MONTHLY CALENDAR. 285 



very great. Clear weak manure-water will excite them gently ; it must, 

 however, be both clear and weak, or it will do harm rather than good, for 

 they seem to have no power of assimilating gross food. The blossoms must 

 on no account be rubbed, touched, or wetted : they show at once any bruise 

 or spot of water on their clear and distinct and delicate petals. Two buds can 

 scarcely be held in the hand at the same time without injury. In cutting the 

 flowers, therefore, each should be placed separate in a basket divided into 

 small compartments, or in pots filled with sand. Immediately after camellias 

 have flowered is the best time for inarching any indifferent or worthless 

 variety with a good sort. This operation is very simple : merely partly cut 

 through the bark into both stock and branch, and unite the wounded 

 parts, binding them tightly together, and fix them securely in one spot, 

 excluding the air from the united part : in two months they will be united 

 for better or worse. At this time, cut the head oS" the stock, and leave it a 

 few weeks longer to make sure that the junction is perfect. Then cut off the 

 branch, and place the stock with its new head amongst the others as an inde- 

 pendent plant : the operation is now completed. Large branches from three 

 inches to three feet high can be attached in this manner, in the course of three 

 months, and most valuable plants secured at once. The stock and branch 

 must always, however, bear a proper relation to each other, and the latter, as 

 a rule, should never exceed the former in thickness. 



778. The Greenhouse. — Proceed with the shifting of all plants requiring it. 

 Free-growing plants, such as Lischenaultias, Boronias, &c,, may be treated 

 on what is termed the one-shift system, provided they are very healthy and 

 the after-treatment is skilful. They require turfy peat, well coloured with 

 gritty silver-sand, and a fourth part of clean sweet leaf-mould. Much of the 

 dirty putrid water and tannin that is used under this designation is enough 

 to kill most plants, and is certain death to hard-wooded species. Therefore, 

 unless the leaf-mould is really good, add none to your compost for hard-wooded 

 plants. In shifting any of these plants or heaths from a 48- to a 16- or 12-siiel 

 pot, the soil should be used in a much rougher state than for ordinary potting. 

 The draining must also be more liberal, say at least four inches deep, besides 

 mixing pieces of broken potsherds or charcoal freely with the soil in the pro- 

 cess of filling up. The soil should be so dry as never to stick to the fingers, 

 but by no means quite diy. It should also be well consolidated as the work 

 goes on, and rammed in with a small rammer, or the bottom of a pot of about 

 the same size, before the plant is inserted. If the soil is of the proper texture, 

 and in a right condition in reference to moisture, it will be almost impossible 

 to make it too firm in potting. The roots of hard-wooded plants seem unable 

 to get hold of loose soil. Much of the veriest twaddle has been written about 

 stirring and patching the surface of soil. When plants are properly rooted, 

 this operation is alike unnecessai-y and impossible. To secure plenty of roots, 

 thorough drainage is the first desideratum, proper compost the second, firm 

 potting the third, careful watering the fourth, and proper top management the 

 very last point for consideration. Some would probably be inclined to reverse 



