured in which Rhododendrons will revel. 



So rapidly is the loam theory spreading that there promises 

 to come a time when turves and top-spit, with the accompani- 

 ment of leaf mould, will be actually preferred to peat. And 

 the writer has little hesitation in prophesying that when that 

 era arrives Rhododendrons will be grown in greater beauty 

 than they have ever been in the past. So far as clay is 

 concerned, it is nqt suitable when in a stiff, crude state, liable to 

 be pasty in wet weather, to dry like steel under harsh spring 

 winds, and to develop fissures during summer drought. But 

 ameliorated clay clay lightened with road grit (not limestone), 

 leaf mould, and, if possible, decayed turves is by no means 

 hopeless. A mulching of leaf mould is of considerable benefit, 

 as it prevents the cracking which is such an objectionable 

 feature of mismanaged clay. 



While dealing with practical matters, it may be permissible 

 to point out how great a help it is in establishing young plants 

 to give careful attention to them directly the bloom fades. 

 Young, newly purchased plants, perhaps three years from graft 

 or layer (new sorts will probably be grafts on pontlcum stocks, 

 old varieties will very likely be layers) may carry two or three 

 large heads of bloom the year of planting. This in itself will not 

 hurt them, in fact new growth will perhaps be breaking freely 

 while they are in bloom ; but if the flower heads are permitted 

 to ripen right off, the plants are bound to suffer. The fading 

 trusses should be broken off, and in a particular way. When 



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