678 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



lishments a general collection is as absurd as it 

 is impossible. The case is otherwise if our am- 

 bition be to possess a very complete collection 

 of one genus or order, because this is com- 

 pletely within our power; and he who possesses 

 the best collection of Ericas, Orchids, Camellias, 

 &c, stands far higher in the scale of merit in the 

 floricultural world than he who, attempting to 

 have everything, has nothing in perfection. 



By our arrangements the followers of the 

 mixed style will find they have not been over- 

 looked ; for the mode of propagation, general 

 management, &c, given of each division, if taken 

 collectively, will afford, in less space, more in- 

 formation than had we treated the subject as is 

 in general done — namely, as greenhouse and 

 stove plants only. The same remarks are equally 

 applicable to the flower garden also. 



§ 1. — CAMELLIA-HOUSE. 



It is not in every establishment that an entire 

 house is dedicated to this deservedly popular 

 genus; plants, therefore, approximating to them 

 in constitution, and admitting of almost the 

 same treatment, may be grown along with them 

 with every degree of success, while their flower- 

 ing at different periods of the year maintains a 

 degree of interest throughout the whole season, 

 which the camellias would only produce during 

 a portion of that time. 



Of plants which may be admitted into the 

 camellia-house, the following are the most im- 

 portant : viz., Chinese azaleas, of which there is 

 now a great variety — Daphne Fortuni, hybrida, 

 japonica, indica, alba, and rubra; Illicium flori- 

 danum ; Magnolia fuscata,pumila, fragrantissima ; 

 and, indeed, where it will not flower in the open 

 air, the magnificent Magnolia grandiflora also; 

 Nerium oleander, of which nursery catalogues 

 furnish long lists of varieties; Olea fragrans, 

 Rhododendron javanicum, Gibsonii, arborea ; 

 Arborea alba, and the majority of the Indian 

 sorts, as well as many of the more tender hybrid 

 varieties ; Luculia gratissima, Pinciana ; Enki- 

 anthus reticulata, quinquefiora, &c. 



The camellia, in its native country, Japan, is a 

 hardy, lofty-growing tree, where, as Thumberg 

 assures us, the cold is intense, snow falling, wa- 

 ter freezing, and the thermometer falling to 

 many degrees below the freezing-point ; and in 

 speaking of the hardihood of the camellia, Dr 

 Lindley observes : " If we look at the plants 

 which we have in our gardens from the country 

 of the camellia, they will be found to be amongst 

 the most hardy exotics which we possess. Cy- 

 donia japonica, Pyrus japonica, Wisteria, Wei- 

 gela, Forsythia, Chimonanthus, Moutah, &c. — 

 who has seen them hurt with English frost] 

 Thus it appears that the companions of the 

 camellia in its own woods have no such tender- 

 ness of constitution as to demand a green- 

 house." At Dalkeith, in the Botanic Gardens of 

 Edinburgh, these and many other plants from 

 the same locality have stood our winters for 

 years without the slightest injury. During the 

 extraordinary severity of the frost in 1837-8 the 

 camellia stood, without protection, in several 

 places in England without damage, enduring 6°, 



9°, 12°, and 14° of frost. We direct attention 

 to this matter, to show amateurs particularly 

 how liable they are, in their care of their pet 

 plants, to injure them more by too much heat 

 during winter than the reverse. We must, at 

 the same time, consider the conditions the plants 

 were placed in to enable them to withstand so 

 great a depression of temperature; and this will 

 be best explained by stating that it is the want 

 of heat during our summers, and not, unless in 

 extreme cases, the cold of our winters, that pre- 

 vents the camellia, azalea, &c, from growing in 

 the open air in all moderately temperate situa- 

 tions in Britain. 



The hardiness of a plant is not, however, to be 

 determined by its abstract power of withstand- 

 ing cold, but by the treatment it has received 

 to enable it to do so. The camellia, in its na- 

 tive country, is exposed during summer to a 

 heat equal to that of Bengal, while in winter the 

 cold is nearly as intense as it is at Moscow. 

 Thei^e is little doubt that if camellias were 

 grown under glass, and exposed to such high 

 temperatures during summer, they would stand 

 our ordinary winters in the open air with im- 

 punity; and if not, they certainly would be 

 quite safe under glass without the aid of fire- 

 heat altogether. Heat is necessary during their 

 growing season, to enable them not only to 

 make wood, but also to ripen it thoroughly ; and 

 this can be accomplished by attending to the 

 following conditions— namely, that they shall 

 not begin to grow till the very end of spring, 

 and that they shall cease to grow at the very 

 beginning of autumn. Their growth must be 

 limited to our period of summer. If they are 

 allowed to become excited into growth early in 

 spring, they are certain to be cut off by late 

 frosts; and if allowed to grow till late in autumn, 

 their wood can never be sufficiently matured to 

 stand the cold of winter. If their growth in 

 the open air, therefore, terminates by the be- 

 ginning of August, it has the heat and dryness 

 of that month and part of the following to com- 

 plete the ripening process. By these means only 

 can the camellia be grown as a wall plant or as 

 an open shrub in the open air of Britain. 



It is also worthy of remark that some varie- 

 ties are much hardier than others, and, there- 

 fore, better fitted for open-wall culture. The 

 single white and the blush pseony flowered have 

 been found to be the hardiest, and C. reticulata 

 has stood with very slight protection in the 

 vicinity of London since prior to 1 837. 



The camellia is decidedly impatient of heat, 

 unless during the period when it is making its 

 wood ; and when attempts are made to get them 

 into flower early in winter by introducing them 

 into houses where a high temperature is main- 

 tained, their flower-buds are almost certain to 

 drop off; and should they even remain on and 

 expand their flowers, these will be of short 

 duration and small size. From this it is quite 

 certain that the proper temperature of the 

 camellia-house should be high during the pe- 

 riod of the wood's growth, and during its 

 attaining maturity, gradually allowing it to fall, 

 even to the extent of having 2° or 3° of frost 

 during its period of rest. When vegetation 



