PROPAGATING THE CAMELLIA BY GRAFTING OR INARCHING. 85 
It may be observed that, of all the stocks for this or any other purpose, 
those obtained from seeds are the best; but in regard to Camellias, as 
the seeds are two years in coming up, cultivators seldom wait till such 
stocks are of proper size to be operated on. Sometimes the double 
Camellias are obtained from cuttings, but this is both a tedious and 
precarious method of increasing them. 
As to the proper season for grafting or inarching Camellias, the 
spring is the best, and just at that time when the plants have done 
flowering and are beginning to grow. ‘This state of vegetation does 
not always take place at precisely the same time, as some cultivators 
force their Camellias into bloom very early; such, therefore, should 
be operated upon not by the exact period of the year, but by the state 
of the plants. Some will be fit for this process in January, February, 
March, and April. Those, however, which are operated on in March 
and April will have the better chance to succeed, although those 
which are operated on in February answer pretty well. 
During the time the process is going on, the house should be kept 
rather closely shut up, and the atmosphere kept rather damp ; however, 
these must not be too freely indulged in, as in the former case the 
plants would be liable to being drawn up weak, and consequently 
become straggling and of bad habits. ‘The time that elapses before a 
union of the scion and stock completely takes place is in different sorts, 
and more particularly in regard to the state of health and vigour in 
which the plants may be, as well as the favourableness or unfavourable- 
ness of the season. Observation alone can dictate when the clay, and 
afterwards the bandage of matting should be removed. ‘There is an 
evil in allowing either to remain on too long, as well as taking them 
off too soon; however, there is less danger to be apprehended from 
their remaining on a week or even two too long, than in taking them 
off a week too soon. Some cultivators adopt the Graffe Blaikie 
mode of inarching with much success, and others also practise the 
mode recommended by Mr. Murray, of Glasgow, by inserting the lower 
extremity of the scion into potato or small turnip. Camellias will 
form a union when the branches are of considerable size; and, as we 
have already noticed, very large plants may be speedily formed by 
inarching several whole plants upon one common stock. ‘This process 
is now becoming prevalent round London; and when the operation is 
properly performed, and the plant afterwards properly cultivated, 
specimens of large size may be expected to become more common than 
they have hitherto been; and certainly one or two large specimens of 
this plant, where there is convenience for keeping them, are better 
than a number of small ones, which will take up the same room, and 
never can produce so imposing an effect as is the case with large 
specimens. Upon one or two plants may thus be cultivated the whole 
collection of varieties and species now known. In grafting Camellias 
much care should be taken to perform the operation neatly, so as to 
leave as little appearance of the place of union as possible. I recollect 
when this plant was much less common than it now is, and the methods 
of propagating it less understood, that some cultivators, to hide its 
deformity in the stem, performed the operation very close to the surface 
