342 LECTURE ON SPRING FLOWERS. 



rare beauty, which, like the Camellia in one respect, merely 

 requires protection from frost in winter. At Digswell 

 Rectory, near Welwyn, a plant of the white variety lived 

 in the open air through several winters. No one who has 

 attended the flower shows of this metropolis for which 

 our country still stands unrivalled and alone can fail to 

 have remarked the rich and varied masses of colour which 

 the Azalea presents to the eye. Azaleas are of easy 

 culture. Grafted plants are best. The soil they prefer is 

 sandy peat, which should be firmly pressed in well-drained 

 pots. A moderately close, warm, moist atmosphere during 

 the season of growth assists in the formation and setting 

 of the flower-buds. Azaleas are best placed out of doors 

 and slightly shaded from the sun during the summer 

 months. A minute insect, the thrip, is a great pest to 

 this plant, and requires checking by the frequent use of 

 tobacco smoke. 



In addition to these we have Heaths and Epacrises, 

 which delight in a peaty soil, and require careful watering 

 and little heat ; Acacias, Correas, Cytisuses, Veronicas, 

 and sundry stove and greenhouse plants, and last though 

 not least, many rare and beautiful Orchids. The latter are 

 usually made the object of special culture, and their high 

 prices have hitherto kept them in comparatively few hands. 

 Their culture is not, as is supposed by some, difficult, and 

 as they become more plentiful they will doubtless enter 

 largely into the purposes of in-door spring gardening. 

 There remain under this head certain Annuals not suffi- 

 ciently hardy to endure the winter out of doors, but which 

 if sown in May, June, and July, and grown under glass, 

 will bloom freely and beautifully during the spring months. 

 Such are the Chinese Primula, the Cineraria, the Petunia, 

 Schizanthus, Stock, Mignonette, and the like. 



In conclusion, I would venture a few remarks on the 

 art of forcing. Although all forced flowers are not natu- 

 rally spring flowers, they are made so by the art of the 

 cultivator, and enter so largely into the decoration of our 



