1873.] SUCCESSIONiVL CAMELLIAS. TKOP^OLUM TEICOLORUM, 83 



of the crop of Peaclies on tlie open walls is a serious matter, and one tliat causes 

 a very great void in the dessert ; but except in low damp situations, I hold that 

 open-wall culture is not so precarious as the outcry we often hear against it at 

 the present day, would lead us to conclude. 



I use a ten-inch moveable coping-board, with old fishing-nets hung in front, 

 and keep as much of the March sun from the trees as I can v/ithout danger of 

 injuring them by too much shading. I defer the nailing as late as I can, so as 

 to keep the bearing wood away from the radiating influence of the wall ; keep 

 the trees at all times free from insects ; and water the border copiously whenever 

 it is required, from the time the fruit is set until the wood is matured in autumn. 

 How often do we hear the complaint that Peaches and Nectarines are continually 

 dying off in some soils — generally where it is light, with a dry subsoil ! If the 

 garden engine were more freely used upon them, with no stint of water at the 

 roots, the evil would disappear. — T. Baines, Souihgate. 



SUCCESSIONAL CAMELLIAS. 



'OWARDS the end of the blooming period is a good time to make a selection 

 of Camellias for flowering at different seasons. The plants might be 

 assorted into two or three groups for this purpose, thus : first, second, 

 and third earlies, and natural-season Camellias. The first should be 

 placed in heat in January, and the two succeeding batches should succeed them 

 at intervals of five or six weeks, the last of all having the coolest regime that can 

 be given them, consistent with the advanced period of the season, and the 

 temperature best fitted for the formation and maturation of their buds and wood. 

 Camellias bear heat well in their growing and ripening state, and it is in that 

 condition only that they may be forced with safety. By subjecting the plants 

 to a temperature of 55° to 65°, they will soon make wood, and set their blossom- 

 buds. When this is accomplished, the temperature may be gradually lowered, 

 until the coolest summer-house that can be provided, or a sheltered spot out of 

 doors, will be the most suitable for them. Each of the first two or three batchee 

 should be put through this regime in succession. The result will be that the firs 

 batch will begin to flower in September and October, the second in November and 

 December, the third from December to February, and the last will take up and 

 carry on the Camellia season till April, and even May. How much more useful 

 this system of succession than that of a cumulative rush and glut of Camellias, 

 and then a dreary blank of nine or ten months ! — D. T. Fish, Hardwicke. 



TROP.EOLUM TRICOLORUM. 



]RY showy, and very valuable as a decorative plant during the spring 

 months, is this charming climber, when it is well grown. Thirty years ago 

 it was considered a good exhibition plant, and was often to be seen at the 

 spring shows in London and the provinces, but now it seldom or never 

 puts in an appearance, and it is not grown in plant places as much as it deserves. 



