9S THE FLORIST. 



touch them, I keep them quite dry until they begin to shew symp- 

 toms of growth, when they receive a little water, and as vegetation 

 advances, a more liberal supply is given. Abundance of air is ad- 

 mitted, but I never allow the lights to be off in rainy weather, as I 

 have seen the plants severely injured by their hearts becoming filled 

 with water. I always use the greatest caution in watering, never to 

 allow it, if possible, to touch their foliage. 



The proper time for potting is in September, and Orchis longi- 

 cornu blooms from November until May. There is no plant with 

 which I am acquainted that remains in bloom the length of time 

 which this does. I have had one pot in perfection six months. I 

 find that, by having several bulbs, some can be started so as to come 

 into bloom earlier than others, while the rest may be kept in a dor- 

 mant condition for another month. By thus potting them in suc- 

 cession, blooming plants may be had for a very long time. I have 

 grown them from fifteen to twenty inches in height, with flower- 

 spikes from six to nine inches in length, the lip of the blossoms being 

 striped with lilac, and the upper part jet black, like most beautiful 

 silk velvet. The contrast thus produced in the flowers is so striking, 

 and the beautiful black so uncommon, that they form objects of the 

 greatest beauty in the greenhouse or conservatory, vastly superior 

 to all their associates." 



A CHAPTER ON CAMELLIAS. 



The courteous reception you have given to my former communica- 

 tion induces me to send } 7 ou another ; although, as it will relate chiefly 

 to my own recent experience, it may not, I fear, be equally amusing 

 with the other. 



My last was written in January, and we are now in April, after 

 a more unremitting course of vernal severity than falls within my re- 

 collection. For though in our climate winter generally " long lingers 

 on the verge of spring," and we are liable to visitations of sharp 

 frost even in May, it is seldom indeed that, after having reached the 

 month of February without the thermometer scarcely ever descend- 

 ing to the point of congelation, we have seen it exhibiting 10° to 15° 

 of frost nearly every night for two months together. 



This unusual and long-continued inclemency of the weather has 

 required an unusual degree of artificial heat to resist it; so that 

 what with the strong fires at night, and the powerful radiance of the 

 sun in the day, the season within is, with me at least, as much in 

 advance as it is in arrear out of doors. The Daffodil is not yet out, 

 and the Snowdrops are not yet over ; but in the greenhouse the Ca- 

 mellias are nearly out of flower, and the Azaleas generally in such 

 fine bloom, as to excite the surprise and admiration of all my friends 

 who visit them. I see that the first Chiswick Exhibition, at which 

 these beautiful plants are always a principal subject of attraction, is 



