182 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Jrxr 19, I860. 
genteel ns to be “not at liome’’ on such occasions, especially to male 
visitors. I feel confident that every man whose opinion is worth 
caring for, would look upon such occupations and accomplish¬ 
ments as an extra reason for admiration and esteem. Did young 
ladies more generally imitate our “ Floras ” and “ Rosas,” in 
working among their plants, we should grieve less in looking upon 
wan, sickly complexions, and structures so weak as only to be 
kept upright witli braces and crutches; and we should hoar less of 
dyspepsia, neuralgia, and other multifarious ailments—the plenti¬ 
ful produce from the soil of a false gentility. Studious clergy- ! 
men have informed me what martyrs they used to be to head¬ 
aches, tic, and other painful maladies, until they took to the 
spade and the trowel in their gardens. Some of them cannot 
stop speaking of the freedom from pain thus derived, the new 
pleasure thus opened up to them, the profit to their household 
accruing thereby, and the minimum to which the doctor’s bill 
was thus reduced. One clergyman who acted thus on the advice 
of his medical man, has told me that it was a standing joke with 
the good benevolent doctor every Christmas time, to the effect, 
that as he prescribed the effectual medicine, he did not see why his 
yearly bill should not continue as it used to be. 
In mentioning some of the minutiae desired by our corre¬ 
spondent, I should more easily have met her individual ease, and 
those similarly circumstanced, if I knew exactly what these cir¬ 
cumstances are as to the glass means at command. Allusion 
is made to windows and cupboard greenhouses, and no doubt it 
is desirable to have variety there as elsewhere ; but with mere 
windows alone, some of the things mentioned will not succeed 
well, if kept in the same place all the year round. First. Because 
in the case of Heaths, for instance, the atmosphere in a living- 
room would be too close, warm, and dry, in winter ; and, secondly, 
because at the same time, especially in a town where gas was 
used for light in a room, the fumes of the gas would be too 
much for the fine needle-like foliage. In cupboard greenhouses, 
or by whatever name small distinct greenhouses are called, the 
same objections will not apply, as there the temperature and the 
atmosphere will bo more under control. Where the windows of 
a mansion are the whole glass that a plant-grower has to depend 
upon, it will be good policy to have some of these windows—say 
those of the sitting-room—as the show-house, as it were, for the 
more ornamental plants ; and the other windows as the growing [ 
and resting-rooms, &c. I would advocate this mode, because, 
provided the windows and shutters are closed early in cold 
weather in winter, and simple means arc taken to exclude the j 
frost, the generality of the plants will do better in a sweet atmo- ' 
sphere rather cold, than in a warmer atmosphere dried by the 
fire and contaminated by the gas of the sitting-room Other 
things being equal, my observations lead me to conclude that 
plants of all kinds will keep better in rooms that are lighted at 
night by candles instead of gas ; and if secure from frost, they 
will keep better still, if allowed to sleep quietly in the dark even¬ 
ings without any artificial light whatever. When, therefore, 
good people will have their rooms extra hot and extra bright in an 
evening, it would be good policy to remove a favourite plant into 
a room less heated, and where the air would be less dried and 
contaminated. 
With these preliminaries, I will shortly allude to the ABC 
as to pruning, potting, resting, soil, and general management of 
the Camellia. 
The Camellia is nearly as hardy as the Laurel: but blooming 
in winter and spring, unless in very sheltered places, the flowers 
are apt to be destroyed with wind, and rains, and frosts, unless 
kept under protection. Properly speaking, the Camellia can 
hardly be said to need resting, though it will stand uninjured for 
a long time in winter, growing very slowly ; and of course at that 
time the roots must neither be allowed to remain very wet nor 
very dry, or the flower-buds will be apt to drop whenever the 
plant is exposed to more stimulus and excitement. At such 
times the plants may be kept near the glass in a cool room with 
propriety, until you wish to swell and open the buds, when they 
should be placed in a room averaging at the window from 45° to 
55°, and where the plants will have a fair portion of the sun’s 
rays. The time at which the plants more especially like a little 
rest is for a week or two when just finished blooming. Clean | 
away every vestige of flowers and dust, using a sponge, or syringe, 
or both. Then place the plants where they will be a little shaded 
and have an airy cool atmosphere about them ; and though not 
allowing the roots to get dry, give them but little water in pro¬ 
portion to what they needed before. This treatment will be 
relished as a refreshing repose, enabling the plant to collect its 
energies for a fresh start. In a fortnight or so place the plant 
where it can have a higher temperature, averaging from 50° to 
G0°, with a rise from sunshine of 10°. Keep the plants shaded 
from bright sunshine, and sponge or moisten the stems and foliage 
several times a-day with the syringe, and give increased water at 
the roots in proportion to the heat and the light. Ere long you 
will see signs of fresh growth, and then is the best time for 
Pruning .—No plants stand the knife better than healthy 
Camellias'. Small plants may need no pruning. All the bloom- 
buds are produced near the points of the shoots of the current 
vear’s growth—in other words, the flowers next winter and spring 
are produced on the wood made and ripened this summer and 
autumn. When it is desirable to keep plants dwarf and bushy, 
the knife must be used pretty freely. When there is nothing but 
a greenhouse or a window, it is best to cut back no farther than 
last year’s wood. Where there is the advantage of a hotbed or 
hothouse the plants may be cut back, even though wood of two 
or three years old he cut into. There will be no danger of their 
breaking! The chief thing will be to get the young shoots at first 
to grow freely; and then, by gradually exposing them to more 
sun and air, to get the wood to ripen well, and the flower-buds to 
knot at the points of the shoots. Whether pruned or not, this 
growing period is the time w r hen the Camellias must not stand 
still, but have plenty of moisture at the root, be syringed overhead, 
and be kept closer and warmer and more shaded than usual. 
These conditions may be secured best in a forcing-house, in a 
greenhouse kept more shut up and shaded at one end, or in the 
window of a living-room, by giving less air than usual and using 
a muslin blind over the glass. When the young shoots are from 
four to eight or more inches in length, according to the size and 
strength of the young growth, more air and light should be 
gradually given to harden the wood and set the buds. Before 
that, however, just when fresh growth is fairly commenced, I 
would recommend the plants to he examined as to 
RepoUhii).— Camellias, with a little fresh surfacing, will bloom 
in the same pots, if six inches or more in diameter, for years. 
In surfacing it is best to pick away a portion of the surface soil, 
and supply with fresh a little richer than usual. If there is the 
smallest, fear of the drainage being choked up, it is advisable to 
examine and drain afresh. For window flowering I would re¬ 
commend this to be done, and removing carefully a quantity of 
the exhausted soil, using a fresh-pointed stick, without injuring 
any roots, and placing the plant again in a clean pot of the same 
size, or only a little larger, and using fresh soil, and watering 
directly. In potting, or redraining, place a good-sized crock, 
or broken piece of crock, with the rounded side over the hole. 
This prevents worms entering. Small semicircular zinc caps 
would be the best thing for amateurs. Over that place a layer 
of drainage as hollow as possible, then finer drainage, and then 
finer still; filling at least two inelie3 with drainage, and cover all 
with a thin sprinkling of moss, which will prevent the soil choking 
up the drainage, and prove also a storehouse and an equaliser of 
moisture to the roots. I have used chopped straw for this 
purpose; but it is not so good as moss. A thin layer of the 
roughest compost should go over this, and on that tlie prepared 
ball should be placed, and the new soil carefully put down by 
the sides and well firmed by repeatedly striking the pot on the 
potting-bench. For all small shifting, using anything like a 
narrow thin stick for firming the soil by the sides of the pot is 
little better than barbarism. Think of the tender roots that may 
be thus injured ! Whether thus potted, or merely redrained and 
surface-dressed, the same, or rather more care than alluded to 
above, must be taken to prevent tlie plant receiving any check by 
giving, if possible, extra warmth, extra moisture to its foliage, and 
extra shade from bright sun until growth is proceeding freely, 
when more air, light, &c., should be gradually given. 
If repotting is to be done, I have recommended the above 
time to avoid anything like intricacy or confusion ; but many 
gardeners wait for repotting until the flower-bud clusters are 
formed. They take care and do it early enough to secure the 
pots being full of roots before the end of autumn. If a young 
beginner and amateur were to do so, and the new soil was not 
filled with roots before winter, there would be a risk of great 
many of the flower-buds dropping when they began to swell for 
bloom. By repotting, or fresh arranging the drainage early, there 
is every chance that the pots will he thoroughly well supplied 
with roots before winter. In this will be found, so far as flower¬ 
ing and fruiting are concerned, the most striking difference 
between growing plants in the open soil, or in pots and boxrs. 
In the latter case, first-rate flowering or fruiting will only fake 
