82 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 
glass is raised a few inches higher and a little air is given. 
They are gradually hardened off, and about the middle of 
May, when all danger from frost is over, they are transferred 
to beds in the open air, and planted about 4 inches apart 
in sandy leaf-soil newly fetched from the woods. In the 
third week in July the plants are lifted, potted singly in 
thumb pots, placed under glass, and kept shaded and 
syringed. Some growers pot the plants when they are 
taken from the cutting boxes, and plunge the pots in the 
beds outside. 
Grafting commences in August. The stocks are then 
about 9 inches high, with a single stem, leafy to the base, 
the lower part being fairly woody. They are cut obliquely 
to a height of 4 inches, and with a sharp, thin knife-blade 
they are slit to a depth of | inch. The scion, which is 
about 2 inches long, is cut to a wedge shape and fitted in 
the slit ; grafting cotton is used as a binder. The grafted 
plants are placed in cases similar to those used for the 
cuttings, but they are not syringed, lest water should get 
between the stock and the scion. In from six to eight weeks 
a union is effected, when the glass covering is removed 
and the plants subjected to ordinary greenhouse conditions. 
When they start into growth, the top is pinched out and the 
cotton binding removed. In the following May they are 
planted out 3 or 4 inches apart, in beds of leaf-mould, in a 
position where they will receive full sunshine. They are 
watered overhead daily, sometimes twice a day. 
Success with Azaleas in Ghent is largely due to the 
subsoil there being a fine sand to a considerable depth. 
This keeps the beds sweet, however much water is ap- 
plied, and Azaleas cannot easily be over-watered there in 
summer. 
