March 23, 1882. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 243 
Fuchsias as they advance. With the heat, cuttings inserted in 
leaf soil and sand will strike readily, or if young rooted plants 
are obtained these are started with a vigorous and rapid growth— 
an essential point in securing satisfactory plants of the Fuchsia. 
Place them when rooted in small pots, and not too firmly, em¬ 
ploying a compost of leaf soil and decayed turf, with a little sand, 
using some of the last year’s manure from the frame, or old cow 
dung gathered from the fields and rubbed down. In the suc¬ 
cessive shifts decrease the proportion of sand, omitting it alto¬ 
gether, and potting more firmly in the last. I have used with 
obvious benefit at this stage Amies’ chemical manure mixed in 
the soil. Three shifts, the last into 5 or 6-inch pots, will be suffi¬ 
cient. Be careful to shade from strong sun, and to keep a moist 
atmosphere, in which young Fuchsias delight. Damp the foliage 
occasionally with a syringe or a pan with a fine rose, and, even 
when the plants do not need water at the roots, have the material 
fairly moist around the pots. Keep the frame rather close in the 
early stages, and in time pinch out the points of such shoots as 
incline to exuberant growth. Besides securing a pyramidal shape, 
the number of points, and subsequently the profusion of bloom, 
will thus be increased. 
Throw out the dung as necessary to afford room, but keep the 
plants always near the glass. Preserve the surface soil of the 
pots always clean and open, and give a little weak liquid manure, 
increasing the strength when the plants are in flower. That from 
sheep’s droppings I have found the safest and best for these, and 
indeed for many other plants. On the appearance of green fly 
syringe immediately with water in which a little black soap is 
dissolved. 
With this treatment beautiful specimens of 2 feet or more in 
height will be obtained, which are sufficiently large for our 
purpose, and will well repay the trouble expended. The follow¬ 
ing varieties are the best with which I am acquainted. I have 
grown them now for several years, and they have been highly 
appreciated by all who have seen them. 
Light Varieties .—Baroness Burdett Coutts, Covent Garden 
White, -Jolly, Mrs. J. Lye, Our Future Queen, Starlight, and White 
Souvenir de Chiswick. 
Dark Varieties .—Albert Victor, Crown Prince of Prussia, Dr. 
Kitto Giddings, Killiecrankie, Lord Falmouth, Rhoderick Dhu, 
and Try me, Oh ! 
I shall be glad if any of your readers can recommend any 
others of superior merit, excluding double varieties, or such as are 
only remarkable for peculiarities of foliage or form.—A Northern 
Amateur. 
INDIAN AZALEAS AND VARIETIES. 
The genus Azalea is one of the most ornamental of the vege¬ 
table kingdom, indeed in beauty they are only equalled by the 
Rhododendrons of the eastern and western hemispheres. Whether 
we take the hardy Ghent varieties, the mollis section, or the more 
tender Indian species and varieties, what a wealth of beauty we 
possess ! Who that has once seen the Azaleas in the “ wilder¬ 
ness ” at Kew will cease to remember them, or the glorious 
specimens of the more tender kinds to be seen occasionally in 
the exhibition tent? Azaleas are as indispensable at our early 
spring exhibitions as Roses in pots are in the month of May. 
For the decoration of the sitting-room, greenhouse, or conser¬ 
vatory they have no rival. 
Azalea indica is propagated by grafting and b 3 r cuttings as a 
rule ; and the general principles are much the same as in the 
propagation of the hardier kinds, with the exception that the 
former require more warmth. I will assume that the grower has 
either propagated them already or has procured free-growing 
plants from a nursery, which is generally the most economical 
way. If the plants are thickly set with buds, and not in a very 
vigorous condition, I strongly recommend that the greater part 
of the buds be removed, leaving only sufficient for the plant to 
properly develope, and so prove the variety to be true to name, 
or misnamed, as the case may be. 
The disbudding process should be carried out more or less in 
the case of nearly all the Azaleas that are imported from the 
Continent, if, indeed, the plants themselves do not save the culti¬ 
vator the trouble by going “blind,” as, owing to the greater light, 
the wood has been so well matured as to cause the very weakest 
of shoots to set buds, thus very severely taxing the energies of 
the plants. The results are an enfeebled constitution if allowed 
to develope all the flowers possible, and consequently followed by 
unsatisfactory growth for several years, if not premature death. 
After flowering, do not repot recently bought plants unless absolutely 
necessary, but submit them to as few changes as possible, death 
being frequently accelerated by a check and possible injury to the 
roots before the top has become accustomed to the change of air 
and the roots to a change of water, or, in other w r ords, before the 
plants have become acclimatised. Assuming, then, that repotting 
is necessary, prepare a compost of good dark brown fibry peat 
three parts, pulled in pieces just sufficiently small to be rammed 
down between the ball and the pot, one part leaf soil, and one 
part sharp silver sand. 
Having mixed the soil and placed it where it can be slightly 
warmed, next procure clean pots 2 to 3 inches larger in diameter 
than the pots out of which the Azaleas are to be turned. Drain 
them as carefully as possible by placing a large crock hollow 
side downwards over the hole and covering the bottom of the pot 
with similar pieces ; next should follow a thin layer about an 
inch square, to be succeeded by a layer of half-inch crocks, and 
the whole to be secured by some of the most fibry of the peat 
being placed closely together over the crocks, as little space to 
be taken up by the drainage as possible. All being now ready, 
place some of the compost in the pot and press it down firmly. 
Fix the ball so low that when the new soil is filled up level with 
the top of the ball there will remain space to hold sufficient water 
to saturate the whole mass at one watering. In the process of 
potting the soil should in $11 cases be rammed as firm, if possible, 
as the old ball of soil, but not firmer, nor yet much looser, failure 
or success depending in a great measure upon this. 
Potting being completed, the plants should be given a tempe¬ 
rature of 65° at night to 75° by day, allowing a rise of from 
5° to 15° by sun heat, the latter figure being only allowed at 
closing time, and copious syrinsings should be given morning and 
evening, syringing well the under surface of the foliage. A little 
ventilation all night will be beneficial, if the ventilators are placed 
where the fresh air may be warmed before coming iu contact with 
the foliage of the plants. If it is desired to obtain two growths 
in one season in order to gain size, the points of the shoots should 
be pinched out when the terminal leaf is developing, the above 
temperatures maintained, and if necessary the night ventilation 
discontinued and the temperature raised to 70°, frequent dampings 
and syringings being given in order to induce a second “ break.” 
If the cultivator is satisfied with one sturdy growth in the season, 
then the atmospheric humidity should be lessened as the terminal 
leaves develope, more air being allowed, and the temperatures may 
be lowered as soon as the growth is fully matured and the flower 
buds formed. Shading should only be used to prevent absolute 
scorching, therefore that which is moveable is best, and should be 
used as little as possible consistent with safety. Gradually dis¬ 
continue syringing as the days shorten and the flower-buds de¬ 
velope. In bringing Azaleas into flower a warm and moist atmo¬ 
sphere is beneficial, the atmospheric moisture being reduced when 
the flowers expand. An occasional application of weak liquid 
manure will materially increase the size of the flowmrs, and top- 
dressings of either Clay’s fertiliser or Standen’s manure are 
beneficial when the pots are filled with roots. 
Selecting from forty-eight varieties grown here I give a list of 
twenty-four of what are, in my opinion, the best as regards size, 
colour, and form of blossom, leaving out the beautiful varieties of 
the Amoena section—Apollon, Bernhard Andreas alba, Cedo Nulli, 
A. Borsig, Charmer, Comtesse de Flandre, Due de Nassau, George 
Loddiges, Jean Vervaene, Madame Van der Cruyssen, Mdlle. 
Marie Lefebvre, Charles Leirens, Mrs. Turner, Superba, Empereur 
du Bresil, Reine du Pays Bas, Stella, Princess Louise, Mont Blanc, 
Marquis of Lome, Madame Paul Deschryver, Reine Cleopatra, 
Comtesse de Beaufort, and Grandis. The twelve first in the list 
are, I consider, the best of the twenty-four. Anyone wishing to 
purchase and being unable to select their varieties whilst in flower, 
may rely upon any of the above-named being of sterling merit.— 
J. U. S. 
The Forests of India. — A lecture on this subject was lately 
delivered by Sir Richard Temple, Bart., K.C.S.I., under the auspices 
of the Scottish Arboricultural Society. After speaking of the im¬ 
portance of forestry in general, and of the necessity for improvement 
in the conservation of forests, not only at home but in the colonies 
and India. It was to be hoped a school of forestry would soon be 
established in Great Britain, to send out skilled foresters for the im¬ 
provement of the forests of India. An important and extensiye 
public opinion was growing up, at least in North Britain, in favour 
of forestry in general, not only in Scotland, but in the colonies, and 
especially in India. It was this public opinion which was wanted to 
stir up the minds of their legislators and statesmen in this most im¬ 
portant matter. After referring to the extent to which the forests 
of India, which had at one time been almost co-extensive with the 
country itself, had been destroyed, he said they may ask how it came 
that he had such a sorry story to tell regarding the history of forest 
conservancy in India ? It was simply the want of instruction and 
education in those matters. But this fault ivas now being remedied. 
Having next discussed at some length the effect of forests on the 
climatic and atmospheric conditions of a country, with special 
