HINTS FOR THE CULTURE OF POPULAR FLOWERS. 
559 
so tender as some kinds ; both these plants 
are subject to the attacks of insects, and hence 
frame culture, which gives great facilities for 
the destruction of the red spider and thrip, is 
far the best to adopt. The seed of the Cal- 
ceolaria should be well ripened before it is 
sown, notwithstanding the theory of sowing 
unripe in preference ; and we are advocates for 
sowing as soon as it is thoroughly ripe, in 
preference to waiting till the spring. Never- 
theless, as the seedlings are not the most 
hardy things in the world, in a bad winter 
the seeds may be kept in their pods until the 
spring, if on other grounds it is more conve- 
nient. It is desirable that, independent of the 
protection of a frame, a bell or hand glass 
should be covered over it, or some have the 
soil of the pot below the surface, and cover 
with a perfectly flat piece of window glass. 
When the seed germinates, the young plants 
must have air and moisture, and, as soon as 
they can be pricked out, they should be placed 
three or four round the edges of large sixty 
sized pots, where they may remain the rest of 
the growing season. They may then be potted 
singly in similar or a size larger pots, so as to 
be established by the winter, when they are to 
be supplied with plenty of air, not too much 
wet, and be protected against frost. In the 
spring they will rise for bloom, and notice 
must be taken of those which approach nearest 
the standard laid down. By cutting them down 
after blooming, and earthing them well up, 
they will throw side shoots, which, if not 
already rooted when taken off, will strike 
freely under a glass. Specimen plants must 
not be deprived of their side shoots, because 
they will the following season throw up so 
many bloom stalks, nor must any portion of 
the shrubby branches be cut away if the plant 
is to be a specimen. 
Camellia japonica. — The great art of cul- 
tivating the Camellia consists in bringing the 
plants into a good form, and setting them well 
for bloom ; the former can only be done pro- 
perly by stopping the too vigorous shoots 
to excite lateral branches ; the latter requires 
merely that the plant shall not be subject to 
violent extremes, so as to check it while 
making its growth. The soil it thrives best in, 
is a half of turfy loam, a third of the mould of 
rotten dung, and the rest turfy peat ; in other 
words, three-sixths loam of rotted turf, two- 
sixths decomposed dung, say from an old 
melon bed, and one-sixth turfy peat ; these 
should lie together, and be frequently turned, 
and be a year old for use, if possible. The 
shifting of Camellias should take place when 
the bloom is done, and the plant begins to 
grow, but they are always the better for being 
a little confined, If you wish to grow them 
pretty fast, which is the case with new and 
dear things, it is very easy to get two growths 
in a year ; for instance, when the plant bus 
begun its growth, put it in moderate heat, and, 
as soon as it has completed its growth, remove 
it to the green-house to harden, and after that 
in the open air to ripen ; by July, the wood 
will he hardened enough to begin again its 
growth. First examine it, to see if the roots 
are matted a little, and if they be, shift the 
plant to a pot a size larger, remove it to the 
green-house a while, and then to the stove ; 
if the buds swell for bloom, pull them all off. 
The plant must be shaded a little, and must 
not want for water. It will soon move, and 
make a stronger growth than ever the spring 
one was. "When it has completed its growth, 
it may go back to the green-house, and if the 
weather be fine, have all the air that can be 
given ; from this to a pit, where it can be pro- 
tected from frost, sun, wind, and rain, when- 
ever either come too strong for it. The 
Camellia can be grafted, inarched, or raised 
from cuttings, but nearly every sort will grow 
best upon stocks of the strongest growing 
kinds, and therefore grafting and inarching 
are the principal means resorted to. The 
grafting may be done with a single eye and an 
inch of wood. Cut the little graft, which has 
its eye at top, in the form of a wedge ; then cut 
the stock down to the height at which it is 
wanted to work it, having an eye on the top ; 
then cut a slit down it, so sloped as to receive 
the wedge, and when together the top eye of the 
stock draws the sap so far: the join, after tying, 
is neatly covered with grafting wax. In- 
arching is cutting the stock with a flat side, 
and the piece of plant which is to be inarched 
flat on one side, and then, by means of a tongue 
cut in each, to keep them from slipping, they 
are joined together, while both plants are in 
their pots ; this unites in a few weeks, when the 
upper part of the stock is cut away, and the 
under side of the plant inarched is cut away, 
and leaves its branch to form the new plant. 
The stocks are reared by cuttings of the single 
varieties, which strike freely in sand under a 
bell-glass, and, when rooted, are potted singly 
into forty-eight sized pots, to grow large 
enough for working. Seeds are somewhat 
scarce, but plants are easily raised from them ; 
they only require to be sown and placed in the 
green-house, where they must be kept mode- 
rately moist. The young plants may be 
potted off, and, to hasten their bloom, as soon 
as any promising one has wood large enough 
and ripe enough, work it on a strong stock ; 
you will soon see whether the variety be 
worth saving. 
Carnation. — Many and elaborate as 
have been the treatises written on the subject, 
all that is good for anything in the best of 
them may be comprised in a few words. The 
