294 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDKNEH. 



[ April 29, 1869. 



at best. There is no dUpoting the quality of yonrinveatment, 

 Kate — BO many pounds for green leaves, to say nothing about 

 tobacco paper, and various other wonder-working ingredients. 



" And eoap too, Herbert, is no small item, I assure you," 

 said Janet ; " and as for nail-brushes, they wear out in no time. 

 I am sure, Kate, your management cannot he right." 



" It is but a natural result, rather a desirable one," said Annt 

 Margaret, " when women undertake to do men's work. For 

 myself, I never expected much in the way of success." 



"I was always quite sure you would soon tire of it, Kate," 

 said Janet. 



"Nothing sooner makes people tire of an undertaking than 

 failure ; success is the loadstone which drags us all along," said 

 Uncle Tetley. " But I think if yon put on a little more heat 

 they would do better ; few things will open bloom in so low a 

 temperature as you keep your house ; yesterday when I was in, 

 it was down at 40°. Why, summer flowers would do nothing 

 without more warmth than that." 



" But, then," replied Kate, "we do not have such short, damp, 

 foggy days in summer as we have had for the last two months, 

 and I never heard of a country where the heat increased with the 

 darkness. I always thought the inside and outside tempera- 

 tures should bear some affinity to each other. The Camellias 

 are said to do without beat ; down in the south they can grow 

 them better in the open air than we can here uuder glass." 



" Then you must give them too much water," said Uncle 

 Tetley ; " I have often heard that was a fruitful source of cast- 

 ing buds, and your fallen buds might be gathered up by cup- 

 fnla. It may be that you give them too little, and so they 

 dwindle and din from starvation." 



" But how are we to know the happy medium ? Is there any 

 rule of weight or measure to go by with safety ? and if so, what 

 is it ? Will a pint do for some plants, a gallon for others, and 

 a few drops for the next? and will the same quantity do equally 

 well for all plants in the same sized pots, and that, too, under 

 various circumstances ? Are not garden writers continually 

 Baying, Do not give more water than is absolutely necessary in 

 the winter months ? It is not very easy to know just the right 

 time — neither too soon nor too late." 



" Oh, some gardeners toll by lifting the pots or sounding 

 them; but then you could not do that unless you waited until 

 the pots were very dry and light," said Walter. 



" And some people wait until the plant is sick and cannot 

 hold itself up," said Kate ; " and then I suppose they feel quite 

 sure they are not a minute too soon. I wonder if they ever 

 think they are a little too late, or consider the mischief which 

 may follow ? for I am sure hardwooded plants canuot betray 

 signs of distress without suffering for a long period." 



" Well, I would acquire the proper method of watering," said 

 Walter, " if I devoted a whole month to the purpose ; I would 

 measure it out by gills, and make notes as I went along, and 

 not always be working in the dark." 



" And the followingmonthyour notes would probably be worse 

 than useless — utterly set at nought by the action of sun, wind, 

 or rain. You surely do not think plants require the same 

 amount of water on a rainy day as a sunny one V ' 



" You are right there, Kate," said Uncle Tetley ; " I suppose 

 when the spring sunshine comes we shall have our show of late 

 blooms." 



"Yes," said Cousin Herbert, "if we do manage a few flowers 

 it is generally in April or May, when the best growers of such 

 plants pull off all laggard buds, thinking flowers will come 

 another year in greater profusion, or to compel them to be true 

 to their time. I must confess I would do the same ; if they 

 would not bloom in the winter months, they should not have 

 the chance in spring." 



" And then," said Janet, " they soon fade. Why, the Alba 

 plena you cut me the other day to wear in my hair when I was 

 going to South Field, fell all in fragments, and was lost in the 

 cab, and I did not know until the company looked bard at me, 

 and Uncle Stephen said, 'I suppose, Janet, these leaves are your 

 own cultivating.' My cultivating, indeed ! it was a compliment, 

 to be sure ! The loaves were not green, they had the appearance 

 of having been dusted over with snuff. Why, the white 

 Camellia I brought home with me from York lasted a month, 

 and I wore it three evenings, and even when it faded it did not 

 fall in pieces, and its leaves were dark and glossy. I would not 

 spend so much time if I were yon, Kate, growing brown-spotted 

 leaves." 



" Oh, that is the result of the burning season we had last 

 y«ar, not natural to them. They get over that in time." 



" Why did yon not place them out in the shade-? " 



" Because, Herbert, there was not much shade to be fonnd, 

 save under the drip of trees, which they of all plants do not like." 



" Not much drip last year, Kate." 



" There might have been. We were always looking out and 

 wishing for rain. And as for our Camellias, I believe they 

 would bloom, and well too, if we could leave off tormenting 

 them ; they never have a season of quiet. That rest — doing 

 nothing — which, they say, is just as necessary to a plant as sleep 

 is toa child, they never have ; we change about withevery wind, 

 try every new method of growing them we read or hear of." 



" Well," said Herbert, " there is no other way of doing, but 

 trying and trying again until yon find the best; however dear- 

 bought the experience may be, it is sure to lead to something 

 better in the end, unless you are radically wrong in your method 

 of treatment at the very beginning, and so repeat the evil over 

 and over with each new experiment. Perhaps your mode of 

 potting is not correct ; you may not give them the right mixture 

 of soils, or you may give it at the wrong time of the year." 



"I think," said Kate, "we have not missed it in the way 

 you say. They have had every kind of mixture we ever heard 

 of or could imagine, aud thay barely have the flavour of one 

 compound before another is offered to them. They have been 

 spoiled by over-care and over-feeding, and the result is- " 



"Disappointment," said Herbert. " I think, indeed, they 

 have been to you like the donkey to the old man ; you have fol- 

 lowed every suggestion, and forgotten your own common sense." 



" Yes," replied Kate, " it is one thing one time and another 

 the next. Some say loam and peat are the finest mixture in 

 the world to grow them in ; then some one else affirms that 

 chopped-up tutf paiings, with a little sand, are the best. One 

 says that amateurs have nothing to do with peat, and should 

 never use it, for it will be sure to turn sour and spoil all the 

 soil that they use along with it ; and then another is quite sure 

 Camellias cannot be grown without peat. Some apply great 

 quantities of manure ; others call such doses rank poison, and 

 are of opinion that clear soot water is the strongest drink 

 Camellias should ever taste." 



" It is very strange," said Aunt Margaret, "for yonr bndl 

 grow to a promising size and then fall off. Why, only yesterday 

 I gathered up a dozen as large as my thimble ; I think as Maud 

 says, you do not thin them enough when thoy are little." 



" No need to do that, Aunt Margaret; I assure you our Ca- 

 mellias take upon themselves that part of the work. Why, the 

 pretty Jubilee in the cast window had upwards of a score buds 

 on New Year's-day, and only one opened, and that one the day 

 after unfolding its charms fell down upon the stand wi th a brown 

 spot in the centre." 



" I would give it up, Kute, darliug, if I were you. All the 

 Camellias in Yorkshire are not worth the wear and tear you give 

 yourself. Purchase what you want." 



" A pretty price they would be. Aunt Margaret, if no one suc- 

 ceeded better than Kite," said Janet. " Yet I do not know why 

 women should trouble about flowers save to wear them." 



" Nor I, Janet," said Walter. " I would not if I were a woman. 

 As a man I do not care about it ; it does but wear the dress, and 

 soil the fingers, and unfit one for other work." 



"Every one to her taste. I suppose, Janet, you would rather 

 be stitching flowers on canvas than growing them in living 

 colours ; so you may. I would rather grow them than work 

 them ; and I hope, Walter, I shall never find out that doing so 

 unfits me for other work." 



"Well, if it do not, Kate, yon must be constantly doing 

 work you ought to pay for, aud if I were you I would give it up 

 at once and forever." 



" What I do I do for pleasure. Give it up, and be neither 

 wiser nor better iu the end than the beginning ! Not so, Walter, 

 unless we go and live in the heart of a city, miles away from 

 fresh soil and pure air, aud with no blue sky overhead. And then 

 I am not sure I should not try my hand at window-gardening, 

 rather than lose that one pleasure which leaves no regret." — 

 Maud. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Exhibitors at the London Snows are invited to confer with 

 the Council of the Eiyal Horticultural Society on Tuesday, 

 May 4tb, at one o'clock, iu the Council Boom at South Kensing- 

 ton, with the view of discussing certain contemplated restric- 

 tions in the size of pots to be used in exhibiting plants daring 

 the season of 1870. 



The preparations for the Intbrnational Exhibition at 



Hambubo are progressing fast. The Committee have arranged 



