July 13. 1S71. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICDLTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



21 







WEEKLY 



CALENDAR, 















Day 



Day 







Rain in 













Cloclc 



Day 



Montli 



Week. 



JULY 13—19, 1871. 



tore near London. 



43 years. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Son. 



Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mpan. Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. 8. 





13 



Th 



Royal Botanic Society's Show closes. 



76-1 



61.4 



63,7 



15 



Oaf 4 



llafS 



69af 



39af 4 



26 



5 23 



194 



14 



F 





74.5 



50,5 



62,5 



15 



1 4' 



10 8 



25 1 



42 6 



27 



5 30 



195 



15 



S 



St. Swithin. 



76.6 



50.7 



63.7 



22 



2 4 



9 S 



67 1 



43 6 



28 



6 36 



196 



16 



Son 



6 Sunday aptee Trinity. 



76.0 



60.1 



63.0 



17 



S 4 



8 8 



37 2 



36 7 



29 



5 43 



197 



17 



M 





74 3 



51.3 



62.8 



IS 



4 4 



7 8 



27 B 



20 8 



9 



5 48 



198 



18 



Tn 





74.7 



50.-2 



62.5 



21 



6 4 



6 8 



26 4 



66 8 



1 



5 63 



199 



19 



W 



Royal Horticultural Society, Fruit, Floral, 



73.2 



49.9 



61.1 



23 



6 4 



6 8 



82 6 



25 9 



2 



5 58 



200 







[ and General Meeting. 





















From obaerrations taken near London daring fortv-tliree years, the average day temperature o£ the week is 75.1 



°. and its night tem- 



perature 50.6°. The greatest heat was 94^, on the 17th, 1834 ; and the lowest cold 83°, on the 17th, 1863. The greatest fal 



of rain was 



1.60 inch. 







AZALEA CULTURE. 



HERE are few flowers so liiglily appreciated 

 as the Indian Azalea, or more generally 

 cultivated for the decoration of the green- 

 house and conservatory, as well as for exhi- 

 bition purposes. It can be had in flower 

 from January until midaummer, or later : the 

 early-forced flowers having the advantage 

 over those produced later, inasmuch as they 

 continue longer fresh. Bright sunshine and 

 dry east winds in May and June cause the 

 brightest colours to fade quickly, even under shade. The 

 Azalea is also one of the easiest cultivated of what are 

 called hardwooded greenhouse plants ; added to this the 

 exceeding beauty and varied colours of the flowers, with 

 their innumerable shades and stripes, are at all times 

 ■welcome. 



The Azalea is a native of China, and the original colour 

 is said to have been scarlet. The culture of this plant is 

 very generally understood by practical gardeners, but there 

 are, I have no doubt, numerous readers of the Journal to 

 whom a few cultural remarks would be useful. The Azalea 

 is propagated by grafting and by cuttings, the new varie- 

 ties being raised from seeds and from sports of other varie- 

 ties. Grafting is the most usual method of propagation, a 

 strong-growing purple-flowered variety being much used 

 for stocks. Side-grafting is the metkod to be preferred, 

 and is best performed when the plants are in strong heat 

 in July and August. The graft should be inserted at from 

 C inches to a foot above the surface of the soil, thus allow- 

 ing a clear stem below the graft. If plants are raised 

 from cuttings they should be trained in the same way, 

 allowing no shoots to grow out from the main stem at a 

 less distance than 6 inches from the surface ; indeed, the 

 most handsome and symmetrical specimens which I have 

 seen have had a clear stem of from 1 to 2 feet in height. 

 Grafting is also sometimes performed in the following 

 manner : — When it is desirable to obtain a large plant of a 

 new or choice variety, a plant of some common strong- 

 growing sort must be placed in heat in July ; the tempe- 

 rature should be about 70° at night, with a proportionate 

 rise by day, and any number of grafts that can be obtained 

 may be inserted in the previous year's wood. All that is 

 required is a close moist atmosphere and shade. 



The Azalea can be raised from cuttings as freely as 

 Verbenas. I struck a number in this way some years ago 

 in the orchard house, at that time unheated. A number 

 of 5-inch pots were nearly filled with sandy peat, allowing 

 space for a surfacing of silver sand. Prom nine to a dozen 

 cuttings were inserted in each pot, and the whole of them 

 placed under hand-glasses. This was about the first week 

 of August, and nearly all of them were potted off singly, 

 and they made neat little plants the same season. 



As soon as flowering is over all decayed blooms and 

 seed pods should be picked off, and the plants placed in a 

 house by themselves, if it is convenient ; and where arti- 

 ficial heat can be applied to them the house in which they 

 make their growth should be kept close and moist, and 

 Ko. 5S7.— ToL/XSX, Nbjt Sebies. 



the plants freely supplied with water at the roots, as well 

 as syringed overhead at least twice a-day. The plants 

 will not flower satisfactorily if they be allowed to remain 

 in the greenhouse during the growing period, most likely 

 smothered with Geraniums and the usual occupants of such 

 houses in the early part of July. 



Training the plants into a proper shape should he attended 

 to at an early stage of their growth. At the metropolitan 

 exhibitions the pyramidal form is that which is most fre- 

 quently seen, and in many cases the plants have presented 

 a very formal and unnatural appearance ; yet in some 

 instances where the shoots have not been too closely tied- 

 in, and the trellis to which the plants have been trained 

 has not come to an abrupt termination at the apex, but 

 has bfeen more rounded, the plants have been decidedly 

 effective. 1 have seen very handsome specimens of Azaleas 

 in the neighbourhood of Paris ; these were trained to a 

 single stem, with umbrella-like heads, and as the}' stood in 

 a position where the eye of the spectator was above them 

 the efieot was good. The Azalea is also well adapted for 

 specimens in the ordinary bush form, the plants rather 

 wider at the top. Small standard specimens with neat 

 round heads, and grown in G-inoh pots, are unsurpassed 

 when in flower for table decoration, and if kept in cool 

 rooms will continue in beauty for a long period. 



Whatever form of training be adopted, much depends on 

 the skill and judgment of the cultivator being directed 

 towards making the plants look natural. Much tying 

 and twisting of the shoots will be found objectionable, and 

 if a plant is well set with flower buds, doing so causes 

 the flowers to look crowded, and hinders them from being 

 seen to the best advantage when the plant is in bloom ; in 

 most cases it is highly desirable to thin the flower buds 

 shortly after they are set, in order to obtain larger as well 

 as more perfectly-developed flowers. Very vigorous shoots 

 do not ordinarily form flower buds ; they can, however, 

 be made to do so by pinching them during growth, when 

 they wiU throw out a number of weaker shoots, which will 

 doubtless form flosver buds on each shoot. 



During growth I have found occasional waterings with 

 weak guano water very beneficial, especially to those 

 plants which have not been repotted. After growth has 

 been completed, and the buds are formed, a much drier 

 atmosphere and more air are- desirable, and when the 

 plants are sufiiciently hardened it is much the best plan 

 to turn them out of doors for a time, removing them to 

 their winter quarters before the soil in which they are 

 growing is too much saturated with the autumn rains. 

 In winter, when the plants are at rest, they will continue 

 in the best health in a comparatively low temperatm-e ; 

 rather allow -the thermometer to fall to the freezing-point 

 than apply too much artificial heat. It is also the custom 

 with some to allow the' plants to become quite dry at 

 the roots in winter. I think this a great mistake ; large 

 numbers of the young hair-like roots are killed, and 

 the plants shed their leaves prematurely and to a much 

 larger extent than is desirable. I never allow Azaleas 

 nor any plant of similar constitution to be overdry in 

 Y^jnter, and it is highly important that sufficient water 

 Mo. 1189,— Vol. XL VI., Olb Seeies. 



