554 



GENERAL REVIEW. 



of. light rich earth. These grow away well and form excellent 

 stocks ; and, according to some nurserymen and propagators, 

 varieties worked on seedling stocks grow more vigorously and 



are longer lived than 

 when grafted on cut- 

 tings, but we have ob- 

 served very little differ- 

 ence. Inarching may 

 be adopted when the 

 stock is large and can- 

 . not be enclosed in a 

 close case, or for reno- 

 vating old specimens 

 (see fig.). Cleft-graft- 

 ing also succeeds well 

 in a close atmosphere. 



Thea.* The Tea- 

 plant, which has been 

 so largely cultivated in 

 China for ages, and of 

 late years also in Assam, 

 is a variable plant in- 

 deed, I know of no 

 plant which has any 

 claim to the title of be- 

 ing cultivated but what 

 is more or less variable, 

 in one way or other, 

 since cultivation is ex- 



Inarching Camellia on " planted-out" stock, pressly designed and 



earned out as a means 



of improving plants in size, form, colour, or flavour. Thea 

 bohea (see ' Bot. Mag.,' t. 998) is perhaps the most gener- 

 ally cultivated species for purposes of tea -making, but some 

 forms of Camellia, as C. sasanqua, are also used for the 

 purpose. The numerous varieties of Chinese Tea imported 

 to this country are principally the result of different meth- 

 ods of manufacture, and in some cases depend on the age 

 of the leaf, the tea made from the youngest and earliest 

 leaves being most delicate in flavour. The Tea-plant is freely 

 propagated from seeds, which are readily produced in culti- 

 vation in our gardens if artificial fertilisation is resorted to. 

 Cuttings of the young wood also root if inserted in heat, as 

 recommended for Camellias. The Tea -plant grows well if 

 * For a valuable account of the Tea-plant, see Royle's Illustr., p. 107. 



