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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



at Slough, was a very brilliant gathering both of connoisseurs and ilowers, and Mr. 

 Turner's bed was unanimously pronounced worth the journey of many miles to see. 



Mr. John Waterer will exhibit, on his own grounds at Bagshot, and also at the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, his fine collections of Rhododendrons, Azaleas, 

 etc., throughout the month of June. A very fine collection is also on view at lilr, 

 Gaines's, Surrey Lane, Battersea. Messrs. Waterer and Godfrey, of Bagshot, also 

 invite the public to visit their seasonal display. The Earl of Stamford and Warrington 

 has opened the grounds at Enville Hall to the public on Mondays, Tuesdays, 

 and Thursdays throughout the season ; and gardeners making holiday would do well 

 to pay them a visit. The Anniversary of the Gardeners' Benevolent Society will take 

 place on the 4th. This most useful Society deserves the pecuniary support of every 

 friend of horticulture, and we hope that liberal contributions to its funds will testify 

 to the sincerity of the public in a work of benevolence having for its object the relief 

 of gardeners on whom Fortune has not cast her favours. Gardeners have not very 

 ample means of providing for old age and the accidents of life, and this Society, 

 by awarding pensions to gardeners and their widows, saves from destitution many who 

 have no special claim on any but the gardening community. The Paris Socicle 

 (V Acclimatat'ion has awarded to Mr. Fortiine a first-class medal in acknowledgment of 

 his high services to horticulture, iu having introduced so many useful and beautiful 

 jilants to the climate of England. 



Among the schedules of Shows forwarded to us, we have the Stamford Horticul- 

 tural and Midland Horticultural, in addition to those jjreviously announced. The 

 first Show at Stamford takes place on July 6 ; the second Midland Show, will take 

 place at Derby on the 30th of August. The numerous Exhibitions to take place 

 during this present June, will be found in our usual list at the end of this Number. 



THE CAMELLIA. 



Now, that the bloom of Camellias is over, 

 is a suitable time for some notes on its 

 history and cidture, as well as of its vari- 

 ous uses as a conservatory, greenhouse, 

 and window-flower, and also of its adapta- 

 tion to suitable situations in the open air. 

 There are not many species of Camellia, 

 and we are mainly dependent on the varie- 

 ties of C. Japonica for the hundreds of 

 variously coloured flowers that decorate 

 our houses during winter and spring. 

 Japonica, too, is the oldest, having been 

 introduced to this country, in 1739, from 

 its native country Japan. The Thea, from 

 which the Ciiinese manufacture the tea of 

 commerce, is strictly a Camellia, and the 

 botanical distinctions by which it is sepa- 

 rated from Camellia are too slight, in our 

 opinion, to warrant the division. It is 

 commonly believed that Thea viridis, often 

 catalogued as Camellia viridis, is the only 

 plaut used by the Chinese iu the manufac- 

 ture of tea ; but T. Bohea and T. As- 

 samensis also furnish leaves of a character 

 suited for the same domestic purpose. 

 The Theas, however, are far less orna- 

 mental than the true Camellias ; they are 

 all white-flowered, nearly hardy, and 

 flourish well in a cool house, where they 

 require as much air and very nearly the 

 same treatment as Ericas. Specimens of 

 the tea- shrub have been known to survive 



the winter out of doors near Loudon, and, 

 as we shall show in the course of this 

 paper, the Camellia may also be grown in 

 the open air, and, with some few precau- 

 tions, used as a shrubbery and border- 

 plant. The species of Camellia known in 

 our collections are, Japonica euryoides, 

 Kisii, maliflora (apple-flowered), oleifera, 

 from which a valuable culinary oil is ob- 

 tained, reticulata, and Sasanqua. Next 

 to Japonica, Sasanqua is the most orna- 

 mental, and some of its varieties, as for 

 instance, plena alba (double white), plena 

 rubra (double red), and semi-plena (semi- 

 double), are worth a place in any general 

 collection ; but Japonica leaves them all 

 behind in foliage, habit, and the splendour 

 of its flowers ; and it is no wonder that its 

 varieties have been multiplied by hundreds 

 by careful hybridizing and the accidents of 

 horticultural practice. 



General Teeatment. — The majority 

 of cultivators prefer to purchase plants of 

 the varieties that enjoy the highest popu- 

 larity, and but few concern themselves in 

 IDropagation either by seed or otherwise. 

 We shall, however, offer some specific in- 

 structions on all the various modes of 

 increasing stock, and raising new varieties, 

 but here confine ourselves to such gene- 

 ralities as bear more or less on the manage- 

 ment of the Camellia in every season of 



