290 Berlese's Mojiograjjhie du Genre Camellia. 



Art. IV. Monographic du Genre Camellia, Sfc.: Monograph of the 



Genus Camellia; or, an Essay on its Culture, Description, and 



Classification. By the Abbe Berlfese, Member of the Hort. Soc. 



of Paris, and of various other Societies. 8vo. Paris, 1837. 



Price 3 francs. 



When we mention that the Abbe Berlese is a travelled scholar, an enthu- 

 siastic amateur of botany and gardening, and an intimate friend of the Chevalier 

 Soulange-Bodin, our readers will readily conceive that this monograph of the 

 CameUia is likely to be as good a work of the kind as can be produced in 

 France at the present period. The Abbe Berlese, for upwards of the last 20 

 years, has devoted himself exclusively to the culture of the Camellia; and 

 his collection in Paris is visited by every stranger, and highly spoken of by 

 travellers. [The abbe is the author of several instructive articles in the An- 

 nates de la Societe cV Horticulture de Paris ; but this, as far as we are aware, is 

 the first separate work with which he has favoured the public. We ought 

 sooner to have noticed it, but we have been of late much pressed for room.] 



The work before us is divided into four chapters : the first is historical and 

 descriptive of the species; the second treats of culture and propagation ; the 

 third treats of the classification of Camellias ; and the fourth contains a de- 

 scription of 482 species and varieties. This last chapter will be the most 

 interesting to the English reader, on account of the division of the different 

 kinds into eleven groups. These groups are founded on two series, or scales, 

 of colour ; the first scale commencing with pure white, which, passing into 

 rose, then into cherry-colour, goes to amaranth, and stops at crimson ; the 

 second scale commences by a carnation-yellow, or dirty white, which passes 

 into flesh-colour, then into orange red, and stops at dark crimson. 



In each of these scales the flowers are either of one colour or of two co- 

 loiu-s, in the first, there is only one of the colours belonging to the scale, 

 without the admixture of any other colour ; but, in the second, some one of 

 the colours belonging to the scale must exist as a ground, varied with some of 

 the other colours, also belonging to the scale. Thus, in scale one, we have 



Unicolores, or flowers of one colour; white, rose, cherry, amaranth, crimson. 



Bicolores, or flowers of two colours ; a white ground varied by rose, a rose 

 ground varied by cherry, a cherry ground varied by white ; or, in short, any one 

 of the colours as a ground, varied by any of the other colours belonging to that 

 series. But, to be able to get a practical knowledge of these scales, the reader 

 must have recourse to the work itself. 



Chap. 1. Origin and botanical Characters of the Caviellia, and the Progress 

 of its Cidture. Here the author states that he has been aided in arranging the 

 varieties of CamelHa into -scales, or gamuts, by M. Chevreul, director of the 

 manufactory of the Gobelin tapestry, and professor of chemistry to the 

 Museum, who is about to publish a scientific work on the arrangement of 

 colours. The other parts of this chapter are already familiar to our readers. 



Chap. II. Cidture of the Camellia. Sandy peat is recommended as the 

 best soil, though it is stated they will grow also in fresh loam (terre normale, 

 dite terre franche) ; and the circumstance of fresh loam, along with leaf-mould 

 and sand, being used by cultivators in the neighbourhood of London, is also 

 noticed. The best season for potting is the spring. It is a principle in horti- 

 culture, the author observes, that evergreen exotics under glass, being con- 

 tinually more or less in a growing state, require a good deal of water through- 

 out the year, even in winter; and this is particularly the case with the 

 Camellia. It must be supplied abundantly with water, from the time its buds 

 begin to swell, previously to flowering, and till the buds on the young shoots 

 have attained their full size ; and, throughout the remaining part of the year, 

 the ground must be kept in an equable degree of moisture, as either too much 

 or too little humidity is as injurious to Camellias as it would be to heaths. 

 During the months of May and June, the Camellias may be watered overhead 

 by a syringe; and the floor of the house should always be kept watered at this 

 season, in order to maintain a humid atmosphere. The Abbe Berlese finds 



