90 Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
CAMELLIA, 
covered with some of the turfy matter 
selected from the soil, so as to effectually 
prevent the finer portion from getting down 
among them. In potting, ram the new 
soil to make it quite close and as solid as 
the ball. If this is not done, when water 
is given it will pass off through the new 
material, leaving the old quite dry, in 
which case a sickly condition of the plants 
will follow. After potting, replace them 
in the house or pit they have previously 
occupied, keep them a little close, shade as 
heretofore, and syringe in the afternoons. 
They will not need water at the root, for 
some days, during which time any roots 
that have been broken will have time to 
heal. ©The reason for potting Camellias 
when their growth is approaching comple- 
tion, and at a time different from that 
found the best for most plants, is that early 
in the season, for some time previous to 
any development of top growth, their roots 
are actually at work, and from their ex- 
ceptionally brittle nature, especially whilst 
young, they cannot be disturbed without 
injury to an extent that generally seriously 
interferes with the top growth for the 
season. The evil consequences of this are 
avoided by moving them at the time here 
advised ; but the potting, particularly with 
plants that have acquired considerable size, 
and whose flowering is of much conse- 
quence, must not be deferred too long— 
that is until the flower-buds have grown 
to any considerable size, or the inevitable 
result will be that they will fall off. The 
roots will soon enter the new soil, as, when 
the plants are in good health, they keep on 
erowing after the wood-growth is com- 
pleted. They will now require no warmth 
but simply ordinary greenhouse protection, 
with plenty of air ; they should be slightly 
shaded during the middle of the day, when 
the weather is bright, so long as the sun is 
powerful. The soil even during the 
autumn and winter must never be allowed 
to get dry. As to temperature, they will 
need nothing more than sufficient to keep 
out frost. 
Having a natural free disposition to 
flower, even in a very small state, they 
will bloom the ensuing spring, but if their 
flowers are needed for cutting, they should 
not have much or any of the wood re- 
moved with them while so young, or it 
will interfere with their growth ; for most 
purposes in which Camellia flowers are 
now used, they are cut or twisted off with- 
out any wood attached, and afterwards 
mounted on wires. This is a great gain to 
the plants, even when large and strong, as 
it enables them to produce a full crop of 
flowers every year, which was not the case 
when many of the shoots were cut with the 
flowers—a practice frequently carried so 
far as to bring about a stunted, unhealthy 
condition. Each subsequent year’s treat- 
ment will be similar to that advised for 
the first, so far as warmth, shade, and 
moisture during the season they are making 
their growth are concerned. They should 
be potted at such intervals as they require 
it, but this will not be necessary every 
year, even in their younger stages, and as 
they get large they will frequently go on 
for years without additional room. At the 
same time, they must not be too much 
confined at the root, and whenever they 
evince signs of weakness by making less 
growth they should be moved to larger 
pots or tubs. As they get big enough for 
the latter, any branches that show a dis- 
position to outgrow and impoverish the 
weaker ones should be shortened back and 
bent down ; but with sufficient room and 
fair treatment when the training has been 
properly attended to in the early stages of 
their existence, the natural habit of most 
varieties is such as to entail little difficulty 
on this head. 
Some growers fully expose their plants 
out in the open air during the summer 
after the flowers are set ; but this isa bad 
practice, as if stood where the foliage is 
sufficiently shaded by trees or walls to 
prevent its getting discoloured by the sun, 
they are exposed to heavy rains, whereby 
the soil gets saturated to an extent that 
causes it to become sour. This often in- 
duces a diseased condition of the roots, or, 
if less serious in its consequences, causes 
the buds to fall off later when they should 
be near approaching expansion. The buds 
will drop too if the plants ever get too dry 
at the roots after the buds have attained 
any considerable size, or if they are kept in 
too high a temperature with insufficient 
moisture in the atmosphere ; in fact, 
Camellias will not bear any attempt at 
forcing. Some kinds however open their 
flowers much more freely in a temperature 
a little above that of an ordinary green- 
house,, but where there is a disposition to 
accelerate their flowering, 45° to 48° in the 
night, with 6° or 8° more in the day, is hot 
enough. 
If Camellias are required to bloom 
earlier than they have done the preceding 
year, they should, after the flowers are set, 
be kept in heat until the buds are grown 
to a size that will enable them to expand 
without the application of anything much 
above a greenhouse temperature, after they 
have once been removed from the warmth 
to which they have been subjected whilst 
making growth and setting their buds. 
