20 MONOGRAPHY OF THE GENUS CAMELLIA. 



We shall not speak of the peats of Gand, Turens, Anvers and Bruxelles, 

 which are of a fawn color; they are the best of all those with which we are 

 acquainted. 



When natural peat soil cannot be procured, a substitute to a certain ex- 

 tent, can be factitiously formed, which answers very well, and to which we 

 give the name of compost, in conformity to the practice in England, where 

 various kinds are so ably prepared. 



Take natural rich and substantial loam, from pastures, or grass fields, 

 with the turf, light mellow virgin soil from the forest, with all the roots and 

 herbaceous plants with which it is covered, and rotten leaves; mix these well 

 together in equal parts, and form a conical heap so that the rain water may 

 easily run off; this pile of compost is left in the open air, often dug over and 

 repiled up, so as to be operated upon by the atmospheric gases which sur- 

 round it, and a kind of fermentation, until it becomes a homogeneous mass, 

 which requires nearly a year, when it is fit for use, and affords an excellent 

 equivalent for natural peat soil. 



In England, where proper peat soil is rare, some of the ablest cultivators, 

 such as the Loddiges, Swet, and Young, rear Camellias in a mellow natural 

 loam, filled with vegetable substances, in a state of decomposition, mixed 

 with a certain quantity of turf and fine sand; others, as Bayswater, employ 

 a mixture of turf, naturally sandy soil, and a certain quantity of very old 

 barn manure, reduced to an earthy state; and there are some, as is the case 

 with Mr. Henderson, a Scotch cultivator, who is very celebrated for his 

 splendid collection of Camellias, who make use of a compost formed of light 

 loam, fine river sand, and thoroughly decomposed leaves. 



In Italy they use soil taken from the forests, mixed with decomposed 

 leaves. 



In those parts of Germany where peat soil can not be procured, it is 

 replaced by a compost, formed of one third turf and two thirds of virgin 

 earth, that is a little sandy, but well filled with decayed vegetable matter. 



But whatever soil or compost is used, for the Camellia, it is necessary 

 that it should be well pulverized and cleared of all stones, shells and pieces 

 of wood; but if it is natural peat soil, take care not to imitate those unskilful 

 and ignorant gardeners, who pass it carefully through a seive, by which 

 inappropriate operation, it is deprived of a quantity of small roots, and 



