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XV. On the Cultivation of Camellias in an open Border. 

 In a Letter to the Secretary. By Mr. Joseph Harrison. 



Read February 20, 1827. 



Sir, 



The varieties of Camellia Japonica, which I have been 

 successful in acclimating at this place, are, 1st, The Double 

 Red. 2nd, The Double White, and, 3rd, The Double Striped. 

 The following detail contains the mode of treatment I have 

 pursued. 



The situation where the plants grow is open to the south 

 and south-east. Up to the year 1824, it was rather exposed 

 to the west and north, but since that period it has been well 

 screened by the erection of buildings in those directions. 

 The soil in which the plants grow, is a brown loam upon a 

 rocky substratum. The face of the substratum is level, but 

 the surface of the border is much inclined ; the depth of the 

 soil is two feet at the front, and four feet at the back of the 

 border. 



Previously to planting out in the open air the plants were 

 in pots, and had been kept in a green-house. At the time 

 of turning out the plants, each was two feet high; they 

 were also strong ; and in previous years the leading shoots 

 had been several times stopped, in order to make the plants 

 bushy. This attention to the shoots appears to be of im- 

 portance, for I have turned out several other large Camellia 

 plants which were not bushy, but never could keep them 

 alive for more than two years afterwards. I have also turned 



