Sixty species, and many varieties. The North American are hardy and deciduous, and the Chinese or Indian are green-house evergreens. Cuttings. Sandy peat and loam.

Mr. James Falconer, of Cheam, gives the following excellent directions for cultivating the varieties of Azalea In-dica.

Soil

"The soil best adapted for their growth is a peaty earth found on commons where heath abounds, of a light fibrous texture, and containing a good portion of sand. It should be pared off from three inches to four inches deep, the turves should be spread bottom upwards, and exposed to the sun during summer, and after having a few showers of rain upon it to restore it to a proper degree of moisture, it may be laid up in narrow ridges in the autumn; it can then be taken to the potting-shed as required. When used, it should be broken or separated with a trowel, and not sifted, rejecting the undecayed surface; and for the strong-growing varieties, to six-eighths of peat and one-eighth loam, and one-eighth silver sand.

Sowing

The Indian Azaleas ripen their seed in February, which should be sown about the beginning of March in pots with ample drainage, and a larger portion of silver sand mixed with the peat. The pot should be filled to within half an inch of the top, and pressed evenly and firmly down with the bottom of another.

"The seed should then be sown regularly over the surface, and after being covered sufficiently deep with peat, again pressed down, so that, after being watered, the seed may remain buried. The pots should be placed on a shelf in the green-house, and shaded from the direct rays of the sun.

"It is better that the seeds should vegetate by the increasing heat of the spring than by artificial means, since they will come up stronger, and are not so liable to damp off. They may be pricked out into other pots as soon as they have made two or three leaves, and as they advance in growth they may be potted into thumbs, or small sixties, in which they may remain in winter.

Culture

About the beginning of March those which are intended for specimens should be put into a house at a temperature of from 45° to 50°, where they will soon be excited to grow. If in sixty or forty sized pots, they should be shifted into 6izes larger; but it is better to do this when the plants are in a growing state. They should then be shaded for a few days, and when the flower is shut up in the afternoon, gently syringed.

"Many varieties will throw up three or four stems; the strongest should be selected for a leader. When growing, they should have plenty of air and light, without being exposed to a cold current, which is so frequently prejudicial to young plants in the spring, when clear sunshine and cold winds prevail. As they will be required to grow as late in the autumn as the weather will permit without applying fire-heat, and as it is not desirable that they should form flower-buds this season, those which want pot-room should be again shifted about the latter end of July. Great care should be taken that they are not over-potted, and that they have sufficient drainage; elevating the collar of the stem considerably, by rounding the upper side of the ball, but not so as to injure the tender and delicate fibres. The azalea is liable to canker from the water remaining too long about the collar; therefore, in watering, the spout of the pot should never be applied to it, as the cold current of water frequently repeated will check the flow of sap, and ultimately cause death.

"They should be placed at the back of the green-house during the winter, as near the glass as convenient, to ripen the wood.

"In the following spring they should be subjected to the same treatment, and again shifted into larger pots. - About the latter end of July they will have the afternoon sun. Free from the drip of trees and protected from high winds, the plants will now be of sufficient size to bloom, and in September will have formed their flower-buds.

"When out of doors they should be occasionally syringed overhead in very dry weather, and the ground around them frequently stirred and watered.

"About the middle of December, two or three varieties should be put into a forcing-house, ranging from 50° to 65°; these will begin to bloom about the latter end of January, after which they should be removed to the greenhouse or conservatory, to which they will give much brilliancy, and in mild weather impart a mild perfume. About a week before the first have expanded their blossoms, another succession should be put in, selecting those which from the enlargement of their buds give evidence of their susceptibility of excitement; observing that the more various the colour of the flower, the better effect will be produced in the greenhouse. It is a safe rule to keep up for a succession three or four varieties, to be put into heat as above stated, once a month, until the season is so far advanced that the flowers are bursting in the cool house.

"They should then be taken into heat, by which means the flower will be larger, the colours more brilliant, and their fragrance more delightful. Every means should be adopted to prevent the attacks of the humble bee, as every blossom in which it inserts its proboscis will fall off in a few hours afterwards.

"When the large specimen plants have done flowering, all the seed vessels should be picked off, leaving such as are intended for seed. They should be then shifted and encouraged to grow; afterwards placing them out of doors, as before stated.

"Great care should betaken at all times to keep them free from insects, as they are liable to be attacked by a species of thrips, for which the best; remedy is a strong fumigation of to- bacco. The varieties Variegata and Lateritia, are early excited in the spring; but are nevertheless the latest bloomers; they will make stronger and finer specimens by being inarched on the most robust stocks.

"If after they have made their autumnal growth they should not have formed flower-buds, by placing them in a stove in a strong moist heat, until they have again burst into leaf, and then removing them to a cold green-house, the excitement produced will frequently cause them to set their flower-buds." - Gard. Chron. Our own native varieties have been sadly overlooked in the search for foreign beauty - those from the far south are equally hardy with those of the middle states, and are readily cultivated; the varieties are nu-merous, and embrace almost every shade of colour, including pure white, from light yellow to brilliant flame; they thrive better partially screened from the sun's rays, and demand a peculiar soil easily compounded by a mixture of surface earth from woodland, and decomposed turf or grass sods, in about equal proportions. The two earliest collections of this splendid shrub were made at the Bartram Botanic Gardens, and the Landreth Nurseries, where, it is probable, the finest specimens in a cultivated state still exist.