364 ON THE CAMELLIA AND ITS CULTURE. 



LECTUKE ON THE CAMELLIA AND ITS CULTUBE, 



\Delivered at the Royal Horticultural Society's Meeting on the 

 \^th February 1871]. 



IVE a dog an ill name, and hang him," is a 

 proverb that is pretty generally known and under- 

 stood in every phase of English life. Now, I have to deal 

 to-day, so to speak, with a dog that has unfortunately 

 and in my opinion undeservedly, acquired an ill name, 

 and one object I have in view in taking up his case is to 

 endeavour to set him right with the public. 



Those of us who have any knowledge of dog-nature 

 must be aware that if we keep a dog unduly shut up, or 

 feed him on unsuitable or insufficient diet, unless he be 

 of a very accommodating disposition he will most likely 

 manifest some signs of uneasiness or displeasure. Now, 

 animal nature and plant nature are much alike in this 

 respect. In dealing with the one as with the other, diet 

 and treatment are everything, and pet plants, like pet 

 animals, are sometimes neglected, sometimes ill-nurtured 

 by improper food, and sometimes fed or worried out of 

 health. 



To drop metaphor, the Camellia japonica is a native 

 of China and Japan, and was introduced to this country 

 by Lord Petre about 1739. It was named in honour of 

 George Joseph Camellus, a Moravian Jesuit. Mr Fortune, 

 who has travelled both in China and Japan, has obligingly 

 given me the following account of the plant or tree in its 

 native countries : 



" I have met with the Camellia japonica growing as a 

 wild plant over a large tract of country in the central and 

 southern provinces of China, but its principal habitat lies 

 between the 2Oth and 3<Dth degrees of north latitude. 



"The early spring in the district alluded to is gene- 

 rally remarkably fine, and rather dry. From April to 

 June the weather breaks, and becomes moist and showery. 



