THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 3 



of shading adopted in the original plan of the structure, the roof must be 

 furnished with a roller blind, or tiffany must be put up in loose bag-like 

 folds, thus — 



Or the inelegant plan of smearing the glass with size and whitening must 

 be adopted. This last is a rough and ready way of shading which costs 

 nothing beyond the time of preparing it, and is very effectual. 



The camellia house need not be very freely ventilated ; during the 

 early period of the year they do not want much air, and though they can 

 scarcely have too much during summer and autumn, ventilators and doors 

 may then be left open night and day, or the plants may be set outside to 

 ripen the wood and perfect the blossom buds. Old greenhouses that are 

 dark and defective in ventilation, and therefore unsuitable for such plants 

 as erica and epacris, etc., may be made good use of for the culture of 

 camellias. Though we have remarked above that camellias may be grown 

 in unheated structures, it is far preferable to heat the house with hot- 

 water pipes or a tank, so as to be able to raise the temperature to 60° during 

 the severest frost, as we sometimes have the coldest weather of the whole 

 year just as the first batch of camellias is coming into bloom, and in any 

 case there should be the means of keeping out frost, which is never a 

 benefit to the plants, though they can bear half a dozen degrees with 

 impunity if the wood is ripe. We ourselves lost a house full of camellias 

 on the night of the 24th and 25th of December, 1860 (who wiU ever 

 forget that night), in a lean-to where, owing to the festive character of 

 the season, the fire had been neglected, and the plants were suddenly 

 subjected to 12'^ of frost, which caused the stems to split from head to foot, 

 as if operated upon with a penknife. "We shall never again, we trust, 

 expose valuable plants to such a risk, and the mention of the fact may be 

 a useful warning to others, to be at all times prepared for the worst 

 possibilities. 



"Winter Tbeatiient of Camellias. — We prefer to keep camellias 

 under glass the whole year round, and are very much inclined to pronounce 

 vigorously against putting them out of doors at all. But if it were 

 imperative to keep them always under glass, many persons having but 

 limited glass room would have to give them up altogether, and the plan of 

 removing them to the open air is a very good compromise between the 

 best and worst methods of treatment. Take them in doors the last week in 

 September. If the house is still otherwise occupied put them in pits or 

 frames, so that in some way or other there is glass over them. AU they 

 need for some time is to be kept regularly watered, never wet and never 

 dry, safe from frost, but not to be stimulated by heat till it is required to 

 push them into bloom. 



Bloojiixg the Cajiellia. — The first thing we consider necessary is to 

 clean the foliage. However clean it may appear, we prefer to set a lad to 

 work to sponge every leaf with tepid water ; it is astonishing how ex- 

 quisitely bright and green the leaves look after the process. As they are 

 washed set them aside and remove a little of the top soil in the pots, not 

 more than an inch, and supply its place with two inches of rotten dung 

 and leaf-mould well chopped over. Eemove the plants into a house where 



