120 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 19. 
that the rise and progress of our present high advance¬ 
ment in gardening are as familiar to my mind as the 
head is to the pillow, people at a distance may wonder 
to hear me say that I have lately seen a “ sight”—also 
in our way—that I shall never forget; that 1 never saw 
the like of it before, and that I do not expect ever to 
see the like of it again, if I pass my days in these 
climes. Through the kindness of a lady neighbour, I 
obtained an introduction, about the middle of last 
April, to what, for the present, I must term only the 
“ Lion of Surrey.” 
The name of this lion is at the head of my letter—a 
Camellia, whose name is legion; but the particular 
kind in question is reticulata, a distinct species brought 
over from China by Captain Rawes, in 1820. It was 
first figured and described in tbe Botanical Register 
(t. 1078), and next in tbe first number (1830) of Chand¬ 
ler and Booth’s "Illustrations” of Camellias. The 
authors of this truly splendid work are both alive to 
this day, and only twenty-three years older than when 
they wrote thus of this species—“We are of opinion 
that when it becomes so plentiful as to admit of a trial 
being made, it will bo found to be hardier than the 
Camellia japonica, and that at no distant period, perhaps, 
it may ornament our shrubberies.” This last hint was 
made, no doubt, in reference to one of the most popular 
topics of the day in 1830. For the five or six pre¬ 
ceding springs, flowers of Camellias, “ which stood the ■ 
last three winters,” were sent up to London from all 
parts of the country, and nothing was then more familiar 
to our minds than that Camellias were just as hardy as 
the Portugal Laurel, in England, but that they could I 
not open their flowers with impunity in the face of our J 
cold easterly winds, and the alternate action of the sun’s 
rays and hoar frost. Therefore, the matter soon dropped, 
but now it has been revived a second time within the 
last few years. 
About the year 1835, the late Sir John Broughton pur¬ 
chased the “ Lion of Surrey” from the late Mr. Smith, 
the celebrated Rhododendron crosser of Norbiton, close 
by Kingston, along with other new Camellias, and he 
had three of the best kinds of them— reticulata (the 
Lion of Surrey), Jirnhriata, the best of all the whites, 
and Woodsii, then one of the best red ones, but now 
superseded by many. He had them planted in a house I 
by themselves, this house being the middle one of a j 
range, from which it projects considerably in front, and j 
this front is a half circle, with a curvelinear roof, the ! 
upright glass being fourteen feet high before the spring¬ 
ing of the roof. The width in the centre is twenty-two 
feet, and the length along the back wall twenty feet. 
The “Lion of Surrey” now occupies the whole of this 
space, so that one cannot pass along the circular paved 
walk in front without being partially shadowed by some 
of tbe higher branches. It has some resemblance to a 
vigorous Portugal Laurel standing out on the grass, is 
twelve feet high, and very broad and spreading at the 
top, and it is clothed with leaves to the very surface of 
the bed, where the circumference is just twenty-four 
yards round, for I stepped them three times to make 
sure of it. 
When I first saw this “Lion of Surrey” it was 
clothed from top to bottom, and all round, in one whole 
sheet of blossoms, each bloom being much in the same 
style, size, and colour as those of the Pceonia Moutan 
I rosea. I was asked to guess the number of flowers then 
! open, aud I put them down at 1500, but I was mistaken 
| by their unusual large size, and I was told that not 
j more than 900 were open at one time, but there were 
] 3000 flowers that fully expanded and came to perfection 
| on this plant this very spring, and 2973 buds were 
j thinned out from it last autumn as soon as they were 
l large enough to be displaced! Not more than one 
j single bud was left on any point all over the plant. 
I also learned, for the first time, and saw the thing 
myself, that any respectable person might walk or drive 
in from Monday morning to Saturday night to see this 
grand sight as freely as go along the Queen’s highway. 
The next thing after a grand sight, or an unusual 
treat, is to wish that all ones friends had been there to 
enjoy it as well, and the next feeling is to give an 
account of the entertainment, unless, indeed, one could 
do as his Grace the Duke of Devonshire did, return next 
day with some of his nearest friends to see this very 
Camellia. I forgot to ask what his Royal Highness 
Prince Albert thought of it. But I shall never forget 
the most usual remark that parties make when being 
conveyed over a garden for the first time. “What 
would he (the last proprietor) say if he could rise and 
see all this !” I could not help remarking how delighted 
Sir John Broughton would be if he could rise aud see 
his beautiful place so much improved in five short 
years, and that all the large sums of money which he 
expended on it have turned out such a good investment; 
for at his decease, Bank Grove was bought by W. Bynm 
Martin, Esq., the present proprietor, and, as is under¬ 
stood about Kingston, at an enormous high figure. 
I am indebted to Mr. Byam Martin for his kind per¬ 
mission to report on his garden improvements at Bank 
Grove, and for allowing Mr. Payne, his head gardener, 
to accompany me, and answer all questions about the 
management of the plants. Meantime, as “Devonian,” 
one of our correspondents, has written to ask the way of 
growing Camellias, so that he might compete with “the 
Paxton of North Devonshire,” I shall begin with them 
by remarking, that I never saw a more extensive collec¬ 
tion of them in one place, or better grown specimens 
anywhere. A large conservatory, one hundred feet long, 
attached to the drawing-room, is quite full of the most 
healthy-looking Camellias in the country, all specimen 
plants, planted out in a central bed, and also along the 
back wall, their branches and leaves sweeping down to 
tiie ground; the soil is upwards of two feet deep, well- 
drained, and made of the best yellow loam two parts, 
and one part of the best peat, both from Wimbledon, 
and this is tbe compost they use in all tbe pots for 
Camellias. The younger plants are potted every spring, 
a little before the buds begin to open ; from that time, 
until the growth of the young wood is finished, and the 
buds for next year are set, they give them enormous 
quantities of water, so that all the soil is thoroughly 
wet through and through, night and day, all that time. 
It is now more than twenty years since the late Mr. 
George Loddiges, of Hackney, told me that bo believed 
all Camellias whatever might be set in pans of water; 
that is, under the pots, during the months of April, 
May, and the first half of J une ; and I am persuaded 
more than ever, that nine-tenths of the failures with 
Camellias arise from a deficiency of water during that 
period ; and I am almost sure that a healthy young 
Camellia might be kept from flowering, for years in suc¬ 
cession, by keeping up this constant stimulus with large 
doses of water throughout the summer ; and, moreover, 
that to get a seedling Camellia to flower earlier, or a 
variegated Camellia to show the stripes and blotches 
more clearly, less water must be given; also, that shy 
bloomers must be reduced in strength by the same 
means, before they can ever flower freely enough to 
humble them, so as to become free bloomers ere they 
come to old age, or before we get tired of them. 
Another very great evil, and one which is prevalent, 
is giving too large pots to young Camellias. It is only 
now and then, when one sees such a collection as this, 
where every leaf is as soft as a young cabbage, and as 
shining as a looking-glass, that the general run appears 
so manifest, and so much against the nature of the 
plant. The French, but the Germans more particularly, 
could not keep a leaf on their Camellias if they had 
