18G THE FLORAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



filled up to tbe bung-hole with water, if there is not liquor enough ; 

 let it lean to one side a little, that it may discharge itself; if there 

 is any liquor left in the tub not quite fine, pass it through flannel, 

 and fill up with that instead of water. As the fermentation proceeds, 

 and the liquor diminishes, it must be filled daily, to encourage the 

 fermentation, for ten or twelve days, it then becomes more moderate, 

 when the bung should be put in, and a gimlet-hole made at the side 

 of it, fitted with a spile ; this spile should be taken out every two 

 or three days, according to the state of the fermentation, for eight or 

 ten days, to allow some of the carbonic acid gas to escape. When 

 this state is passed, the cask may be kept full by pouring a little 

 liquor in at the vent-hole once a week or ten days, for three or four 

 weeks. This operation is performed at long intervals, of a month or 

 more, till the end of December, when, on a fine frosty day, it should 

 be drawn off from the lees as fine as possible ; the turbid or muddy 

 part passed through flannel. Make the cask clean, return the liquor 

 to it, with one drachm of pure isinglass dissolved iD a little water; 

 stir the whole together, and put the bung in firmly. Choose a clear 

 dry day in March for bottling. They should be champagne bottles — 

 common wine bottles are not strong enough — secure the corks in a 

 proper manner with wire, etc. The liquor is generally made up to 

 two or three pints over the ten gallons, which is bottled for the pur- 

 pose of filling the cask a* it is wanted. 



To make a dry wine like sherry, the cask must be kept constantly- 

 filled up to the bung-hole, daily, or every other day, as long as any 

 fermentation is perceptible by applying the ear to the bung-hole ; 

 the bung may then be put in lightly for a time, before finally fixing 

 it; it may be racked off on a fine day in December, and fined with 

 isinglass as previously directed, and bottled in March. 



THE CAMELLIA. 



BY AN OLD GAKDEXEK. 



SOW that the bloom of Camellia is over, is a suitable time 

 for some notes on its history and culture, as well as of 

 its various uses as a conservatory, greenhouse, and 

 window flower, and also of its adaptation to suitable 

 situations in the open air. There are not many species 

 of Camellia, and we are mainly dependent on the varieties of C. 

 Japonica for the hundreds of variously coloured flowers that deco- 

 rate our houses during winter and spring. Japonica, too, is the 

 oldest, having been introduced to this country, in 1739, from its 

 native country, Japan. The Thea, from which the Chinese manu- 

 facture the tea of commerce, is strictly a Camellia, and the botanical 

 distinctions by which it is separated from Camellia are too slight, in 

 our opinion, to warrant the division. It is commonly believed that 

 Thea viridis, often catalogued as Camellia viridis, is the only plant 

 used by the Chinese in the manufacture of tea ; but T. Bohea and 



