THE AZALEA. 
159 
they perform." " They should be shifted into new pots of a larger size (i. e. one size 
larger) than before, and supplied with fresh peat and loam." 
The natural habits of the Azalea may be inferred from the particulars which we 
have above cited on authority, and no sensible person who understands what he 
reads, can, we think, doubt for a moment that the roots court swamp and bog, and 
revolt at aridity. We allude to this natural fact, because some have assigned the 
origin of its name to the situation in which they affect to believe the plant 
delights in, i. e. dry parched ground exposed to a burning sun. The word Azalea 
is pure Greek, — it is the feminine of the adjective a(a\eos — d£dkea, converted into 
a feminine noun, and implies a rigid parched condition. Now, if any one of the 
Azaleas be permitted to become dry in the ball, throughout, till it flag, that plant 
is either lost or in imminent peril of becoming a weakling for the remainder of its 
term of languishment. The word Azalea therefore is appropriate only to the hard 
unjuicy texture of its ripe wood ; and from the facts thus established propagators 
may learn, First, that the cuttings must be in a degree juicy, yet firm ; that they 
must retain the green tint throughout, but tending to become reddish toward the 
heel. Second, that as sun and air are required to support the established plants in 
health, the soil must always be moderately moist throughout. We now proceed to 
adduce the practical directions of a person employed at one of the first provincial 
nurseries of the kingdom, to which we shall apply a few experimental remarks. 
" " Azalea indica, and sinensis, in all its varieties, can be raised by cuttings, from 
April to August. These cuttings should be of the growth of the present year, be- 
come tolerably firm. Azaleas protrude, occasionally, a number of shoots from the 
stem, the position of which makes them resemble a whorl. Such shoots are often 
destitute of a leaf-joint at which to cut them across; but if they be slipped off 
from the main shoot with a heel, and the ragged piece of bark trimmed away, they 
will make excellent cuttings." 11 In fact, slips contain a number of minute, close, 
embryo eyes, just above the point where they leave the stem, and these are gene- 
rally inclined to develop roots. " The pots for the cuttings ought to be well 
drained, half their depth, with coarse crocks, then with finer pieces, decreasing in 
size till at one inch or little more below the rim, the fragments be very small, but 
not mere dust." 
Upon the top of the upper crocks a thin layer (a quarter of an inch) of very 
sandy heath-soil is to be placed, and then the pots are to be filled with wetted 
silver sand, like that formerly used for letters : this is quartz or almost pure silex, 
capable of holding water to saturation as a quicksand, without binding or yielding 
any soluble or decomposable extracts, which could tend to promote chemical action 
near the heel ; where all that is required consists in closely compressing the soil 
about the cutting, to the exclusion of air and retention of simple moisture. 
" The cuttings are to be inserted so deep as to pass the sand and reach the heath 
soil, and closely to, or remote from, one another, as circumstances indicate. The 
pots are then to be placed on the soil of a melon frame that retains a gentle bottom 
