82 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



glass is raised a few inches higher and a little air is given. 

 They are gradually hardened off, and about the middle of 

 May, when all danger from frost is over, they are transferred 

 to beds in the open air, and planted about 4 inches apart 

 in sandy leaf-soil newly fetched from the woods. In the 

 third week in July the plants are lifted, potted singly in 

 thumb pots, placed under glass, and kept shaded and 

 syringed. Some growers pot the plants when they are 

 taken from the cutting boxes, and plunge the pots in the 

 beds outside. 



Grafting commences in August. The stocks are then 

 about 9 inches high, with a single stem, leafy to the base, 

 the lower part being fairly woody. They are cut obliquely 

 to a height of 4 inches, and with a sharp, thin knife-blade 

 they are slit to a depth of } inch. The scion, which is 

 about 2 inches long, is cut to a wedge shape and fitted in 

 the slit ; grafting cotton is used as a binder. The grafted 

 plants are placed in cases similar to those used for the 

 cuttings, but they are not syringed, lest water should get 

 between the stock and the scion. In from six to eight weeks 

 a union is effected, when the glass covering is removed 

 and the plants subjected to ordinary greenhouse conditions. 

 When they start into growth, the top is pinched out and the 

 cotton binding removed. In the following May they are 

 planted out 3 or 4 inches apart, in beds of leaf-mould, in a 

 position where they will receive full sunshine. They are 

 watered overhead daily, sometimes twice a day. 



Success with Azaleas in Ghent is largely due to the 

 subsoil there being a fine sand to a considerable depth. 

 This keeps the beds sweet, however much water is ap- 

 plied, and Azaleas cannot easily be over-watered there in 

 summer. 



