316 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 17, 1858. 
a small piece of thread, or else every other bloom should be cut 
off as soon as the flowers fade. 
We are proving the new varieties of Pansies, and shall give 
a list very shortly of such as are really good. 
The situation of your Pansy bed is not the best. They do 
not require shade. Have you not space in your garden for 
the bed in a more open place ?] 
LARGE CAMELLIA IN THE OPEN GROUND. 
In my article on large specimens of the Pinus, &c., at pages 
246 and 247, allusion is made to a fine Camellia that was 
growing with them. This article, it is proper to say, was written 
and intended for the pages of The Cottage Gardener iu the 
early part of March last ; and the dimensions, and other 
features of the trees described, were made by an inspection of 
them at that time. Since then, the collection has been broken 
up by the sale which took place. My worthy employers 
became the purchasers of the large Camellia, which was 
removed to this place (Linton Park) in the latter part of 
March, and planted in the grounds. As my description of it 
at the time was, to a certain extent, imperfect, I herewith 
correct it, in order that others who have large Camellia plants 
may compare it with them. 
As I have before stated, the tree had been fully exposed to 
all weathers for thirty years or more, a slight protection being 
given to it at certain times when in flower. Therefore, the 
hardihood of it has been fully established, while it is as 
densely clothed with foliage as a Portugal Laurel, and each 
tip loaded with bloom-buds. But, as we removed it just at 
the time these were about expanding, it was determined to 
pick them all off, to relieve the tree : a considerable quantity 
was at once taken off, they being in clusters of half a dozen 
and more together, like clusters of nuts : but, after taking off 
a part, 1 determined to count the remainder, and I found them 
to be 8,500! It is, therefore, beyond a doubt, that the tree had 
10,000 bloom-buds on it when we received it; and, in other 
respects, w'as as perfect a specimen of the old double white 
variety as could be met with anywhere, it being of a low bee¬ 
hive shape, compact, and densely clothed with foliage of a deep 
green colour. 
Perhaps some will be asking how it looks now. To such I 
may say, that, like most evergreen shrubs which have been 
transplanted, it does not look anything near so well as it did 
in its former abode. But I am in hopes, after two or three 
years, it will recover its wonted flourishing condition. 
It has been planted on the lawn here, and, though a slight 
canvass shading has been put over it, to protect it from the 
fierce glare of a midsummer sun, it is intended eventually to 
let it be quite exposed as before. 
To those who may wish to enquire the character of the 
locality this fine plant came from, I may say, that the situation 
was rather elevated than low, the district being hilly; and the 
soil a pale-coloured, sandy loam, far from a dry hungry one ; 
on the contrary, the moss-grown condition of the hedges, and 
many kinds of fruit trees, indicated the presence of water in 
greater abundance than suited the well-being of everything. 
But the condition of the water, I have reason to believe, told 
as much as anything the secret of the success attending certain 
tilings grown there; for I found some of the ditches, which 
received the water from an adjoining plot, to be so much 
charged with iron, as to crust over the bed of the stream a 
bright red colour. I expect the ground this Camellia was 
growing on was kept moist by water so constituted, and I 
have no doubt its well-being was owing, in a great measure, 
to the presence of this fluid, the soil being in like manner 
charged with the same substance, for it could not be otherwise. 
1 may here remark, that I believe many of our failures in 
cultivating plants in an artificial manner arises from our 
mixing ingredients together that are hostile to each other, or, 
what is the same thing, supplying them with water diametri¬ 
cally opposite to the kind they require ; and I fear we shall 
have some difficulty to keep the Camellia in health where we 
now have it, owing to the natural soil of the district, as well as 
its water, being exactly the reverse in its component parts to 
the one it came from. Auxiliary matters were supplied of course; 
but the action, or utility, of these is always much crippled 
by then* maintaining a sort of warfare with hostile elements 
surrounding them. Peat and chalk may blend mechanically, 
but not chemically, and so it is with many things else. No 
amount of artificial skill can mix substances in those exact pro¬ 
portions to produce a material so exactly suited to the wants of 
certain plants, a3 some soils are by nature. Hence the difficulty 
of getting Camellias to thrive everywhere, so well as the one in 
question did at Brencliley,—not Brusliley, as stated in my 
former article. But those having trees of this kind inured to 
the open air, will, perhaps, be kind enough to describe their 
size and condition, in order that we may learn what chances 
there are of this noblest of all flowering evergreeen shrubs 
being found growing out of doors : T will, in return, ex¬ 
plain the means we took to remove it, and other matters too 
long for the present article.— J. Robson. 
CAUSE OF DOUBLE FLOWERS IN STOCKS. 
I cannot quite agree with either of your correspondents, 
<C T. A.” and “T. S.,” as to the cause of double flowers in 
Stocks. There are, as I have no doubt you will remember, 
two modes of producing d ouble flowers, and I am inclined to 
think there is some truth in both methods. Glenny says, 
that,—if the young plants are grown strongly at first, and then 
put on a low diet, keeping them almost free from water, until 
they droop and turn yellow,—when excited into growth 
and made to flower, double flowers are produced. 
The other is the discovery of a Frenchman, whose name at 
this moment I forget. He says, “ that, if care is taken in 
selecting seeds from those pods only which are found in pairs 
on the stem and near the top, that the result is double flowers.” 
Last autumn I gathered seeds from pods so placed; and, 
this summer, every plant that has bloomed is double. Whether 
this result is due to the seeds, or to the hot, dry spring and 
summer—the dry weather having reduced the plants to the 
Glenny state—further experience must decide. 
Have you, or any of your subscribers, noticed a frost, or 
results that seem due to a frost, in this part of east Surrey ? 
The tips of the Dahlias, common Laurel, Deodar Cedar, Apple, 
and other trees, are burnt and withered, as though by a sharp 1 
frost.—J. C. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Strawberry Culture.— Minna need not fear for the crowns of her 
plants. Let the manure (of the richest quality) he placed six inches : 
thick round the plant, and as near as possible to the crown without 
actually touching it. The wall thus formed round the crown will pro- , 
tect it from cold winds during March, and the showers of April will 
soon reduce it so much in height, that there can be no practical incon¬ 
venience. Care must be taken that birds do not throw the manure all 
over the plants.—II. C. K. 
The Price of Honey. —Some years ago I lived in Dorsetshire. The 
price of honey then and there was the same as butter. A quart of 
cream, a pound of honey, and a pound of butter, were of equal price, j 
Butter was the standard of value. I think, notwithstanding the high 
prices sometimes mentioned, that one shilling per pound is as much as 
the cottager will generally get.—J. C. Honey in this neighbourhood 
(Dallington, Sussex) is tenpence per pound ; excellent fresh butter, 
tenpence per pound; new milk, threepence per quart; and eggs, one 
shilling per dozen.—B. P. Brent. 
Depositing Money (A. B.) —We know nothing about the Society ; 
named by you ; and never advise how money should be invested. 
Name of Plant (W. J.). — Your plant is the Erysimum cheir - : 
anthoides, or Treacle Worm Seed, rather uncommon in a wild state. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
August 18th. Airedale. Hon. Secs., J. Wilkinson and T. Booth 
Shipley. 
August 28th. Halifax and Calder Yale. See., Mr. Wm. Irvine, 
Ilolmfield, Halifax. Entries close August 14. 
September 8th. Liverpool and Manchester. 
September 14th and 15th. Sparkenhoe (at Tamwoith). 
September 21st and 22nd. Bridgnorth. See., Mr. Richard Taylor, 
Bridgnorth. Entries close the loth of September. 
September 21st and 22nd. Lichfield. 
September 26tli. Paisley. Entries close Sept. 18. Sec., Mr. Wm. 
Houston, 14, Barr Street. 
October 7th and 8th. Worcestershire. Sec., Mr. G. Griffiths, 7, 
St. Switliin’s Lane, Worcester. Entries close September 23. 
