THE INDIAN AZALEA. 
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fmall pots, and should be grown with great 
care, and apart from any of the common sorts 
which are now spreading abroad in all direc- 
tions, under all sorts of names. 
SOIL. 
The best soil in which to grow this plant is 
decayed turfs, decayed melon bed, and turfy 
peat. This will be found generally light and 
rich, and well adapted to the wants of the 
plant. The turfs should have been cut from 
a meadow of which loam forms the upper spit, 
and should be cut about three inches thick, so 
that all the fibry matter of the roots as well 
as the grass itself should be included. One 
half of this passed through a coarse sieve that 
would let a marble through, one fourth de- 
composed dung from the melon bed, and one 
fourth peat earth also rubbed through the sieve, 
will be found excellent compost. Should it, 
however, in consequence of the quality of the 
loam, which cannot always be controlled, seem 
too adhesive to allow of the water passing 
through freely, add a little silver sand ; but 
it is very unlikely that this will be required. 
Into pots a full inch larger all round, or, 
which is the same thing, two inches wider 
across the top, shift the plants as soon as the 
roots reach the side of their first pot, the 
chance of which is, that they want it immedi- 
ately, but the perfection of this compost is 
merely well mixing it, so that it shall be all 
alike, and laying it in a heap till wanted. 
POTTING AND SHIFTING. 
On turning out the balls of the earth they 
first arrive in, you will observe whether the 
roots have reached the sides. In most cases. 
the nurserymen keep plants in the smallest 
sizes they can, for convenience ; and therefore, 
you mostly find the roots matted so completely 
round the side of the pot as to require imme- 
diate change. Let your pots be very clean, if 
not new : place a few crocks at bottom, and a 
- lump of the turfy peat that would not come 
through the sieve upon the crocks ; then a 
little of the soil, enough to lift the plant to its 
proper position. It is the best way to put a 
sort of cone of the soil, because by pressing the 
plant down, it will give way, and the height is 
easily adjusted. The surface of the ball of 
stale earth should be rubbed off a little, but 
not low enough to touch the fibres or damage 
them ; and the old drainage or crocks that 
may stick to the ball may be taken away, 
unless the fibres of the root are among them. 
The ball thus prepared, may be placed in the 
centre of the fresh pot, and pressed down till 
the collar of the plant is just even with the pro- 
posed new surface. The mould should be put 
in all round, and be gently pressed in with the 
finger as you fill. The plant will then be in 
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the centre, and the mould must be filled so as 
just to hide the ball of earth about the plant. 
The plant may now have a little water to 
settle the earth about the roots ; and the pot 
may be placed in a cold frame, shut up for a 
day or two, and then, according to the weather, 
be exposed to the air and warm rains, or 
closed against heavy falls and frosts. There 
is no way of growing these plants better than 
in a cold frame or pit, if there be a capacity 
for keeping the frost out, for that is the only 
thing that is required. Nevertheless, they 
grow well in a moderate greenhouse, and seed- 
lings are always pushed on as fast as possible, 
for the sake of seeing what sort of flowers 
they produce. If a plant is wanted large, it 
may be easily grown in the stove or propa- 
gating house ; and it has been found that they 
bear a considerable degree of heat without 
materially suffering, except, perhaps, that they 
may be drawn up rather, more for want of 
the air than from other cause, and that want 
of air applies to all artificially heated houses, 
because the admission of air lowers the tem- 
perature so much that it is rarely practised to 
an extent that is serviceable, on account of its 
waste of heat. The Azalea can be grown 
rapidly in heat, and if it be moderate, and air 
given frequently, nothing is easier than to 
raise the temperature so high as to enable us 
to admit air, to bring it to the proper heat. For 
beauty, however, and healthy growth, we 
recommend the greenhouse temperature ; 
and as soon as the roots reach the side of 
the pot again, there must be another shift into 
a larger sized pot : so much for potting and 
shifting. But, in the mean time, the plants 
want 
GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 
It depends altogether upon the style of 
plant you want, how you manage them from 
the first growing. If it were the intention to 
let them grow naturally, they would require 
watching, and where any vigorous shoots 
appear inclined to take the lead of others, they 
must be cut back ; but the principal cultiva- 
tors have got into a habit of training this 
beautiful plant very artificially, and the judges 
at horticultural shows have been encouraging 
that peculiarity. We allude to the ungar- 
dener-like mode of making only one front to 
a plant. The fancy for distorting subjects 
that naturally grow elegant, has been too 
much promoted by the horticultural societies. 
The branches have been twisted and turned 
to all manner of shapes, to bring the flowers 
into the front. Props are placed in all direc- 
tions ; the back of the plant is a series of ties, 
and sticks, and battens, like the back of a 
scene in a theatre, and as ugly. If the deter- 
mination is to form these half plants, the only 
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