THE CAMELLIA. 399 



From the above remarks it will be seen that Camellias, 

 when systematic forcing is added to the usual routine of 

 culture, may be had in bloom for seven months in the 

 year at the seasons when flowers out-of-doors are rarest 

 and can indeed hardly be reckoned on for the purposes of 

 indoor decoration. 



It may be well to remark here that Camellias, which 

 are always disposed to vary much in colour under the 

 varying systems of cultivation, are usually a trifle paler 

 when forced to bloom in mid-winter than when flowering 

 under the stronger and more abundant sunlight of March 

 and April. 



ON THE RENOVATION OF DEBILITATED AND 

 UNSIGHTLY PLANTS. 



How often we meet with Camellias, both large and 

 small plants, in what a good cultivator would call a 

 "deplorable state." Bare of branches at their base, the 

 old wood barren, and the new growth weak the leaves 

 small in size and sickly in appearance we look at them 

 with aversion rather than with delight. They are em- 

 bodiments of ugliness and weakness instead of personifi- 

 cations of health and beauty. 



The cause of this we' have already stated (p. 386) we 

 have now to seek the remedy. 



A free use of the knife in pruning, heat, and moisture, 

 are the means by which plants in this condition may be 

 restored to health and beauty. Take them in hand in 

 September. Turn them out of their pots or tubs, and 

 make sure that the ball of earth is moist all through, and 

 drainage satisfactory. It is no uncommon thing with 

 Camellias that have been for many years in pots or tubs 

 to find the centre of the ball of earth in which they grow 

 so hard and dry as to be almost impervious to moisture. 

 This is a most unsatisfactory state of things. Plants in 

 pots and tubs have but a limited area of soil from which 

 to draw the food supplied through the roots, and a great 



