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CULTIVATION AND ANALYSIS OF PLANTS. 
small, fancy ones should be kept in their pots and have just a little moisture, else the tubers 
are apt to perish from “dry rot” and be entirely lost. The smaller varieties are among 
the prettiest marked foliage plants at our command, and ai'e almost innumerable. Many 
of them are so difficult to cultivate that few people can grow them successfully unless 
under specially favorable circumstances. There are, however, two or three pretty varie¬ 
ties that will succeed well as common house plants, and they can be pointed out by most 
florists. 
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CAMELLIA. 
^TEN used as a pretty natural ornament for the hair of some stately 
queen of society or less pretentious belle, the Camellia has been very 
generally admired for the rich, waxy appearance of its charming, 
rose-like flowers. It is not very general in house cultivation, as the 
idea seems to prevail that it is difficult for it to accommodate itself to 
the circumstances surrounding other house plants. True, it does not 
thrive in a dry atmosphere, as there its thick, green leaves are liable to the 
attack of insects, but a little watchfulness 'would keep these away. It does not 
require a high temperature, the average running from fifty to sixty degrees, 
the lowest being at night. The best soil to use is good loam or peat. All 
coarse manures are obnoxious to it. The plants are sometimes repotted just 
before the young growth begins — say in February or March; though the best time is 
immediately after the flowering season. The buds of the Camellia arc apt to be so 
crowded that some must fall to make room for others to bloom; and, as the stems are so 
short as to endanger the cluster if it should be attempted to pinch out the superfluous ones 
with the finger, a good method is to take a sharp knife or pair of scissors and clip off the 
upper half of the buds to be removed, or otherwise wound them, leaving the remaining 
half-buds, which become sickly from the wound, and drop of their own accord. Growers 
of large flowers only leave one or two to the branch. When in the bud they must not 
suffer either from too much or too little water, as buds drop from both causes; deprivation 
of water for two hours after it is due, or making the soil soaking wet, is equally disastrous 
to the buds, and of course cuts off all hope of flowers. The leaves and branches should 
be frequently sponged or washed, but syringing is not recommended, as the toliage easily 
becomes spotted; the soil and roots should be watered regularly once a day while the 
leaves and buds are forming; and a little more water is needed when the buds are opening 
into flowers. They require light, but should not be exposed to the direct rays of the sun, 
as in their native woods they enjoy a natural shade through the surrounding trees. 1 hey 
should be removed indoors early, as the slightest frost will nip the buds. After they have 
flowered all winter they should be moved out in spring to some shady nook where the 
strong sunlight will not strike them; a few hours of the morning sun, however, will not 
prove injurious. From the seeds they bloom in three years. These plants can be also 
budded, grafted and inarched with different varieties in the same manner as other shrubs. 
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