162 MASACHUSSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



boxes and transplanting the following spring where they are to 

 remain, will be astonished to see how much land can be covered in 

 a few years with health}- young growths of hard wood with very 

 little trouble or expense. And in New England, as well as in 

 other parts of our countr}', we have too man}- acres lying idle, 

 which it would be more profitable to plant with trees than an3thing 

 else. 



Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and Kalmias. — The propagation 

 of these from seed demands great attention and care, and cannot 

 be successful!}' done out of doors, but requires a greenhouse. 

 The best soil to grow young seedlings of this class is composed 

 of good peat, loam, and sand, in equal parts. The sand should 

 be fine, but sharp and clean, having no clay or iron in it. Earthen 

 pans are best to sow the seed in, as there is less danger of 

 fungus than with boxes ; but after the first transplanting boxes 

 may be used. Being all ready to sow, — say about the first week 

 in January, — the pans should be well drained by fiilling them 

 one-third with broken crocks, over which put a covering of 

 sphagnum, or the coarse siftings of peat, so that the soil will not 

 work in among the drainage ; then put in about two inches of the 

 compost mentioned above, have it well firmed, and give the pans a 

 gentle watering with a fine rose to settle the soil. As soon as 

 settled the seed can be sown quite thickly, but evenly, over the 

 surface. They should then be covered with the slightest possible 

 covering, — not more than the sixteenth of an inch, — after which 

 put over the pans a covering of fine sphagnum, give a gentle 

 syringing, and place in a temperature of seventy degrees. After 

 sowing, the seed should on no account be allowed to get dry ; but 

 at the same time saturation should be avoided. The seed will 

 usually come up in from two to three weeks, and in the meantime 

 the pans will have to be examined occasionally to see if the seed 

 is coming. As soon as it shows signs of germinating the coarsest 

 of the moss should be gradually removed, and when the seed is 

 fairly up a slight sifting of fresh soil among the young seedlings 

 will help to strengtlien them. As soon as they have made the first 

 rough leaf they should be pricked off thickly in boxes or pans of 

 fresh soil prepared as for the seed, carefully syringed, and kept 

 growing in a high temperature and moist atmosphere. Such 

 delicate seedlings as rhododendrons at this stage should never be 

 transplanted in a shed or room where there is any draught, but 

 always in the close, moist atmosphere they are grown in, as the 



