134 THE GARDENER. [March 



NOTES ON DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 



The Camellia. 



From the fact of its flowering at the time when flowers are generally- 

 scarcest, and the demand for them greatest, the Camellia, both for cut 

 flowers and house decoration, fills a gap in a way that few other plants 

 can do; the flowers are always desirable, and always valuable, so that 

 it must be considered one of the most indispensable of our decorative 

 greenhouse plants. Its natural season of blooming is from December 

 onwards till April, and though with proper treatment it is quite pos- 

 sible to have them in flower as early as August, still the flowers are 

 never so good, and certainly they are never so much valued at this 

 season as when they flower in the dull- winter and spring months. 

 "Where they are wanted to flower early, they should be kept in heat 

 while they are making their growth, and until the buds are well set, 

 after which fire-heat should be discontinued. While making their 

 growth they should get a dewing with tepid water occasionally, through 

 a syringe, in order to keep the foliage clean and healthy. By starting 

 them a little earlier each succeeding year, they will in a few seasons 

 be induced to start away early of their own accord, or at least with 

 very little assistance. Like Azaleas, the Camellia is imported in large 

 quantities every year from the Continent, and at a very reasonable 

 price : so that unless one really wants to propagate one's own plants, by 

 way of practice, it is hardly worth the trouble of doing so; still some- 

 times one likes to try their hand at such things. 



Cuttings of some of the strong-growing single varieties, such as 

 Tricolor, may be put in to root in order to make stocks for grafting 

 upon. They should be put in singly, in small thumb-pots, and plunged 

 in the propagating-frame, in a bottom-heat of about 80°, and in a 

 mixture of peat, rubbed through a fine sieve, leaf-mould, and sharp 

 sand. Cocoa-nut fibre is a good plunging material, or sawdust will 

 do very well. They should be dewed slightly through a syringe on 

 the evenings of hot days, and kept pretty close until rooted, after 

 which gradually inure them to air and exposure, and encourage to 

 make good strong growths, gradually increasing the quanity of air, so 

 as to get the wood well ripened and ready for grafting the following 

 season. 



This operation should be performed in the spring of the year, when 

 the sap is in active circulation, though some prefer to do it in the 

 autumn, when the growth is more matured. The stocks should be 

 first plunged in the propagating-box for a short time before operating 

 upon them, so as to have them in active growth : side-grafting is the 

 method usually employed. The scion should be securely tied with 

 matting, and then covered over carefully with grafting wax, and each 

 plant labelled and returned to the frame as it is finished, and kept 

 close until the union is completed. There should be a brisk bottom- 



