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IftO THE POINTS WHICH CONSTITUTE PERFECTION IN THE INDIAN AZALEA. W 
more or less remote by others — I feel fully justified in urging the enquiry now to he made upon the 
strictest attention of all those skilful gardeners, public and private, who may peruse this article, and 
find themselves in a position to hazard a strong opinion. 
The question at issue is, Whether, during " the season," every shoot, be its size what it may — in a 
word, every developement above the surface, great or small — should be cut and removed, so as to leave 
the bed entirely a hlank ; or whether the young advancing shoots, from crowns yet too feeble to produce 
" grass " fit for the table, ought to be retained in order to acquire strength ? I am free to acknowledge, 
that, on physiological grounds, I squared my practice according to the theory comprised in the second 
portion of the question. Having perused the notices which have recently appeared in print, and made 
inquiries of able practical growers, without obtaining a satisfactory conclusion, I resolved to address 
one whom I deemed to be a thoroughly competent authority, and whose judgment could hardly admit 
of being impugned. The following lines contain the substance of the communication with which I 
have been favoured : — 
" The market-gardeners, and the best of those employed by gentlemen, make it their constant 
practice to cut off every shoot, not permitting one head, however small it may be, to grow, until the 
close of the ' cutting season ; ' taking particular care, however, in ordinary cases, not to let that extend 
beyond five or six weeks, though there may be exceptions, dependent upon the weather, when a week 
or two more may be allowed. The practice by which plantations are seriously injured, rendered 
patchy, and even destroyed, is not that which is described above ; but consists in tasking the vital 
power of the Asparagus-crowns, by a too rigid cutting, continued after the turn of days, and so long 
as a single eatable head comes up — a practice which some injudicious growers are too apt to indulge in." 
The advice so restricted, and attentively observed, cannot be considered dangerous, provided only 
a few of the strongest heads in the third year from the seed, or rather not until the fourth year, 
be taken. In Berkshire, I found that, my best beds, raised from home-produced seed, were scarcely, 
if at all, in arrear of others, planted in April ; but upon all I found blanks, notwithstanding every 
small shoot was left entire for several successive years. 
Pending the late enquiry, I consulted a market-gardener in Surrey, and was by him assured that 
several large beds had been seriously damaged by cutting the smaller heads, as above recommended. 
I therefore sought further authority ; and by a letter now before me, am enabled to offer a statement 
worthy the attention of our physiological readers : — 
" Formerly it was the practice to leave all the small heads growing : the consequence was, that the 
numerous heads so produced were not half the size of those now grown; and the reason was this, — 
the great number of small shoots left ran away with much of the strength of the roots ; the current 
of sap was with them ; and instead of large heads possessing all the strength of the sap, others much 
diminished in size were yielded. Again, by leaving all the small spray, the bulk of the roots was 
increased, by which the crowns were, in a few years, made to produce fifty heads instead of twenty- 
five, and those of no better than second-rate Asparagus, whereas by taking off the small shoots, until 
the cutting season is over, the number of eyes is lessened, the buds of the following year are 
strengthened, and hardly any small stuff is produced." 
Here, then, we find matter for enquiry, contemplation, and practical communication. Physiology 
instructs us that the roots consist of bundles of pale-coloured processes, each furnished with absorbent 
fibrils ; the whole connected with a crown, where a number of buds are seated, from which stems are 
sent up. By leaving these crowns to strengthen during a course of three, four, or five years, we 
certainly (soils, manure, and tillage being adequately provided) insure strength and durability. The 
question to be considered is this: Will the total excision of every visible shoot during a few weeks of 
the spring incur the risk of obliterating a number of the really worthy and substantial crowns ? 
[We think the plan of taking every shoot throughout the "cutting season" utterly indefensible; and 
we rest this opinion on physiological grounds. It is not, however, a few of the weak shoots or small 
sjjray that shoidd be left to grow, but one or two strong shoots, the weak ones being cut away. We 
do not object to cutting all the earlier shoots, say for the first fortnight or three weeks.] 
THE POINTS WHICH CONSTITUTE PERFECTION IN THE INDIAN AZALEA. 
By Mr. G. Glemnt, F.H.S. 
eNE of the most important qualities in all flowers is that which renders it lasting, for a lengthened p 
period of bloom is every way desirable. The greatest improvement, therefore, that can be attained 
in a flower naturally flimsy is stout petals, and not only do thick petals last in perfection a consider- 
fn -.Fg ^/3 
