94 FLOWERS AND THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



supply of water. After the flower is off, keep them in 

 a temperature of 55 to 60, and syringe them freely. 

 Train the trees to a good shape by judicious stopping ; 

 when they have made their growth, give them plenty of 

 air for a few weeks, and then set them under a low 

 north wall until autumn. The hardy azaleas will live 

 out of doors, in a peat border, with a little protection 

 from frost. These and all the American plants should 

 be watered with soft water. 



Most of the Rhododendrons are hardy, but a few of 

 them require a little protection to bring them to their 

 beauty. They grow in sandy peat, kept rather moist, 

 and are propagated by layers, either in spring or 

 autumn. Cuttings may likewise be taken when the 

 base of the shoot* by the older wood is getting firm. 

 The Rhodora Canadensis, a native of Canada, is a pretty 

 plant, with flowers like small rhododendrons, requiring 

 similar culture. It flowers in the open ground in April, 

 but it may be forced, under glass, with a little heat, to 

 flower quite early. 



The Vacciniums are the "Wortlebury family, one of 

 which, a Thibaudia, was shown at a recent horticultural 

 meeting, of which Dr. Poeppig, a well-known traveller, 

 had stated that the young shoots were so brilliant in 

 colour that they were seen a league and a half off. 



There are others which might be included amongst 

 florists' flowers, but those which I have taken, and 

 roses, include all which can be cultivated by amateurs, 

 without more costly appliances than fall to the lot of 

 many. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



BEDDING PLANTS. 



THE kind of flower garden most in favour at the pre- 

 sent time is the set flower garden, laid out in beds of 

 various forms, each bed filled and made gay with roots 



