CAMELLIA-HOUSE. 



679 



commences again in spring, a little more 

 than mere solar influence is occasionally re- 

 quired, particularly in dull cold weather, until the 

 flowering season is past ; and then, as the wood- 

 buds begin to swell, it should be gradually in- 

 creased to from 65° to 70°, but, at the same time, 

 accompanied with abundant ventilation, and con- 

 tinued at this, with a few degrees more of sun- 

 heat in bright clear days, until the wood is fairly 

 formed and beginning to ripen, after which a 

 gradual decline should take place until the tem- 

 perature falls even to 33° or 34°. If the wood 

 is properly matured, as will be seen from what 

 has been stated above, no harm will befall the 

 plants should 2° or 3° of frost enter the house. 

 The practice of shutting up the house close 

 during the period of the wood's formation is as 

 erroneous as that of keeping the plants in a per- 

 petual state of excitement. Although we can- 

 not assert that all the plants we have named 

 above, as inhabitants of the same house with 

 the camellia, are equally hardy, yet we know all 

 of them to be capable of withstanding several 

 degrees of frost with impunity : our remarks 

 on them will be made seriatim. 



Propagation of the camellia by seed. — To ob- 

 tain new varieties, and also for stocks, seed, 

 being frequently produced in Britain particu- 

 larly from single or semi-double varieties, should 

 be sown in March, in light sandy loam, covered 

 to the depth of half an inch, and plunged in 

 a mild bottom-heat. When the plants are 4 

 inches in height, they are tit for transplanting 

 into pots 3 inches in diameter, and are' after- 

 wards treated as other young camellia plants 

 are. Those who grow camellias from seed with 

 the expectation of obtaining new varieties, should 

 adopt the process of cross impregnation ; by this 

 means, by far the most beautiful of our present 

 varieties have been obtained. 



By layers. — Stools of the common single red 

 sort are planted in pits, where they may be 

 slightly protected during winter. The young 

 shoots are laid around the mother plant as other 

 evergreens are, and the season for doing so is 

 autumn, when the young shoots have attained 

 some consistency ; by the following autumn they 

 will have formed roots, when they should be 

 separated from the parent plant, potted, and 

 grafted or budded the following spring. By 

 this means great numbers of young plants are 

 obtained annually. 



By cuttings. — This is the general mode of 

 propagation for the production of stocks; and 

 although it requires a longer period to grow 

 them to a proper size, still the facility with 

 which they are produced, and the means of ob- 

 taining cuttings from established plants, are so 

 great, that many propagators prefer this mode 

 to that of layers. The cuttings are selected 

 from the new wood when it has become nearly 

 ripe, which generally happens about July or 

 August. Cuttings from the single-flowered 

 varieties are preferred; for although cuttings 

 taken from the double or finer sorts will strike 

 root freely, still they do not make such good 

 plants as those that are budded or grafted on 

 stocks of the single-flowering kinds. Make the 

 cuttings 4 or 5 inches long, cutting them over 



smoothly just under a bud ; displace the two 

 lowermost leaves, leaving the two uppermost 

 and the top of the cutting perfectly entire. Set 

 them in the pot thickly in sandy loam, and place 

 them in a cold frame or pit; in eight or ten 

 weeks most of them will be rooted, when they 

 should be transplanted singly into 3-inch pots, 

 in light sandy loam, and returned to the pit 

 till the approach of winter, at which time they 

 should be removed to a pit or house where the 

 frost may be excluded. Give them a slight ex- 

 citement early in spring by additional tempera- 

 ture, which will render them fit for grafting or 

 budding the following season. Some propaga- 

 tors reduce the length of the cutting to one bud 

 only, cutting them over a little above and a 

 little more below the bud, taking a thin slice off 

 the wood on the side opposite to the bud, thus 

 making each cutting consist of the bud, its leaf, 

 and a piece of wood above, and somewhat more 

 below ; they are then inserted in silver sand 

 placed over light sandy loam in well-drained 

 pots, the leaf being retained entire. If put in 

 during autumn, many of them will be rooted be- 

 fore spring, if kept covered close in a cool pit. 

 Towards spring, a slight bottom-heat will be 

 required to cause a free development of the 

 shoot, and also the increase of roots : cuttings 

 so treated as early in the autumn as their wood 

 is fully ripened, will root before the beginning 

 of winter if plunged in a mild bottom-heat, and 

 kept warm and close. If planted in August, 

 they will root before the middle of November 

 sufficiently to carry them through the winter in 

 a dormant state; and in spring, if moderately 

 excited, will grow rapidly, and be in advance of 

 those treated as above. 



The Messrs Chandlers, the most extensive 

 growers of the camellia round London, advise 

 taking off the cuttings in July and August, or 

 as soon as the young shoots are sufficiently ripe 

 at the base ; cut them over smoothly with a 

 sharp knife at a joint, and divest them of one or 

 two leaves at the bottom; plant them firmly 

 about 2 inches deep in pots filled with com- 

 post, and the upper half with fine white sand; 

 water them well, and plunge the pots in a tan- 

 bed, and keep them closely shaded for three or 

 four months, by which time short fibres, or a 

 calosity from which new roots will issue, will be 

 produced, after which they are to be potted in 

 small pots, one plant in each. 



Propagating by grafting and inarching. — The 

 former operation may be performed from the 

 beginning of September to the end of February; 

 and the tongue method, fig. 106, is in general 

 preferred. As the plants are operated upon, 

 they should be set on a bed of coal-ashes or 

 sand in a cool pit, and covered with hand-glasses, 

 and partially shaded until the union takes place 

 between the scion and stock, which will be de- 

 termined by the former beginning to grow, at 

 which time shading should be discontinued, and 

 air progressively admitted to the plants. The 

 grafts should be taken from plants whose sap 

 has not commenced to flow, or they may be cut 

 off a few days before using. Inarching, on the 

 other hand, should be done either just before 

 the growing season terminates, or before it 



