THE CAMELLIA AS A HARDY PLANT. 



417 



or lime water sprinkled, on gooseberry and 

 tfurrant trees, cleans them as completely as 

 if they had never been attacked. Laid 

 round a bed liable to the attacks of wander- 

 ing snails and slugs, it prevents them from 

 crossing the boundary; but it requires re- 

 newal, b-ecause its caustic qualities are lost 

 in time. Ploughed into land, or forked into 

 beds infested with grubs, it has the best 

 possible effect I and where the garden is 

 bounded by a hedge, v/hich is the most 

 harboring of all receptacles for vermin, 

 xhere is no better means of destroying the 

 greater part of them than sousing it well 

 with iime water, by means of the garden 

 -engine. There can be no raistake in lime 

 water, for this purpose : because you may 

 iet the water take up as much lime as it 

 .can, only it must fee used clear. Lime is 

 tone of the best substances to mix with ma- 

 aiures of all sorts ; it absorbs that which 

 would be v/asted ; it disinfects the mass ; it 

 snakes the most offensive matter inoffensive. 

 A layer of night-soil, and a layer of lime, 

 would be as harmless as so much common 

 •earth. It is inapossible, therefore., to over- 



rate the usefulness of this substance, in the 

 garden or in the farm ; and the more the 

 public begin to understand the value of the 

 sewerage of the metropolis, the contents of 

 cesspools and drains, the more will they also 

 recognise the value of that substance which 

 will render the most nauseous of all waste 

 harmless, and prepare it for the earth which 

 requires it. Lime is of such efficacy in the 

 way of disinfecting any disagreeable pro- 

 duction, and counteracting infection in eve- 

 ry shape, that one of the most early precau- 

 tions against the approach of contagious 

 disease, is to lime-wash the brick walls of 

 all work-houses and public buildings where 

 the lower orders congregate. It is even 

 said that the brick walls of the chief apart- 

 m.ents in union-houses, is not covered with 

 plaster, or other matter, because they should 

 take the lime-white readily ; and this hint 

 may not be lost on those who house and 

 provide for many Avork people during the 

 summer season. Lime-white the walls, 

 and use iime to disinfect an^'thing that 

 mjo-ht become a nuisance. 



ON THE CAMELLIA AS A HARDY PLANT. 



BY SAMUEL FEAST, BALTIMOEB, MD. 



Dear Sie — In a late nun&ber you copy some 

 cremajks, on the hardiness of the Camellia^ 

 sfrom the Gardener'' s Chronicle^ and add 

 that this fine exotic may prove hardy in 

 Saltimore. Dr. Eemondson, of this city, 

 5ias paid much attention, of late years, to 

 raising Camellias from seed ; and after 

 .flowering, the inferior varieties were planted 

 out in the open ground. Some account of 

 iliis experiments may, perhaps, throw light 

 'On the hardiness of the Camellia in this 

 (Country.. 



His first (experiment was with tke ©Id 

 striped, or double variegated. A plant five 

 feet high, of this variety, he planted out 

 with Ehododen-drons in the city, under a 

 laorth wall, in a small garden, protected 



You iiL 27 



from, the sun and wind. It stood two very 

 severe winters, but never flowered, and 

 was much disfigured. The second trial 

 was with a large single red, on the southern 

 front of his house in the country, fully ex- 

 posed to the sun. This plant was killed to 

 the ground the first winter. The third ex- 

 periment was with a large single Bed. It 

 was planted on the northern side of the 

 house, and protected with straw carpeting. 

 It has been out four winters, and it does 

 not prosper. The fourth trial was made 

 with nine strong seedlings. These w^ere 

 planted in a clump, in a northern exposure, 

 shaded with large sycamores and other 

 trees. They have been planted four years, 

 and at present are full of buds. The fifth 



