Plate 391. 



CAMELLIA, MADAME AM BBOISE 

 \TERSCHAEFELT. 



We may be tolerably certain that when a florist gives the 

 name of his wife to a flower, he regards it as one of surpassing 

 excellence ; and we were therefore quite prepared to find 

 Madame Ambroise Verschaffelt to be a Camellia of first-rate 



character, and this will, we think, he the opinion of every one 

 who sees the Plate which we give of it, for whether for form, 

 si/e. or regularity of colouring, it would be difficult to imagine 

 a more lovely flower. 



'The culture of the Camellia is, as all are aware, carried out 

 to its greatest perfection in Belgium, and especially in Ghent ; 

 and those who visited the International Exhibition there during 

 the past spring speak in the warmest terms of the very fine 

 specimens of this beautiful flowering shrub which were exhi- 

 bited. The question may naturally be asked, Why do we not, 

 as a rule, succeed so well with them in England ? for that we 

 ,1,, ,,ot is. we believe, a generally admitted fact. It must surely 

 arise from some error in cultivation, for in point of climate 

 the) certainly have not the advantage. We are inclined to 

 think, then, that it is owing to the fact that the Camellia is 

 much more liberally shaded and watered there than with us. 

 especially in the periods of its growth. The soil which we 

 have used lately is loam, without any admixture of any kind. 

 The top spit of a pasture being taken off and broken in pieces, 

 and the plants firmly potted in it, the\ are kept in the green- 

 house shaded with tiffany and well syringed ; from this position 

 we do not remove them. But in Belgium it is the custom to 

 place them out-of-doors, in alleys formed by tall hedges, so 

 that they are completely shaded from the rays of the sun. and 



