THE CAMELLIA JAPONICA. 



281 



be had to the time the operation has been 

 performed and the appearance of the growth. 

 In untying the bass matting with which the 

 grafts have been bound together, begin so 

 that if you, on taking off two or three turns, 

 find the union not complete, you can make 

 fast again : though in general, if well fitted, 

 in six or eight weeks from the time they 

 are done, they will be found joined well. 

 If the operation is not performed neatly and 

 the joint made to fit very close, it cannot 

 make a good union, and will be much lon- 

 ger in making any union at all. All the 

 plants will require constant attention as to 

 the watering, for while making their growth 

 they absorb a great deaL The stocks must 

 be looked to as well as the worked plants, 

 for although out of doors, and where 

 they can get all the rain, it will not be suf- 

 ficient moisture, unless it be a very drip- 

 ping season. Besides, if the drainage is 

 good, three days after a whole month's rain 

 would leave them as dry as if there had on- 

 ly been a day's rain. Therefore, whenever 

 there are plants in the greenhouse, conser- 

 vatory, or open ground, they must not, on 

 any account laek water, for that is a serious 

 ■check to the plant, and fatal to the bloom. 



July. — The plants have now advanced 

 considerably in their growth, and the early 

 ones, those which bloomed first and began 

 to grow directly, may have completed their 

 growth. This may be known by looking 

 at the new branches ; the leaves at the end 

 will be as large as those of the old plants, 

 and a bud terminates the joint or branch. 

 If this bud be double, it is a bloom ; if sin- 

 gle, some check has prevented it from set- 

 ting its bloom, want of water or pot room, 

 or sudden change of temperature, or some 

 other cause of a checked growth, has pre- 

 vailed to the loss of bloom. In this case, 

 let the plant be set out of doors to ripen its 

 wood as soon as possible, and when ripened 

 repot the plant if required, or if the pot be 

 not much crowded with roots at the side, 

 make the same pot do ; put it into the pro- 

 pagating house, or a tan pit, or a cool part 

 of the stove, to make its second growth. It 

 is just possible, by these means, to make it 

 set for bloom ; and when it has completed 

 its second growth in the stove, let the wood 

 ripen in the greenhouse, or conservatory. 

 But all such plants as have completed their 



Vol. iv. 21 



growth this month, and are set for bloom, 

 should be put under canvass to keep off 

 sun ; where, however, the fullest air can be 

 given in cloudy weather, and the sides be 

 all open even in the mid-day sun — the roof 

 alone being required to keep off' the rays, 

 except morning and evening, before and 

 after the heat has gone. Attend to water- 

 ing all those which are still making growth, 

 or of which the leaves have not yet attained 

 the full size. Look over the budded, graft- 

 ed and inarched plants ; cut off all the lat- 

 ter that have completed their union, and 

 place them in the shade a little while. 

 Take off all the growing part of the stock, 

 that the whole vigor of it may be thrown 

 into the graft. Release all the bandages 

 from the bud-grafted plants ; see that no 

 part of the stock is growing, and all that 

 are united properly may be put together 

 where they may still have the advantage 

 of the tan heat, and of shading by day. 

 Pot off all the struck cuttings into sixty- 

 sized pots, and after keeping them three or 

 four days in the moderate heat of the pro- 

 pagating house, or of a declining hot-bed, 

 let them be placed in a cold frame where 

 they can be well watered, shaded, covered 

 close in bad weather, and thrown open in 

 mild, and there they may remain till the 

 autumn, when they will have filled their 

 pots with roots, and require to be potted 

 into those of a larger size ; or, if room be 

 an object, they may remain in the same 

 until the growing time in the spring. Look 

 well now to the disposal of all the collec- 

 tion ; for every plant will have completed 

 its growth by the end of the month or the 

 beginning of the next. In the event of 

 not being able to put the plants under can- 

 vass, or in good deep pits, and of being 

 forced to place them in the open garden, 

 look out fur the most sheltered place, where 

 the mid-day sun will not reach them ; or, 

 if there be no such place, the sun must be 

 kept off by artificial means. 



August. — Little more is required this 

 month than attention to watering, and 

 turning such of the plants in the open 

 ground as might otherwise grow through 

 the put and strike into the ground, which 

 would greatly excite them in their season 

 for resting, and give them such a check on 

 removal as would effectually spoil them for 



