Berlese's Monographic du Genre Camellia. 291 



that the best time for removing the Camellias from the house into the open 

 air is after they have completed their young wood, which is generally about 

 the end of June. They should be placed in an open airy situation, exposed 

 to the north, and where they would only receive the direct rays of the sun in 

 the mornings and evenings. If exposed to the sun during the whole of the 

 day, the flower-buds will be too promptly matured, and will not attain the 

 same size as they would if matured slowly. The Camellias are taken back to 

 the house again when the heavy autumnal rains commence, which is generally 

 about the beginning of October. 



Camellias will grow in any kind of house, provided they are placed near the 

 glass. The Camellia can endure some degrees of cold ; but, to preserve it 

 through the winter in a state fit for flowering vigorously in spring, it requires 

 a constant temperature of 6° or 8° of Reaum. (45° to 50° Fahr.) Air should be 

 given to them every day, even when the weather is very cold ; choosing the 

 mildest period, and opening the windows only for a few minutes. Moss should 

 never be allowed to grow on the surface of the pots. Camellias are subject to 

 various insects ; such as the green fly, the ant, a species of Coccus, &c. ; and 

 worms get into the pots. Smoking with tobacco, and washing with a sponge 

 and water, will destroy or remove the insects ; and watering with a decoction 

 of tobacco will kill the worms. The abbe has tried for this last purpose lime- 

 water ; but he finds that, unless it is used sparingly, it destroys the roots. 



The Camellia flowers naturally in the green-houses, in Paris, from December 

 till the end of March ; but, by a little management, the flowering season may be 

 made to commence in December, and continue till April. For this purpose, 

 plants intended to flower in September should be put into heat in February, 

 so as to complete the growth of their young wood, and mature their blossom 

 buds, at least a month sooner than usual. Plants thus treated will be ready 

 to be removed into the open air by the end of May, and may be taken into the 

 house again a month sooner than usual ; after which, they will immediately 

 begin to flower. To retard Camellias, so that they may come into flower in 

 April, they are kept in a lower temperature in spring, so as to cause them to 

 make their wood and young shoots one month later than the natural period ; 

 and they are kept in a lower temperature than usual in autumn. 



The dropping off" of the flower-buds of the Camellia is a very general com- 

 plaint, both in France and England ; the only effectual remedy for which is, to 

 keep the plant constantly in an equal temperature, between 7° and 8° Reaum. 

 (48° to 50° Fahr.) during the day, and 5° or 6° Reaum. (43° to 45"^ Fahr.) 

 during the night, from the 1st of October till the end of March. An equality 

 of temperature, the Abbe Berlese observes, is essentially necessary for pre- 

 serving the flower-buds of the Camellia. It may be somewhat lower or some- 

 what higher than the range which he has mentioned ; but on its uniformity 

 will depend the existence of the flower-buds. This liability to drop off", from 

 excess or defect of temperature, he attributes to the circumstance of vegetation 

 not being active in the plant generally when it begins to come into flower, 

 but only in the flower-buds. The abbe observed, in the course of forty-eight 

 hours, the flower-buds drop off" from 100 fine Camellias, because the tem- 

 perature of the house in which they were kept had been allowed to fall from 

 12° Reaum. (59° Fahr.)to3° belowzero R^aum. (25° Fahr.). The late M.Cels 

 kept his Camellias through the winter in pits, shghtly heated by linings of dung 

 or leaves, with the glass well covered up every night with straw mats. So 

 treated, he never lost any buds, not even during the severe winter of 1829-30. 



As varieties which expand their buds with great difficulty, the abbe men- 

 tions C. Dorstttz, Woodszz, Chandler?, and florida. The buds of these varieties, 

 he says, often do not open to above one half of the size that they ought to do. 

 They remain in that state a few days, and then drop off. If the fallen buds be 

 examined, a small quantity of water will be found within the calyx, and the 

 central petals in a state of decomposition. The abbe attributes these appear- 

 ances to the destruction of the vegetative power of the short petiole which 

 sustains the bud j and he recommends, as a remedy, thinning out the buds, 



u 2 



