566 Foreign Notices : — Itah/. 



You may see from this that the love of plants is greatly increasing in Lom- 

 bardy. But I have not told you of the mania in Lombardy for Roses, and 

 particularly for the numerous varieties of the tea rose, the Bourbon rose, 

 and the rose perpetuelle ; also for the Fiola tricolor, the Auricula, and the 

 Dahlia. He who possesses the smallest garden must have his dahlias, and 

 on entering one of these, the first questions are : " Where are your dahlias ? 

 Where are your roses?" Signor Casoretti introduces every year a great 

 variety of the best dahlias, and particularly those registered in the Gardener's 

 Gazette as having obtained prizes. They cost him annually the sum of 1200 

 francs ; and to give you an idea of the increasing taste for this plant in Lom- 

 bardy, it is sufficient to say, that in 1835 they only cost him 200 francs. 



Signor Casoretti now possesses more than 450 varieties of Camellias. Fif- 

 teen years ago, a camellia which he had was looked upon as a wonder, and 

 now even in spring you see the balconies of persons of moderate fortunes 

 decorated by them. Fifteen years ago, a variegated Camellm japonica, about 

 2 ft. in height, cost 15 francs ; and now a plant of the same kind and size 

 may be had for 4 francs. You cannot imagine what a demand there has been 

 for the last four or five years for the flowers of this plant, during the carnival, 

 to ornament the heads of the dancers. They are also in great repute at par- 

 ties in the capital, where they have excluded other flowers, and so much so, 

 that the sum of 4 francs is sometimes given for a single flower. My friend 

 Signor Casoretti showed me the other day, that the annual entry for camel- 

 lias, fifteen years ago, was about 200 francs ; and he calculates that the entry 

 at present, in consequence of the great importation from France, amounts to 

 6500 francs. 



I must now tell you of a metJiod of multiplying camellias, which has been 

 in use here since 1830, and which I consider to be a much easier and more 

 useful way than that hitherto practised by inarching or cuttings, and which 

 may serve as an answer to the query of an Amateur in the Gardener's Gazette 

 of the 23d of January of the present year. I take from a strong-growing 

 camellia some of the roots which are about the thickness of a common 

 writing quill, and then cut them in pieces, taking care to leave some of the 

 fibrous roots on each portion, without which it would die. I then take a 

 small piece of a twig of the variety I wish to propagate, furnished with one 

 bud, and cleft-graft it on the portion of root. I plant it in a suitable-sized 

 pot, and then put it in a stove at a temperature of 12° Reaum. (59° Fahr.), 

 shaded from the sun, and covered with a white bell-glass. In the course of a 

 few days my grafts begin to vegetate, and I have seen some of them put out 

 a shoot 6 in. long in the course of a month. A great advantage of this method 

 of grafting is, that it can be performed at all times of the year (except, how- 

 ever, at the time when the Camell/« is in full vegetation); and, by only having 

 one bud of the variety you wish to propagate, you are sure to have a new 

 plant. It is also more economical, as the stocks on which the camellias are 

 usually grafted are a foot in height, and cost about a franc apiece. This 

 method has been practised by me, as well as by my friend above mentioned, and 

 is, we are convinced, the best in use ; and, when the operation is performed 

 with care, the loss cannot amount to more than four in a hundred. 



Neither is the art of artificial fecundation at a stand still among us, as I see 

 this year various camellias raised from seed which Signor Casoretti considers 

 perfectly beautiful, and two of them form the chief ornament of his valuable col- 

 lection* He has called the one SoulangeaKaplenissima, and the other Taverna, 



* This is the case, notwithstanding what the Abbe Berlese has stated re- 

 specting the camellias in the gardens of Milan, in his Monograph on the Genus 

 Camellia, 2d edit, revised and corrected, pp. 65, 66. You will see that this 

 author has been mistaken in his information on the subject ; as the C. Nassi- 

 niana di Lechi, the Sacco di Tagliabue, the Sacco nuova di Sacco, the Barai 

 di Casoretti, la Duchesse d'Orleans di Sacco, la Traversi di Casoretti (these 

 have all perfect flowers, and the others have the petals fasciculated (fascicolate) 



