The Azaleas 



the Ghent Azalea has been introduced with a further 

 enrichment of effect. 



Before the war there were over five hundred nurseries 

 in Ghent from which millions of Azaleas were distri- 

 buted the world over every year, and the Quinquennial 

 Exhibition of Azaleas bore witness to the vastness of 

 this floral industry. Then, in " Azalea Hall," three 

 acres of Azaleas could be seen, all in the zenith of 

 their brilliant beauty, a flower display so unequalled 

 in gorgeousness and magnificence that one could 

 only endorse Ellwanger's judgment : " The Ghent 

 nurserymen who have developed its hues should receive 

 a medal of rubies, topazes and zircons executed by a 

 Cellini." 



The Azaleas are now classed botanically with the 

 Rhododendrons, both being placed under the genus 

 Rhododendron in the family of the Heaths Ericacece ; 

 indeed it may be said that in Japan the Azalea takes 

 the place that Heaths do in this country. At one time 

 the Azaleas were in a distinct genus, and in many 

 respects they appeared to be a well-defined group with 

 their deciduous foliage and their five stamens, as 

 against the evergreen Rhododendrons with their ten 

 stamens. But with the better knowledge of the ever- 

 green Indian Azaleas, the two groups are found to 

 merge one into the other by imperceptible degrees, so 

 that it is no longer possible to differentiate them. 



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