THE INDIAN AZALEA. 
371 
AS DWARF BTJSHY PLANTS. 
This, which we fancy before the last for 
beauty, is as simple as either of the others. 
The plant should be stopped as soon as it is 
obtained, or one should be selected that is 
already bushy, and been served so. All the 
while the plant is growing the shoots are to be 
stopped as soon as they push much ; but it 
must be taken into consideration that many 
grow naturally in a bush, and these are most 
likely to want pruning out instead of shorten- 
ing. Variegata, Lateritia, Gledstanesii, Smithii, 
and some others, are naturally low growers, 
and are almost too confused unless they are 
rather thinned out ; and as it is a good rule 
to shorten nothing until it is too long, care 
need only be taken to take off any shoots that 
are too vigorous for the rest, and thin out 
some when they are too thick. Changing the 
pots goes on alike in all cases, and in that of 
dwarf plants it may perhaps be necessary to 
obtain tall pots, because the plants very often 
spread out and hang over very considerably. 
They are then required tall for the sake of 
appearance, as well as safety or ease in handing 
them about: we have often had the weaker 
kinds hang half way down the pot, and have 
seen the necessity of obtaining some made 
taller in proportion. 
BLOOMING AND SETTING FOR BLOOM. 
After the Azalea has done flowering, you 
should pick off all the buds, unless you desire 
to save seed ; but if seed is the object, let the 
plants have all the mild air they can, all the 
wann rains, and be merely protected from 
heavy rains or other falls. Nothing ever 
answered our purpose for these and other 
hard-wooded plants so well as removing them 
into the tulip-house, when they were sheltered 
from the wind and violent rains by only rolling 
down the canvass roof, or shutting down the 
side canvass blinds. However, as everybody 
has not got a tulip stage or canvass house, and 
may not be inclined to get one or a substitute 
for it, they may be placed inthe most sheltered 
part of the garden, or in the greenhouse, but 
shaded at the top. Out of doors is, however, 
the best in a sheltered spot, if the saving 
of the seed be an object. It is, however, 
doubtful if the bloom will set well after the 
seed has all ripened. It exhausts a plant 
much more to save seed than any body is 
aware of. Those from which no seed is 
required should be stripped of every pod as 
soon as the bloom in the least declines, so as 
to be done with for its flowers. It will 
immediately set off growing without further 
care ; but if on examination of the roots they 
are found to be close to the pot, and inclined 
to be matted, they may have another shift into 
a pot of larger size before they make their new 
growth. While they are progressing they 
should have plenty of moisture ; as soon as 
they have perfected their growth they should 
rest, and have much less water and more 
shade. In the absence of any other con- 
venience, a shady place in the garden and a 
canvass roof put up in a temporary manner, 
will be of great use in turning off the wet and 
keeping off the sun. They have to be placed 
in a cold pit all the winter, but one that can 
be covered up effectually against the frost and 
high winds, hail, rain, &c. They may be 
removed to the greenhouse, or a warmer 
birth still, if they are required to flower 
early ; but as the difficulty is generally how 
to keep them back for the shows, we never 
remove them from the pit unless it is to a cold 
greenhouse. They will flower abundantly 
without forcing, and last four times as long 
in bloom as if they were flowered in heat. 
PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 
This is a very simple process : take off 
cuttings of the present year's growth, and 
place them in a pot, the top half inch of stuff 
being pure silver sand, the lower portion being 
the stuff they grow in ; take the lower leaves 
off the cuttings and stick them into the sand, 
so as just to touch the other soil, cover them 
with a bell-glass, which must be wiped clean 
every morning, and apply moisture to the 
cuttings, so that they shall never get dry. As 
soon as they are struck, which will be indicated 
by their growing, they may be potted off into 
the smallest sized pots, one in each, and after 
waiting a while in the frame, covered with a 
hand glass, they may be removed into the 
greenhouse, or into a pit, to grow and establish 
themselves. In striking cuttings it must be 
remembered that a slight bottom heat will 
hasten the operation, and so far may in some 
cases be useful. The best time for cuttings is 
in the spring, for the shoots that have no 
bloom, and in autumn for the last growth ; 
but young wood will strike almost any how 
and at any time. 
PROPAGATION BY SEED. 
The seed is gathered when indicating ripe- 
ness, and laid by in the dry and warm house 
all the winter. Take a wide mouthed pot in 
spring, with the stuff we grow the plants in, 
and having first levelled the surface, sow the 
seed thinly, and sift some mould very lightly 
through a fine sieve to cover the seed. Cover 
the seed with a glass and place it in the green- 
house or propagating house, or, for want of a 
better place, a common garden frame. As 
soon as the seedlings are large enough to 
handle, prick them out in a number of pots, a full 
inch apart, and replace them in the greenhouse; 
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