302 HOW TO GROW SPECIMEN PLANTS. 



Others are naturally of a bushy habit, and require 

 thinning out rather than stopping. But in all plants 

 we have to look well to the growing state when they 

 are manageable, for a very brief neglect, only for a 

 single season, will give us bare stems, naked under- 

 growth, ill shapes, and often unhealthy plants, and the 

 best thing we can do then is to strike the tops of 

 the young plant for young stock, and to cut down 

 the stems to within a few inches of the pot, for the 

 mere chance of their breaking and making fresh growth. 

 There is, however, one method by which we may 

 occasionally convert an ugly plant, with long, naked 

 stems, into a handsome standard; but there are few 

 plants which look well under such a change. One of 

 these is the Azalea Indica, in its numerous species. 

 If there be one straight stem among them, cut all the 

 others close down, and cut the branches of the single 

 stem off up to the part where the head is to begin ; 

 top the shoot to cause a side growth, and the head 

 will soon form well, but until the head is large enough 

 to be proportioned to the height of the stem the plant 

 will look poorly, and only be fit to remain in the 

 plant-house. 



