221 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[July 11. 
the branches being long and straggling, “ is it too late 
to prune? and what water should be given?” It is 
not yet too late to prune, if you can give them good 
treatment; and we would recommend you to do so, even 
if you should not have so many flowers the succeeding 
season. The culture of the Camellia has been several 
times referred to, but chiefly as respects plants in a 
moderate state of health. For soil, propagating, time 
of potting, &c., we refer you to previous numbers. We 
only mean at present to tell you how to make these 
straggling, woe-begone, barren plants healthy and flower- 
producing. Some of the best of them may be submitted 
to similar treatment, without cutting them down, and then 
you may safely calculate upon having flower-buds formed 
upon the points of their present shoots; but in either 
case you must not expect flowers until late next spring. 
Plants intended to bloom about Christmas must have 
their fresh wood formed early, and growth nearly 
finished by July. Supposing that you can command 
nothing but your house or pit, in one or the other your 
plants should be placed, and kept as close, and moist, 
and hot as they will bear, shading when the sun is 
bright, but removing the shade in good time, that the 
sun’s rays may heat the place well before the evening. 
With sun heat, the temperature may thus be allowed to 
range from 70° to 85°, or even a few degrees higher, 
until the old shoots throw out young ones, when of 
course more air would gradually be given, and thus the 
temperature be reduced. The cutting back may either 
be effected at once, before submitting them to this treat¬ 
ment, or, if the shoots are very straggling, and it is 
desirable to keep up a circulation of sap, and yet effect the 
purpose of forming a bushy head, then these straggling 
shoots may be bent and tied down as much as possible, 
so that the organized sap may mako passages for itself 
by means of the lateral buds at the bends. Your object 
might thus be effected without giving a sudden check to 
the system, a thing of less moment in the case of a 
vigorous young tree than in one old and worn out, 
where a check of this nature is almost as likely to end 
in death as in increased vigour. In both cases, in unison 
with the close and high temperature from sun heat and 
even from the flue, if necessary, success will greatly 
depend upon keeping the atmosphere saturated with 
moisture, by dusting the stems of the plant, and syring¬ 
ing the paths and walls of the building; taking care, 
however, that though the soil at the roots is moist, it 
must not be puddled. In using the syringe thus freely, 
means must be taken, therefore, to prevent the water 
falling upon the soil in the pots. By this method you 
will succeed moderately, if your plants are fairly supplied 
with healthy roots; and in that case no repotting should 
take place until the young shoots have grown from half 
an inch to two inches in length. If the roots are bad, 
or the soil flue and quite worn out, the plants may be 
transferred to light sandy soil, and to smaller pots ; but 
the cutting-in of the branches and repotting should not 
be resorted to at the same time, if it can be prevented. 
The above system will answer if carefully attended to, 
but not so surely as if in addition you could give the 
plants the assistance of the heat and moisture arising 
from sweet fermenting materials. Those who have pits 
will have no difficulty in doing so, as, if not high 
enough, a cucumber box may be set upon it. It would 
require a thickness of two feet of dung—or dung and 
leaves in a sweet state—to maintain a fermenting power 
long enough to suit this purpose. I have already stated, 
that one of the best means for an uninitiated person 
knowing whether such a fermenting mass is sweet or 
not is to observe the drops of dew collected on the sash 
bars in a morning, that have been placed over such a 
bed : if clear as crystal, nothing, with due care, will bo 
harmed ; if of a dirty yellow colour, trust the bed with 
nothing. 
Now some, like the gentleman whose case we are con¬ 
sidering, may have camellias and other plants in this 
straggling, merely-existing state, and yet have no pit or 
frame in which they can place them to have the advan¬ 
tage of this fermenting mass of manure. In such 
circumstances we have made a temporary house of old : 
doors, boards, tarred cloth, &c. ; and when no lights 
could be got, have used glazed calico, and with the best 
results. The calico would enable you to dispense with 
shading, which you must attend to if lights from a pit 
or frame are used. The genial heat and moisture, 
along with invigorating gases thus rising from the fer- 
mentiug materials will cause the plants to break fresh 
buds more quickly and strongly than by any other 
method. If the pot is full of roots, do not plunge it in 
the dung, &c., or even set it upon it, without the inter¬ 
vention of a board as a nonconducting agent. But if 
the roots are so bad that you have been forced to repot, 
then the pot may be plunged, to encourage the fresh ! 
protrusion of healthy roots; but care should be taken 
that the heat at the roots is never more than from 80° 
to 85°. As roots and shoots are formed, the temperature 
and the moisture should be gradually reduced, and the 
plants be hardened to stand in a cool greenhouse during 
the winter. From the first-produced shoots flowers may 
be obtained, and the others will grow freely, to reward 
you fully in the second season. 
Hoya carnosa looks sickly—leaves thin. An analogous 
case has lately been referred to. Keep it in the warmest j 
end of the greenhouse, and exposed to the sun, at least 
whenever the leaves will bear it; also give moisture at 
the roots during the summer; but in its sickly state, 
instead of deluging there, syringe frequently over the 
foliage; and towards winter allow it gradually to become j 
rather dry, ve-watering and syringing again when the 
warmth of spring returns. Like most tender succulent j 
plants, growth must take place under plenty of light in j 
one season, in order to ensure abundance of bloom in j 
the season ensuing. _ | 
Cacti. —“ How treat C. JenJcinsonii coming into bloom ? 
Those that have not flowered, should they be repotted ? 
And how know when they have finished their growth ?' 
This matter has also been several times referred to. In 
addition, and as it meets several cases of inquiry, we 
add—First: water the Jenkinsonii while in bloom, and 
for some months afterwards. When done flowering, 
prune the plant, clearing it from its oldest stunted 
shoots. Set it as near the glass and as fully exposed to 
the sun as you can; water it duly when requisite, and 
if at times with manure water, all the better. By the 
end of July, or a little later, place it out of doors close 
to a wall, where the sun’s rays will strike hard upon it. 
Allow it to remain there until the cold nights of autumn 
give warning to protect it in-doors ; but previously to 
that, by means of tiles or wood, protect the roots from ■ 
autumn rains; and when once restored to the house, 
give no more water all the winter, unless it be very 
shrivelled indeed; and when warmth again returns 
with the spring your plant will begin to show its flower- 
buds; when moisture, both by watering the soil and 
syringing the top, must again be given—doing the latter, 
however, sometime before resorting to the former. Some 
kinds, such as Cactus speciosissimus, require less pruning, 
because they bear flowers freely upon the old wood ot 
several years’ growth ; but, nevertheless, they require 
even more attention in exposing to the sun in summer, 
and keeping dry in winter. 
Secondly: As to repotting —the Cactus does not re¬ 
quire it so often as many other plants ; but if the drain¬ 
age is bad, and the soil soured in consequence, the sooner 
they are overhauled the better; and for such purposes 
three parts sandy loam, one of lime rubbish, one of 
peat, one of old cow-dung, and one of charred turf, will 
answor well; performing the operation after blooming, 
