NEW ZEALAND GARDENING. 175 



The usual methods of propagation are by grafting and 

 budding on the single red camellia, grown from seed or 

 cuttings and layers. The cuttings are taken in February 

 and March, or as soon as the young shoots are sufficiently 

 ripe at the base. They are carefully prepared by being cut 

 smoothly over with a sharp knife at a joint, and divested of 

 one or two leaves at the bottom, and then planted firmly, 

 about two inches deep, in pots half filled with the camellia 

 compost before described, and the upper half with fine, 

 sharp sand. They are then well watered and the pots 

 plunged in a slight hotbed, and kept closely shaded for three 

 or four months, by which time they will be rooted. When 

 sufficiently rooted to bear removal, they are potted singly in 

 small pots, the sand being then carefully removed ; the pots 

 should be well drained and filled with the same compost as 

 .above mentioned, with the addition of a little sharp sand. 

 They are afterwards to be sprinkled with water, and placed 

 in a close frame or pit until they begin to root afresh, and 

 by degrees exposed to the air. The succeeding season they 

 may be potted in the same soil as the other camellias and 

 similarly treated, and many of the plants will then have 

 attained sufficient size and strength for inarching or budding, 

 and all of them by the following season. The best time for 

 inarching is early in Spring, just before the plants begin to 

 grow, and for budding as soon as the new wood is sufficiently 

 .ripened, but it may be done at almost any season of the 

 year. 



Rules for Watering Pot Plants. Never giving 

 water until it is actually required, and then enough should 

 be given to reach every part of the ball. Watering by 

 driblets is the worst of all practices. By such a system one 

 portion of the roots is perishing with drought, while the other 

 is surfeited with water. To determine, therefore, when a 

 plant requires water is not so difficult as may at first appear. 

 It is not always when the surface soil looks dry that the roots 

 .are in that condition, and to administer water on that 

 evidence alone would be, to say the least of it, a bad practice, 

 more especially as regards plants which require considerable 

 care in their cultivation. The plant itself will frequently 

 indicate its wants in this respect, but it is not always judicious 

 lo wait for such proofs, neither would it be prudent to turn 



