The Cultivation of the Camellia. 213 



delight is a light turfy loam, to which a fourth part of well- 

 decayed leafmould or peat may with advantage be added, 

 and if river sand can be conveniently got, an eighth of it 

 may also be added. A little charcoal may be used witli ad- 

 vantage, but in no case, ought what is known as dung, to be 

 used ; it harbors worms and soddens the soil. The pots 

 should be well drained, and the plants firmly potted, and 

 placed where they are to stand, under the shade of the vines, 

 before they are watered ; but as soon as they are placed, give 

 them a good watering overhead and at the roots, with water 

 of the same temperature as the house at the time, and con- 

 tinue to water overhead daily — say at eight o'clock, morning, 

 and four o'clock, P. M., and at the root when required, and 

 for ten days with pure water only ; after which time the 

 roots may be expected to be in vigorous action, and able to 

 digest stronger food, when they may be watered with liquid 

 manure from the drainings of the melon-ground, or with rain- 

 water, which has had two ounces of guano to the gallon, 

 mixed with it the day before using. The use of liquid manure 

 should alternate with pure water, and be discontinued after 

 about six applications, when pure water only should be used, 

 until the same period the following season. If treated as here 

 recommended, the leaves will have acquired a fine dark green 

 color, the young shoots become firm, and the flower-buds 

 prominent and more numerous than required for ultimate 

 blooming by the end of June, when they ought to be thinned 

 to one, or at most two, buds at the termination of each shoot. 

 They may now be watered more sparingly overhead, and by 

 the end of July water overhead may be discontinued, and the 

 plants, when the buds are the size of small peas, removed 

 from the heat to a shady spot out of doors, but by no means 

 where they may be exposed to the drip of trees : the north 

 side of a wall, sufficiently high to protect them from the direct 

 rays of the swi, is the best situation ; care being taken to 

 place them on inverted pots, or some other means adopted to 

 prevent worms getting into their pots. Here they may stand 

 till they are moved into the greenhouse or conservatory, to 

 take the place of soft-wooded plants in September ; and if, 



