408 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



arrive. It will be advisable to keep the plants 

 through the winter in a temperature of 50° 

 during the night, so that they may go on grow- 

 ing slowly; for if allowed to go to rest in a 

 cool house they will lose many of their leaves. 

 Large plants of inferior kinds, if their roots are 



<C v-r 



Fip. 513.— Azalea, double. 



in a healthy condition, may be grafted in the 

 way described, putting on as many shoots as 

 desired. Previous to this the shoots of the 

 stock should be well thinned out to a few above 

 the number it is intended to graft. After eraft- 

 ing, treat them as recommended for the small 

 ones. Azaleas increase freely from cuttings of 

 the half- ripened wood in silver sand in a brisk 

 heat; but, unless for the propagation of stocks, 

 it is not desirable to grow them from cuttings, 

 as they rarely do so well as grafted plants. 



Soil and Potting. — Azaleas can be grown in 

 either light loam or peat, but the latter is much 

 the best. It should be rich and fibrous; hard 

 peat, such as is found where wild heather ex- 

 clusively grows, is not good for them. As the 

 plants get large enough to occupy 5-inch or 

 6-inch pots, use the peat in a more lumpy state 

 than is required for them in their earliest 

 stages. A sufficient quantity of sand must be 

 used, one-sixth part will not be too much, mix- 

 ing it well before use. Drain the pots well, 

 as Azaleas cannot possibly be kept in health if 

 the soil gets at all waterlogged. They do not 



require so much root -room as many things. 

 After they have got sufficiently large to occupy 

 12-inch or 15-inch pots, they will not need a 

 shift oftener than once in two or three years; 

 and when in 18-inch or 20-inch pots they can 

 be kept even longer in a vigorous healthy state 

 without more room, by the occasional use of 

 liquid manure when growing. The best time 

 to pot is about a month after their blooming 

 is over, as before this their roots are not suffi- 

 ciently active. In potting, the soil must be 

 made quite solid by a free use of the potting- 

 stick. The soil-ball of unhealthy plants may be 

 reduced sufficiently to again occupy the same 

 size of pot with fresh soil. 



Stopping and training must be attended to 

 in the early stages of growth, or the plants 

 soon get naked and bare at the base. Stop the 

 points of small plants, and when they have 

 broken and pushed several shoots some length, 

 train the strongest down so as to bring them 

 to the rim of the pot; but until they get up 

 to something like a half-specimen size, do not 

 attempt to keep them too close or bushy by 

 over-stopping, or their progress will be unduly 

 retarded. As they get large, train them into 

 the shape they are ultimately to bear; a rounded 

 pyramid (fig. 514), not too much pointed nor 

 made too even in outline, looks the best, and 

 suits the natural habit of the plant; but in all 

 cases keep the strongest branches down near the 

 base ; if the reverse of this is done, by letting the 

 most vigorous shoots run up to the top they 

 will so far take the lead as ultimately to starve 

 the weaker shoots at the bottom. Use no more 

 sticks than are necessary to support the plants, 

 and do not make them too formal. Give plenty 

 of light at all times. 



The Belgian nurserymen make a speciality of 

 the Azalea, hundreds of thousands being grown 

 and distributed by them annually. Their plants 

 are generally mop-shaped, the stem, from 9 inches 

 to a foot long, being the stock, and supporting 

 a head of crowded shoots. These plants can be 

 bought for much less than it would cost to grow 

 them in this country. They may be grown on 

 and trained into any desired shape. 



Temperature. — Although Azaleas when at rest 

 will bear slight frost without injury, it is not 

 desirable to subject them to a lower tempera- 

 ture than 35°; and in the case of small stock 

 45° in winter is low enough. During growth, 

 and until the flower-buds are set, a tempera- 

 ture of from 55° to 65° at night, with a rise of 

 10° by day, is good for them, syringing them 

 every afternoon so as to thoroughly wet the 



