THE FLORIST. 67 



pots in finely sifted soil, to place them in our greenhouse stage, to 

 water them when they are dry, and to allow them to remain in this 

 condition otherwise undisturbed for years. True, if we give them 

 air, the atmosphere — one of the sources from which plants derive 

 nourishment — will perform its part ; but does the soil, under the 

 conditions mentioned, rightly effect its portion of the work? I fear 

 not ; and out of this arises all, or nearly all, the mischief of which 

 amateurs complain. 



The compost I have found best adapted to the growth of the 

 Camellia is, a mixture of peat and loam in nearly equal propor- 

 tions, together with a sprinkling of sharp sand. When the loam is 

 light and sandy, less peat is necessary. These should be broken up, 

 not sifted, intimately mixed, and the roughest pieces laid at the bot- 

 tom of the pot over the drainage, which must be complete, or little 

 success will attend your labours, even though all other conditions 

 should be favourable. By complete drainage, I do not mean that this 

 should be effected so much by crocks, as by the way in which the 

 soil is arranged in the pots ; for experience has taught me that the 

 roots of the Camellia are apt to die among crocks alone when many 

 are used ; at least, I have found such to be the case. I put one large 

 concave crock or oyster-shell over the opening in the bottom of the 

 pot, with three or four smaller pieces round it, and over these the 

 most turfy portions of the compost, in which the roots of the Ca- 

 mellia appear to delight. 



Camellias will grow, and even flourish, in either peat or loam 

 separately ; they generally grow most luxuriantly in peat, and the 

 foliage of plants in this kind of soil is of the deepest green ; but I 

 have not found them to flower so well. In loam alone the leaves are 

 paler, and the plants are more liable to get into ill health. The 

 utility of mixing the two soils, therefore, will be at once apparent. 



The question, " How am I to restore my sickly plants to health ?" 

 is one often asked. When Camellias get into ill health, from what- 

 ever cause, the best plan is, to turn the plants out of their pots 

 in spring, to examine their roots ; and if these are found to be 

 dead or dying, to shake the soil entirely away from them, removing 

 at the same time all pieces that are dead. The top must also be 

 well shortened-in, in order to preserve a sort of balance between 

 that and the root. These things being done, place the plant in a 

 pot just large enough comfortably to admit the roots, in a compost 

 consisting of two parts peat to one of loam, using a little more 

 sand than for plants in health. When potted, water, to settle the 

 soil ; place them in a gentle bottom heat, and keep them close ; 

 watering at the root but sparingly till the plants begin to grow, 

 but frequently syringing their tops with tepid water. If they have 

 made good roots by autumn, they may be either shifted into larger 

 pots then, or in the following spring, when they may receive the 

 same treatment as the general collection. 



In regard to the best season for shifting Camellias, some diversity 

 of opinion exists ; some recommending that it should be done in 

 spring, others that it should be performed in autumn. I have tried 



