1880 . ] 
HARDY DOUBLE AZALEAS.-NATIONAL AURICULA SOCIETY. 
89 
grow freely, retain their dwarf habit, and 
blossom regularly. If the specimens have 
been brought fresh from the mountains, Alpine 
plants, like all others, require special treat¬ 
ment. They must be placed in suitable pots, 
and planted in a soil mixed with lime, sand, 
or leaves, according to their species, watered 
moderately, placed in a shady spot, and 
sprinkled several times a day in fine, warm 
weather. When they have once taken root, 
they can be transplanted into the open ground, 
or still grown in pots. 
HARDY DOUBLE AZALEAS. 
[Plate 516.] 
E believe these beautiful flowers ori¬ 
ginated in Belgium ; and as the his¬ 
tory of the origin of any of the choicer 
races of our garden flowers is of interest to 
lovers of flowers, we shall be glad if any of our 
Belgian readers can furnish us with the parti¬ 
culars. One of the varieties best known in 
this country is that called Van Houttei, which 
produces bright red and very showy flowers ; 
but these double-flowered sorts have not with 
us received any very marked attention until a 
year or two since, when Messrs. Veitch and 
Sons obtained from the Knap Hill Nursery, 
where they had been grown in some quantity for 
several seasons, plants of Narcissiflora and one 
or two others, which, being slightly forced and 
shown at some of the early summer shows, were 
highly attractive, and proved at least that they 
were capable of taking a very high position 
amongst the hardy ornamental shrubs adapted 
for forcing, since the doubleness of the flowers 
renders them much more persistent than the 
single ones, without in the least degree detract¬ 
ing from their chaste and pleasing form. 
The materials which were the foundation of 
our illustration are from the same source— 
Knap Hill, -where sundry others will be found 
blooming at this season of the year. Those 
-we have figured are called Narcissiflora, Graaf 
von Meran, and Sappho, the latter a fine seed¬ 
ling of Mr. Waterer’s, not yet sent out. The 
group serves to show in a small degree the 
variety which is to be found amongst these 
highly attractive and useful plants. 
Fig. 1 represents Narcissiflora, a variety 
in which the flowers arc of a bright primrose- . 
yellow, produced in large showy heads, which, 
when grown under normal conditions, are very 
showy, but when brought out under glass not 
only delicately beautiful, but highly fascinating. 
The habit of the plant is quite that of the other 
hardy Azaleas of mixed parentage to which the 
race known as Ghent hybrids belongs ; con¬ 
sequently, they are of free growth, and abund¬ 
antly floriferous under genial conditions of 
weather during the late spring-time, when they 
come into blossom. This is of Belgian origin. 
Fig. 2, Graaf yon Meran, is also a Belgian 
variety, remarkable for the bright but delicate 
rosy-pink hue of its well-formed and sprightly- 
looking flowers. It is a variety well adapted 
for early work, and has a charmingly soft 
appearance, when grown under the gentle 
regime of a mild forcing house. 
Fig. o represents Sappho, a Knap Hill 
variety of great beauty, and one whose colour 
contrasts well with the primrose and pinkish 
hues of the companion flowers. The colour is 
a kind of buff-orange, deeper towards the 
centre, and dashed with red on the outer sur¬ 
face. The flowers are remarkably telling, as 
seen on the plant, and are amongst the largest 
and best formed which have yet been obtained ; 
the variety will, consequently, take a high 
place amongst its compeers. Whether it will 
be adapted for forcing or not we are unable to 
say, as it has not been tried, but as these 
double varieties generally prove amenable to 
this mode of treatment, there is no reason to 
expect that Sappho will be more obstinate than 
her fellows. 
We may soon look for some other meritorious 
novelties from the Knap Hill collection, where 
the Hardy Azaleas, double and single, have 
always been held in high estimation. The 
results of years of careful crossing are now 
becoming evident in a marked degree amongst 
the singles, and flowers far in advance of any 
of the named sorts, and showing a rich variety 
of colours, have been obtained ; while amongst 
the doubles considerable additions to the range 
of colour formerly known have been made, so 
that double Hardy Azaleas will henceforth be 
a highly varied as well as a highly ornamental 
race of garden ornaments.—T. Moore. 
NATIONAL AURICULA SOCIETY. 
NORTHERN SECTION. 
« IIE Northern Section of the National 
Auricula Society held its annual show 
on the 27th ult. in the Town Hall, Man¬ 
chester, in conjunction with one of the spring 
exhibitions of the Botanical and Horticultural 
Society. The season has not been remarkable for 
yielding blooms of high quality, and owing to 
the fact that it has proved also to be an early 
one, some of the flowers were already past their 
best, but as a whole, the quality of the bloom 
