460 The Azalea and its Varieties. 



out to ornament the place for a season or two, and take their 

 chance, be it so. At all events, remove them from the beds 

 provided for azaleas, and with these, which may be called 

 worthless ones, strike out every bit of peat mould hanging 

 about their roots, for they would otherwise greatly lessen the 

 quantity by its clinging about them. The selected ones may 

 now be submitted to the process of layering, and be propa- 

 gated for the purpose of perpetuating the new varieties so 

 distinguished. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON THE FUTURE MANAGEMENT. 



The azalea is very apt to grow into an ugly form if not 

 restrained, because a branch will every now and then take 

 the lead so completely as to stagnate the growth of the rest 

 of the plant. Hence we find among plantations at all ne- 

 glected, the most straggling and uncouth forms imaginable ; 

 naked stems at the bottom ; no bloom, except at the ends of 

 long branches ; plants grown all on one side, and every way 

 but handsome. This can only be prevented by attention 

 while young. If a branch shoots out more vigorously than 

 the rest, pinch out the end at once, and stop its career. At 

 the end of every season cut out all the pimping little shoots 

 that grow sometimes like so much brushwood, to the injury 

 of the plant ; and after the bloom has begun to decay, and 

 before the fresh growth is made, cut back any branch that 

 spoils the general form of the shrub, so that the new growth 

 may have every chance of being handsome and effective. 

 One or two examinations while the growth is propagating, 

 will enable you to check anything that is growing too exu- 

 berantly ; and when a plant has been kept within bounds a 

 few seasons, it may be fairly left to itself, and will not grow 

 very wrong. It is only while young that they want control, 

 because the branch that grows vigorously stops the growth 

 of the other portion of the plant, and having got the lead, 

 keeps it, to the detriment of all that was handsome, and of 

 the general form of the plant. Nothing is more neglected 

 than this at the great azalea nurseries. There are too many 

 to attend to properly, and it is the most difficult thing imag- 



