464 General Notices. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General J\'olices. 



Ratsi>g Trop^^olum Tricolorum from Seed. — Many of our readers 

 are aware of the great difficulty of getting seeds of this plant to vegetate. 

 I have practised the following method for several years with constant suc- 

 cess. Take the seeds and place them in the pans belonging to the pots 

 commonly used in gardens, filled with water, and let them soak for two or 

 three days, till the shell which surrounds the interior of the seed will come 

 easily oft'. After removing the shell, which requires to be done with great 

 nicety, or you will injure the principal point of the seed, prepare some pots, 

 filled with some good rich compost, composed as follows : two parts good 

 decayed leaf-mould, one part hazel loam, and the fourth part of equal por- 

 tions of bog-earth and sand, which mix well together ; fill the pots about 

 three parts full, or rather more, of this mixture ; then place the seeds on the 

 top, (not too many, or you will not be able to remove the plant after it has 

 formed a tuber,) and fill the remaining part with fine white sand, giving it a 

 gentle pressing. Then remove the pots to the cool greenhouse, and place 

 them in as shady a place as you possibly can, without anything being kept 

 too close to them. Keep the pots always in a damp state ; but mind Avhen 

 you sow the seed to place plenty of drainage at the bottom. As soon as 

 some of the plants appear above the soil about one or two inches, take a 

 small stick, and lifl the seed from the soil, moving as little as possible the 

 other soil, or you will injure the remaining seeds. Pot the young plants 

 into the size pots called thumbs, which afterwards treat the same as for old 

 plants in a growing state. The seedlings thus raised will flower the suc- 

 ceeding summer, and the year following make good established plants. 

 Should any further remarks on them be required, I should be very glad to 

 send them.— (Z^ /or. Cab., 1853, p. 181.) 



Management of Azaleas. — The splendid specimens which are exhib- 

 ited in and round London, of the Azalea indica, being much superior to 

 any I have seen at the country shows, induces me to send the particulars 

 of culture. 



As soon as the plants have done flowering, if shifling is necessary, pre- 

 pare some compost mould for them in the following proportions : — two- 

 thirds bog earth, one-third well decomposed tree-leaf mould, and one- 

 twelfth sharp silver sand ; they must not be sifted, but well chopped and 

 broken with the spade ; any lumps remaining may be broken with the hand. 

 Having a pot a size larger than the one the plant to be shifted has been 

 growing in, and washed clean inside and out, then proceed to pot the plant, 

 taking care the drainage is well attended to, for on this depends in a very 

 great measure the success of the plant. In potting, I think it an advantage 

 to place the centre of the ball rather lower than the mould at the outside 

 of the pot, and form, as it were, a little basin inside, as by this means the 

 whole mass of roots is benefited by the water given from time to time ; and 

 if the drainage is effectually performed, tlie water will pass through as free- 



