West London Gardeners^ Association. 613 



orange trees. He cut out the decayed roots, headed the branches at the 

 same time, and phmged them in bottom heat, where they grew luxuriantly. 

 From the similarity of the two genera, he considered it was confirmatory of 

 the benefit of bottom heat for the camellias. 



Mr. O'Loughlin approved of removing some of the buds, if too close or 

 too numerous on the plant. He considered cuttings from the single red to 

 be the best for stocks. He did not believe that tongueing was injurious to 

 grafts, and recommended that the pots should be well drained with brick 

 rubbish at the bottom, with rough peat over that to the depth of 5 or 6 inches, 

 as the health of the plant mainly depended upon good drainage. He saw, in 

 Dorsetshire, fine cameUias 8 ft. to 9 ft. high, planted out in the open air, pro- 

 tected by a iew thatched hurdles : they were not injured by the severe frost 

 of 1837-38. 



Mr. W. Keane believed that sudden changes of temperature were the 

 causes of buds falling off; the heat he considers best to flower them is 

 60° by day, and 50° at night. When done flowering, the heat to be raised to 

 80° by day, and from 65° to 70° at night, to grow them well. When the 

 flower-buds are set, the temperature to be gradually decreased, until placed 

 out of doors in June in some shady situation ; if wanted to flower early in the 

 autumn or winter, they should be set growing early in the spring. He was 

 opposed to the system of inarching with bottles of water in which to insert 

 the end of the scion, as it requires too much nicety for general practice. 



Mr. Gilfoyle agreed with Mr. Fish in the advantage of bottom heat for the 

 orange trees, but did not think there was such an analogy between them and 

 camellias, as to warrant a gardener to adopt the same practice for both. 

 He believed that the camellia, b}' the nature of the plant, could transpire 

 from the leaves but very little water, while, on the contrary, the foliage and 

 wood of the orange were naturally more permeable, and could receive a 

 greater quantity of water at the roots without fear of cankering them, or of 

 souring the soil. 



Mr. Caie observed that the constitution of the plants should be closely 

 studied, to direct us in removing the buds and in the application of water, 

 which may be freely given to healthy plants in the flowering season. In his 

 opinion, the success of grafting does not depend upon the clay, bottle, or any 

 other practice, but is mainly to be attributed to the beneficial influence of a 

 close atmosphere. 



Mr. T. Keane was sure that the idea of Mr. Fish was borne out by the 

 fact, that the rays of the sun were concentrated on the drops of water which 

 remained on the plants, by which the blotched appearance was given to the 

 leaves ; he approved of keeping them near the glass, and of shading them on 

 hot sunny days. 



Mr. shearer agreed with Mr. Caie, that camellias could be grown nearly all 

 the year round, and also in the advantage of keeping them near the glass to 

 receive the benefit of light and air. 



Monday Evening, March 5. — Mr. Robert Fish read an essay " On the 

 Shanking of GrapesT After some preliminary observations, he described the 

 difference between shanking and shriveling, that the latter was generally a 

 product of the former; he then mentioned having seen grapes shanked out of 

 doors, in opposition to the opinion that they never were so. He adverted to 

 the different reasons assigned as the cause of the evil ; some considering it as 

 arising from too much moisture, others from too much heat, and others from a 

 deficiency in ventilation ; and endeavoured to show that, while each of these 

 causes might be somewhat instrumental, still the chief cause lay in the inabi- 

 lity of the roots to sustain and mature the crops. 



He corroborated this proposition by detailing the results of forcing a vinery 

 three years in succession. The first season a very fair crop was taken, and the 

 berries were beautifully swelled and coloured. The second season a heavier 

 crop was taken, and there was a slight deficiency in colouring. The third 

 season a still heavier crop was taken, and there was still a deficiency in colour- 



