(GROWING PAINS continued from page 4) 
materials, we have made some definite, and possibly, 
prejudiced judgments about them. 
Take the matter of soils as an illustration. We know 
that we just cannot grow ericaceous plants in Way- 
nesboro soil. We know that the addition of as little 
as 5% cf our native soil has a definite tendency to 
retard the growth of the plants. Very fine, heavy, 
and alkaline, it packs hard when dry, and does not 
drain at all well. To condition it to a loose, peaty 
sour state would be prohibitively expensive, and 
would take years. 
Tn our bulletins of ’52, ’53 and 754 we attempted to 
give quite comprehensive reports on our experi- 
mental work with soils for this ericaceous group of 
plants. (Reprints of these bulletins have been made 
and are yours for the asking.) Very little experi- 
mental work on soil types has been done during the 
past year. For us, the use of straight domestic peats 
seems to be the solution of the soil problem. 
It might be commented that up to now our recom- 
mendation of straight domestic peats for ericaceous 
plants has really been beamed to those growers who 
are located in the heavier soils areas. In ’54 several 
“light soil” growers sent us samples of Pieris and 
Rhododendrons which definitely have shown signs of 
improper soil conditions. Such of these samples as 
were not entirely hopeless, we potted up into the 
domestic peats, and without exception the plants 
have greatly improved. Seems to only confirm our 
awkward notions. Maybe some of these “light soils” 
2rowers would not go too far astray if they were to 
do a little experimental work with domestic peats 
too. 
There are a lot of nurserymen, large and small, who 
just won’t try to grow Azaleas, Rhododendrons, or 
cther ericaceous plants. They’ve tried it, and they’ve 
given it up as a bad job. Instead they buy the 
tinished plants, and let it go at that. Most nursery- 
men are busy people, and they don’t want to worry 
with “Prima Donnas’. They don’t want to give their 
valuable time to any variety or group of plants that 
require a lot of petting. We insist that Azaleas and 
Rhododendrons, ete. are positively not tempermental. 
\Ye say that they are not difficult to grow. They do 
have a few definite needs to be happy, and if those 
needs are satisfied, they will take a lot of kicking 
arcund, and still bring you top money for the time 
you spend on them. We hope herein to explain these 
needs, simply, and as fully as possible, and thus 
induce you to get some of this easy money. 
Some several dozens of nurserymen are growing 
them successfully now as a result of our past reports, 
and we trust a lot more will try this year. We’ve got 
a lot of Rhododendrons to sell. 
So, if we are going to give you a thorough brain 
washing in this “Do it Yourself” discourse, we'll 
start at the beginning. That will be a short review 
(Continued on page 8) 
