May 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
139 
your man has forgotten something), throw the plants, [ 
in about live weeks, into the most exuberant foliage : 
the plant has, up to this lime, done all it could do in 
the way of growth, and of a sudden, as it were, stops to ; 
inquire about further demands. We have now ample : 
expansion of foliage—the plants are covered with new 
shoots, and those shoots are covered with broad and 
thick leaves, solid and leathery ; nothing of the mummy 
character about them. Having thus arrived at the 
beginning of June, we suddenly shift our tactics. 
To run Camellias into wood, and to cause each young j 
shoot to produce a flower-bud, are two very different ! 
affairs. The absorbing process must now give way to ! 
a high course of elaboration. During the growing 1 
period, the plants were freely watered with tepid liquid- ! 
manure; they have now to undergo a considerable 
amount of drought, in order to force the production of 
blossom-buds. They are still shaded carefully from ! 
sunshine; and instead of root-watering they are fre¬ 
quently syringed. The close system, too, is reversed: 
before they had little or no air, now they are freely 
ventilated day or night. 
By this treatment we always get our plants covered j 
with flower-buds in about three weeks after the spring 
growth has ceased. This brings us to somewhere in 
July, and now, being assured of good bloom, we resume 
our root-watering, using clean water at first, until the ! 
buds are as large as Marrow Peas, and then betaking 
ourselves to liquid-manure again. In tbe beginning of 
July the pots are placed on a plot of ground reserved 
annually for them, the basis of which is composed of 
cinder-ashes, six inches deep. This receives annually a 
drenching of lime-water, as the earth-worm must not be 
permitted to enter the pots at any period, or they would 
speedily derange the drainage. They remain here, well 
secured against winds, until about the middle of August, 
when they are removed to their winter quarters again. 
Whilst out-doors they receive daily attention as to wa- j 
tering ; and I generally toss water from the pot liberally ; 
over their foliage twice a day, keeping the ashes beneath [ 
them quite damp. The plants are so placed that the 
sun cannot act on the pots; indeed, they are too bushy 
to permit such an injurious visit; and 1 place a few 
ordinary things in the front rank as protectors in this 
respect. 
Thinning-out, the blossom-buds is an important affair, 
if full-sized and well-formed flowers are desired. This 
process is commenced when the bloom-buds are as large ! 
as big peas, they then slip out of their sockets readily. 
This requires a little management: Camellias are gene¬ 
rally required to have at least one dressy facing, and 
that towards a given position in the greenhouse or 
drawing-room. Not every one who indulges in a few 
Camellias can afford them the room which our great 
exhibition men do, in order to make their plants have 
faces all ways. In thinning the buds, therefore, due 
regard must be paid to the side where the blossoms are 
most required. 
Camellias are very apt to be infested with the scale 
insect. This adheres to the stem most pertinaciously. 
I have some experience of this worthy and his habits, 
as forced Camellias are peculiarly liable to them. I , 
have always been able to bid them deiiance by the j 
means of soft soap, one ounce to the gallon ; a bucket 
of this is kept near the plants all the time they are out¬ 
doors, and a syringing of this liquor almost daily, if 
necessary, will soon settle them. 
The blossom-bud of the Camellia requires much time 
to feed in ; those who attempt to force them into a very 
early bloom by the application of heat before tbe bud is 
thoroughly organised, will be rewarded with abortive or 
unsatisfactory blossoms. As my worthy employer and 
his family stay with us from the beginning of November 
until parliamentary matters commence, we are required 
to have early Camellias; I, therefore, apply artificial 
warmth, in a guarded way, in the early part of October. 
The hot-water piping being kept constantly about milk- 
warm ; the floors are moistened daily, and a ventilation 
kept up day and night—no drip being permitted. 
I have much to say about sickly Camellias , which I 
must, with other matters pertaining to them, handle on 
another occasion. Mr. Fish, however, and others, our 
coadjutors, have said excellent things about them ; and 
this comparing of notes will, I trust, do us no harm. 
Let us, as the Hibernian said, “agree to differ” occa¬ 
sionally. R. Errington. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’S SHOW, 
May 14th. 
Tiie May shows are the freshest of the season, the 
plants looking more “ younger - like,” and more gay 
in their flowers than either in June or July, and 
those great patrons of gardening who are gardeners 
enough in their way to know this, are seldom absent 
from the May shows, let it hail, rain, or shine. Fortu¬ 
nately for all such, the day was the best of the season, 
but the garden itself never looked so late at the middle 
of May. 1 did not hear how many entered the gates, 
and I did miss many of our May patrons. The Duke 
and Duchess of Sutherland were there, with the Duchess 
of Argyle, the Earl of Carlisle, and Lord Blantyre, Lady 
Grey, Lady Hume Campbell, and many more of the 
same rank, with my own late kind employers, Sir 
William and Lady Middleton, from whom I received 
some very interesting details about tbe great alterations 
in the garden at Shrubland Park. I also met then with 
my own successor at Shrubland Park, Mr. Davidson, 
and he helped me to some names, and to form a 
judgment on some new plants, and seedlings, and other 
things. All the rest, the great bulk of the show, were 
familiar to me enough for years past; I knew most of the 
plants from their cradle, but I can safely say that such a 
mass, or rather such masses of extreme specimen plants, 
were never seen before in one place. I think this was 
the nineteenth May show I saw at Chiswick, and I am 
quite sure, that if the ten best plants at each of them 
could have been put aside to come in to-day, they would 
fall far short of what was produced on this occasion. 
There was a “ strike ” among the large orchid growers 
this spring, against the society, for a rise of wages, and 
both parties held out to the eleventh hour, but, fortu¬ 
nately, tbe Society gave way, and the orchid banks were 
magnificently grand and imposing. Nothing particu¬ 
larly new, however, but there were several old plants of 
them that were never seen at a May show before; the 
best known of them is Dendrobium speciosum, it had two 
spikes of flowers on, but it must have been sent more to 
let people see the flowers, as it was very rare to see this 
fine old plant in bloom. 
The Geraniums, or large Pelargoniums of the books, 
were as numerous, and as well flowered as they were 
ever seen in May, and the fancy ones were much better 
than usual at this season. There were six of them from 
Mr. Turner, of Slough, the very essence of perfection 
itself. 
Pansies enough in pots to make a large centre bed in 
a flower garden, and all as far different, (not better), 
from the “kiss at the garden gate” pansey as the pansey 
is from the Heartsease. 
Cinerarias very much better than I ever saw them 
there before, but still with a few trumpery wild, weed¬ 
like things among them. A large stage of Auriculas in 
full bloom, and a tent set apart for seedlings, all but 
deserted, and watched over by three or four mute 
Bedouin Arab-looking Franks. Heaths not so nu¬ 
merous by one-half as I have seen them there in May. 
