CULTIVATION AND ANALYSIS OF PLANTS. 
J 
ARELY cultivated as window plants, the Azaleas are in great 
demand for exhibition purposes, and for cut flowers in winter and 
spring. There is, however, no reason why they may not, with 
reasonable attention, be successfully cultivated as house plants. The 
soil for very young plants should be nearly all peat, or leaf-mold, 
where peat cannot be procured; but for older ones, thfee parts peat 
and one part each of loam, leaf-mold and sand. The time for repotting is 
after the blooming season, except the plants are large and have appropriate 
sized tubs or boxes, when they will not need it for several years, requiring only 
that the soil be enriched with liquid manures. The plant belongs to the heath 
family, and, like most of that tribe, have roots somewhat resembling the fern, 
Which should never be allowed to become entirely dry, care being taken not to go to the 
other extreme and drench it so that the soil would sour and the roots decay. The 
average temperature required is between fifty and sixty degrees, and plenty of air, pro¬ 
vided it be not under that temperature, should be always admitted. They bloom from 
February to May, and the larger ones produce hundreds of flowers, at once delighting the 
beholder with the munificence as well as the magnificence of their adornment. The 
flowers of some varieties are white, while others run through all the various shades of red, 
from rose to bright carmine, often beautifully marked, like the carnation. 
OWEVER much these plants are valued, they seldom receive the 
attention which they deserve. It is true that the miserable manner 
T zA&lm} " i n which they are many times sown and left to take care of them- 
selves may partly account for this, for under such circumstances they 
are far from attractive, as the flowers are apt to partake of the quality of 
the plants. Rightly grown, however, they form most magnificent speci- 
^ mens for garden or conservatory decoration. For early plants the seeds 
should be sown in a hotbed. As soon as they develop two leaves besides the 
: f rll two thick seed-leaves, they should be removed into pots or boxes, and these 
\ be plunged again in the bed. During growth they should be allowed plenty 
J of air, and ample room for their branches to extend; and by supplying a richly- 
manured soil they may be made to grow to a great size. 
The Balsam delights in a moist, well-manured situation, and is among the handsomest 
annuals cultivated. The plants should frequently have waterings of manure-water; and, 
as their stalks are succulent, they should never be allowed to suffer from drouth. While 
most plants suffer from intense heat, these seem to clothe themselves with greater beauty- 
in the very height of summer. When the main or central stem is of sufficient height, 
the pinching out of the tip has a tendency to increase the side branches. 
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