We have already, under Plates 14 and 25, given Mr. King- 
horn’s instructions for the cultivation of Indian Azaleas; to 
these we may acid a few remarks from other sources. 
A very successful cultivator has recommended a compost con¬ 
sisting of peat loam and leaf-mould in the proportions of three 
measures of the first, to one of the second, and a half-measure 
of the third, adding about one-fourth of a measure of silver- 
sand, the whole broken up and blended by passing it through 
a sieve with one-and-a-half-inch meshes. In shifting the plants 
from one pot to another, the collar of the plant should be kept 
about half an inch above the surrounding soil, so that no 
water may lodge about it. Ample drainage, especially for large 
plants, is most important; for pots of a foot or more in diameter 
two or three inches of clean drainage material is not too much, 
and this should be covered by a layer of the coarser fibrous 
parts of the soil, so as to prevent the finer particles from being 
carried down in watering. In the case of healthy plants, the 
old ball of earth is not to be reduced in repotting except so far 
as to rub away some of the surface-soil, and to disengage some 
of the outer fibres; it is not important to remove the whole 
of the crocks when it cannot be done without damaging the 
roots. 
After potting, which is to be done when blooming is over 
and the plants are starting into growth, and in which process 
the soil should be made firm, the plants are recommended to 
be placed in a house or pit with gentle warmth—from 50° to 
60°, where they are to be well syringed morning and evening, 
ventilating freely in the early part of the day if the weather is 
favourable, and closing early in the afternoon. In this pit they 
may remain till the beginning or middle of August, when they 
should be hardened off gradually so as to get the wood tho¬ 
roughly ripened before winter. In this state they may be safely 
kept in a much lower temperature until February, when they 
should be examined, and those which require it shifted, the 
stronger shoots being stopped when requisite, and the rest re¬ 
gulated and trained into the form required. The plants are then 
again to be placed in the warmer temperature. The same 
course may be pursued in the second year. By the third or 
fourth season, under this treatment, they will have made strong 
bushy plants, and will not then require shifting so frequently. 
