68 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
Camellias. —Let us now take tlie more pleasant 
division of this subject, and treat of camellias in a 
perfect state of health, which may easily he known 
by their glossy dark green leaves, and the wood of 
the last few years’ growth being plumper, with a 
smooth bark, and with the bark on the last yfiar’s 
growth perfectly clean and shining. It is, indeed, 
a pleasure to attend to, and arrange for, the wants of 
camellias under such conditions, nor is it less so to 
go over the same ground with the pen. Let us, 
therefore, in this happy mood, begin with them just 
as they are going out of bloom , for the flowers are all 
over by this time. It makes no matter, however, at 
what time of the winter or spring they cease to 
bloom, the treatment must be the same; only when 
they bloom late in the autumn, or in the dead of 
winter, they will have a long rest before their grow¬ 
ing season comes round; whereas those that come 
latest into flower—say in April—can hardly be said 
to get any rest, as they are in active growth soon 
after the flowers drop off; but whether the time be 
long or short the plants ought to be kept cooler than 
when they are in flower, and to receive no more 
water than will keep the soil from getting quite dry. 
The longer they are kept in this comparatively cool 
dry state, being their natural resting time, the more 
vigorous they will grow, and the stronger they will 
be to cany out a heavy load of them charming 
flowers. Gardeners are often obliged to break these 
rules, and force then* camellias to grow and form 
their flower buds at unnatural seasons, but with that 
we have nothing to do at present. Therefore, after 
the camellia bloom is over in-doors, or in a green¬ 
house, the plants ought to be removed to a cold pit, 
and the cooler it is the better, if the frost is excluded; 
there to remain and to receive as much air as the 
season will allow, and as little water as will keep the 
soil a little damp, until every bud that is likely to 
grow that season is fairly started into leaf, so that 
the whole will be on the move without any artificial 
stimulus, but merely by their own natural effort. It 
is well worth while to bear this point in mind, as 
much of the success depends on it, simple though it 
be, and the reason is this,—if a liberal supply of 
water is given at this stage, and a snug warm room 
or atmosphere is allowed them between flowering 
and breaking into leaf, the buds at the extremity of 
the shoots will push into leaf long before those less 
prominent are ready to follow them, many of which 
may not be able to push at all, as they must be 
deprived of their due share of the ascending sap, 
which will flow more readily into those that are 
already in action, just like a badly managed pear- 
tree, in which you may see some top shoots strong 
enough to make fishing-rods, and others, nearer the 
bottom, not stout enough to support a robin, much 
less a crop of fruit. Therefore, when camellias have 
done flowering in a warm room, or in a good green¬ 
house, they ought to be removed to a cold jut to take 
then* natural rest, there to be supplied with all the 
air which the season will allow of, and as little water 
as will only keep them from actual dryness; merely 
a damp atmosphere at this time is enough, and if the 
frost is just excluded it will be warm enough for 
them until new leaves appear all over the plants, 
when the tables must be turned, and a very different 
mode of management be adopted. 
Take advantage of a fine day on which to turn 
them out of the pots one by one, and examine the 
state of the drainage. Undo all the crocks that will 
adhere to the ball, and re-arrange them carefully in 
the pot, placing a layer of fresh moss over them ; 
return the balls without any additional soil, the 
process being only intended to secure a thorough 
drainage; then scrape away the old surface of the 
ball down to the first roots, and replace it by fresh 
soil, and the whole are then ready to set to work in 
earnest. Give them a good watering, and set them 
in the pit again, but instead of abundance of air as 
heretofore, keep them rather close, not opening the 
lights till after breakfast time, and shutting them 
down again as early as three in the afternoon; and if 
the sun is at all strong the glass must be shaded from 
nine in the morning to four or five in the afternoon, for 
the young leaves are extremely liable to be scorched 
or disfigured while in a soft young state. When 
the day is warm they ought to be sprinkled overhead 
with water, through a fine-rose pot or a hand syringe, 
twice a day, a little before noon, and again when they 
are closed down for the day; this will keep the atmo¬ 
sphere of the pit damp, and a hot smoking vapour 
will arise from the confined heat in the afternoon, so 
that instead of a cold pit you have them in a regular 
Calcutta stove. Yet, before sunrise next morning all 
this is cooled down to such a degree as would be apt 
to give one the ague, a state of things most natural 
and grateful to vegetation in vigorous health and 
growth. How often have we read of travellers com¬ 
plaining of excessive heat under a vertical sun, and 
the oppressive vapour arising from periodical rains 
in the tropics, and yet the cold so piercing before 
sun-rise as to make their teeth chatter; and, notwith¬ 
standing all this, we can form little idea in our 
latitude of the excessive luxuriance of the vegetation 
in those climes. Therefore, let us imitate this state 
of tilings if we wish our camellias to excel in beauty, 
instead of following the misguided notions of other 
days, when house-plants were subjected to the un¬ 
natural treatment of being kept in an uniform tem¬ 
perature throughout the twenty-four hours, depriving 
them of their daily rest by artificial heat during the 
night; let us rather push them along by assisting 
nature, and they will do so at such a rate by this 
natural system as that you might almost see them 
growing. In about six weeks, if all lias gone on 
well, most of them will have finished their growth, 
and more air may then be allowed them; but still 
shade them, and keep up the atmosphere warm and 
moist around them, until their flower-buds are well 
set, which you may easily know by their being so 
much more prominent than the common wood-buds. 
This brings us to the end of the second stage of our 
management, and we must now steer on a different 
course. 
The plants have been rendered so excitable by the 
foregoing treatment, that if continued much longer 
they would willingly make another growth, and the 
flower-buds would develop themselves into fresh 
shoots, much longer than the former ones; I have 
even seen young camellias forced to make three 
growths in one season, and each growth longer than 
the preceding one; these were very rare ones, and 
were hurried on in order to get more increase from 
them, as every hud on a camellia may be turned into 
a new plant, like budding-roses, but not after the 
same manner. More light, more air, and less water, 
both at the roots and overhead, will now settle them 
down, in two or three weeks, to the ordinary condi¬ 
tions of healthy good-looking plants, and then they 
are ready to be fresh potted. But let us first see 
how far we have advanced in the season. If we 
