March 15, 1883. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 211 
step on the road to ruin of hundreds of plants. Ca¬ 
mellias are water-loving plants undoubtedly—their 
white, fleshy, Hyacintli-like roots tell us this, but stag¬ 
nancy they abhor. Even a Hyacinth will not grow in 
mortar, and a Camellia’s roots are far more sensitive. 
If there is a suspicion of saturation or sourness they 
are poisoned, turn brown at once, lose their absorbent 
power, and the plant starves surrounded with plenty. 
In potting a Camellia let the pot be as small as pos¬ 
sible—only just large enough to admit the roots, with 
the necessary space for pressing down the soil. This is 
the safe course to pursue. Let the soil be moist when 
used, but not decidedly wet, that already surrounding 
the roots to be in exactly the same condition. Press 
the new soil as firmly as the old, and do not bury the 
stem too deeply. Syringe the plant and pot three or 
four times a day if needed, shade it, do everything to 
retard the first watering, yet do not permit the soil to 
be dry. The object should be to induce the roots to 
move before water is applied. This secured, the rest 
will be easy. Apply water judiciously, yet increasingly, 
as the growth and season advance, and when the pot 
is filled with roots and the drainage ample, as it must 
be, the supplies can scarcely be too copious. The soil, 
then, must always be moist—not sometimes only, but 
constantly, even if water has to be given twice or thrice 
a day; and if something more is needed top-dress with 
soot and bonemeal alternately for sustaining or enrich¬ 
ing the colour of the foliage. This is better than con¬ 
stant shiftings from pot to pot. There is no fear of 
saturation in the growing season if the pot is crowded 
with roots and the drainage thoroughly efficient, but it 
never will be full of roots if the plant is first overpotted 
and the new soil is rendered stagnant at once. This 
is the real root of the matter, and should not be 
overlooked. 
The importance of a moist atmosphere for Camellias 
making their growth is not sufficiently recognised. In 
the great Camellia house in Messrs. W. Paul & Sons’ 
nursery at Waltham Cross, the gravel over which the 
plants are arranged is often almost in a state of puddle, 
and there is not a dry stage in the house. Under these 
conditions they luxuriate, and by subsequently ripening 
the wood they flower profusely. This is a school of 
Camellias, and its teachings as to varieties useful to 
all who may visit it before the season is over. Notes 
on varieties and other matters pertaining to Camellia 
culture must be deferred. 
BOOKS AND READING. 
Hardly any. other profession, perhaps none, has such a 
number of periodicals devoted to its interests, and few, if any, 
can show such a number of books as have been written to 
further its progress, as horticulture. This being so, readers 
may wonder what literary wants there can be ; indeed it seems 
as if the literature of gardening had been, in some directions 
at least, overdone. In some instances this is really the case, 
and we want a weeding-out of books on some subjects. 
It is time that everyone was impressed with the fact that 
the day of encyclopaedias is gone. It is impossible to teach 
anything more than the merest outlines of gardening between 
the boards of one book. Half a century ago it might be done, 
but the subjects are now so very varied, and gardening has 
assumed so many phases, that it is now impossible. Nor is it 
desirable, even if it were possible, for the young possessor of 
such is too often deceived into believing he has under one 
title all he need know of gardening as far as books can teach. 
If in practice he really finds it so he will either remain far 
down th9 gardening scale, or he will be such a genius as 
gardening has not yet produced, and is every day less likely 
to do. It is far better to forma library of “one subject” 
books, for these exhaust the subjects they treat on. Moreover, 
when only one book on one subject is had at a time that 
subject is likely to be thoroughly studied ; but when books 
giving only the outlines on many subjects are purchased 
nothing is studied or everything is devoured, and the result 
is disappointing. Then, suppose a special subject requires 
special study. Suppose the young man is suddenly required to 
supply Mushrooms or Tomatoes or Strawberries at seasons 
that he has hitherto not been accustomed to supply them He 
turns to his one-and-a-half or two-guinea volume and finds it 
fails him ; he already knew as much or more than he finds 
there. Then he finds that it is better to spend Is. or so on 
manuals detailing the routine of men exactly in his position. 
He finds he can learn more of the Vine in Barron’s, Taylor’s, 
Thomson’s, or any other good manual; of Orchids in Williams' 
manual ; of hybridising and propagating in Burbidge's 
“Cultivated Plants ; ” of fruit in Hogg’s manual, and so on. 
And then he only buys what he wants, and, above all, studies, 
as we have said, only one subject at a time. 
If we cannot advise young men to possess themselves of 
encyclopaedias, because we think they can do better, still less 
can be said in favour of epitomes. For those who are content 
to “know a little of everything” they may do, but for the 
would-be successful gardener they are worse than useless— 
they deceive. He must know “ everything of something,” and 
that something is gardening, and this he will never learn from 
epitomes. 
There is another class of books that we dislike. They are 
what may be called catalogue-books—a few pages of general 
encyclopaedia-like instructions are given, and the bulk of the 
volume is merely a tradesman’s catalogue amplified ; indeed 
in some respects it is inferior to such, for every year makes it 
less complete. A real catalogue is acceptable, but a catalogue 
in disguise commends itself to few. 
While epitomising is condemned the value of condensation 
is not ignored. Much information is buried among “padding ;” 
many books are quite needlessly bulky. They may be like 
undressed heaps of grain—there may be nothing but grain— 
but much of it is light and might have been separated from 
the heavy with advantage—nay, much is positive chaff. This 
is partly owing to the fact that the most valuable gardening 
works are by men who are gardeners first and literary men 
afterwards. But some gardeners are gifted with much literary 
ability, and deliberately put in the chatty chaff to swell the 
volume to a little more than pamphlet size. When this is in 
the catalogue form it is not only useless but unutterably dull, 
for this is the resort of the literary nobody. Even when it is 
interesting chat it is still useless, and wmrse for those with 
small incomes, for it is expensive, having to be paid for. 
While, then, epitomising is condemned, condensation is urged ; 
it is only when overdone that the latter can be objected to. 
It is well not to ignore details ; it is not well to introduce side 
issues or foreign matter. 
The price of gardening works is often complained of; the 
great expense of getting up a really valuable work is forgotten 
by such complainers. They forget that authors have to be 
remunerated, and that publishers have to be recouped for their 
outlay and get a profit beside. When it is otherwise books 
will cease to be issued, writers will cease writing, and pub¬ 
lishers publishing. Still, cheaper gardening w’orks, if sound, 
would prove a boon, for gardeners' purses are small, and it is 
only by much self-denial that the young gardener can form a 
fairly good library ; but this self-denial is itself of the greatest 
value, and knowledge can never be valued by £ s. d. Were 
the demand greater possibly good books might be cheaper, but 
beware of trash. 
Libraries in gardens are clamoured for. That such may 
sometimes do good is undoubted, but the book from the library 
is seldom valued at its worth ; and it is seldom studied—it is 
read once and replaced on the library shelf, and another taken 
dowm. This is itself an evil. John Ruskin insists that his 
books shall not be sold cheap, if they were they wrnuld be less 
valued. There is much in this. The book that is saved for 
