February 21, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
391 
of Rhododendrons, &c., and with the longer notice 
now given, it is hoped that a very excellent exhibition 
will be secured on that occasion. The co-operation of 
exhibitors is earnestly requested. 
Sutton’s, of Reading.—A capital portrait of Mr. 
Martin John SuttoD, the managing partner of the 
■world-renowned seed firm of Sutton & Sons, together 
with a most interesting, historical and descriptive 
account of the firm and its business, appears in the 
Mark Lane Express of Monday last. Mr. Martin 
J. Sutton's position as a leading agriculturist of the 
day is attested by the number of public offices which 
he holds, and which our contemporary enumerates as 
follows :—Pie was created a Chevalier de la Legion 
d’Houneur by the French Government for services 
rendered to agriculture. He is a Fellow of the Linnean 
Society ; Fellow of the Botanic Society ; Fellow of the 
Royal Horticultural Society ; Fellow of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of Ireland ; Member of the 
Farmers’ Club; Fellow of the Royal Geographical 
Society ; Governor and Member of the Council of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England, and Member of 
its Education Committee, Journal Committee, Chemical 
Committee, and Special Experiments Committee ; 
Member of the Council of the Southfield Club ; 
Member of the Council of the Bath and West and 
Southern Counties Agricultural Society, of the 
Education and Experiments Committees of that 
Society ; and Yice-President of the Royal Counties 
Agricultural Society. 
The Weather in Aberdeenshire. — Writing on 
Tuesday the 17tlr inst., our Aberdeenshire correspondent 
says :—Beautifully fine weather is being again experi¬ 
enced in the north-east of Scotland. Saturday was a 
very mild day, the wind being westerly and very 
light, while the thermometer rose to a maximum of 52°. 
The weather on Sunday was remarkably fine, excep¬ 
tionally so for the season, the day Being sunny, warm 
and delightful, almost a little oppressive even for 
people still obliged to wear winter underclothing. 
The day, indeed, was like a day in July, so fine was 
it. The wind had veered round to south-south-west, 
but continued to be very light. The temperature rose 
as high as 53°. Of yesterday’s weather very much 
the same report has to be given—-gloriously fine. 
Away up in the highlands at Braemar, near Her 
Majesty’s highland home, the weather of late has been 
increasing in mildness until it has now reached a stage 
at which a change to a cooler temperature is desirable. 
Everything in its season, but May is not wanted in 
February. Owing to the genial influence, Snowdrops, 
Pansies, and other early flowers are in partial bloom. 
Fruit trees and bushes not forgetting Laurels and 
other shrubs, are budding on every hand ; and within 
a week too! In sheltered nooks and sunny corners even 
the young grass is beginning to show a refreshing 
greenness that tells of early summer. 
--— 
“THE BEAUTEOUS ROSE OP 
JAPAN. ” 
"Who does net admire the singular beauty of form cf 
the wax-like blossoms of the Camellia ? A well-grown 
and bloomed Camellia is a noble and beautiful plant_ 
an almost unrivalled feature in a conservatory, when of 
ample growth and laden with its symmetrical flowers ; 
and this being the season of the year when this popular 
subject attracts more than ordinary attention, it is well 
that notice should be drawn to it. 
The History of the Camellia. 
This flower has a somewhat eventful history. The 
single red Camellia Camellia japonica—the “beauteous 
Rose of Japan,” which has been well described a 3 
The chaste Camellia’s pure and spotless bloom, 
That boasts no fragrance and conceals no thorn, 
was the first of the genus brought to this country. 
The generic name Camellia is traceable to George 
Joseph Kamel, afterwards Latinised into Camellus, a 
Moravian Jesuit and traveller in Asia, who, returning 
to Spain from the Isle of Luzon, sought an audience 
of Queen Maria Theresa, and presented her with a 
mother-of-pc-arl vase in which grew a Camellia in 
bloom. “Beautiful, but scentless,” was the Ivinas 
remark, and he was right, for as exquisite as the 
Camellia is, there is no known variety which has stored 
up in its petals that delightful fragrance which adds 
such a charm to the Rose, Violet, and other scented 
flowers. The single red Camellia was introduced to 
this country in 1739 by Lord Petre, and it was not 
until 1792 that any of the double-flowered varieties 
were brought to England. Then the double white 
came from China—the old double white, Alba plena, so 
much cultivated in our day ; and the double while and 
double striped were soon followed by the double red. 
With the introduction of these came a largely increased 
interest in the plant, and from that time up to 1827 
many types were introduced. Then seedling varieties 
were raised in this country, and among these was a 
double crimson variety, which was figured in the 
Floricultural Magazine for 1839, raised by some lover 
of the flower, the stock purchased by Messrs. H. Low 
& Co., the well-known nurserymen of Clapton, and 
named by them Lawreneeana, in honour of Mrs. 
Lawrence, who then resided at Drayton Green, Ealing, 
previous to her removal to Ealing Park. 
The Net-veined Camellia. 
One of the most striking of the imported species is 
C. reticulata, the net-veined Camellia, a native of 
HoDg Kong. This was introduced about 1824. The 
flowers are rose coloured, veined with grey, and it is 
one of the largest flowered of the species. There is a 
very fine specimen of it in one of the conservatories at 
Devonshire House, Chiswick, and the old plant sent 
home by Fortune may still be seen in the R. H. S. 
Gardens, near by. It is marvellously free of bloom, 
and, when at the height of its beauty, in spring, is 
worth going miles to see. There are magnificent speci¬ 
mens of it in other parts of the country. 
The Culture of the Camellia. 
Perhaps the cultivation of no plant has caused so much 
anxiety to the amateur gardener as the Camellia. 
While it is a perfectly hardy plant, as it grows and 
blooms luxuriantly in some of the southern counties of 
England, it is yet commonly grown as a greenhouse 
plant, because it is a spring-flowering subject, and its 
large and striding blossoms are in great danger from 
frost, wind, rain, and sun. “ Camellias are somewhat 
famed for their enjoyment of old conservatories, the 
roofs of which consist of heavy rafters and small 
squares of dirty glass, while the floors are quagmires 
and the walls are clothed with a vegetation that 
belongs to damp and ruin.” So wrote the late Mr. 
Shirley Hibberd in one of his books on gardening. 
“And it must be confessed,” he adds, “we have seen 
gigantic Camellias, covered with flowers as thick as 
hail, in houses so dirty and dark that it was like visit¬ 
ing one’s grave to enter them ; but we have seen them 
equally thrifty and a deal more comfortable in smart 
constructions of the present day, which admitted a 
flood of light from above, and presented the temptations 
of a bright mosaic pavement under foot to enhance tho 
enjoyment of an inspection of the flowers.” An 
admirable illustration ot this last condition of things 
can be seen in the entrance to Messrs. James Veitch & 
Sons’ nursery at Chelsea, from the Brompton Road. 
There, in a glass-covered corridor, with ample light 
above and at the sides, can be seen large specimen 
plants of Camellias, planted in the side borders, 
that grow healthily, and blossom with surprising 
freedom. 
The Amateur’s Difficulty. 
My hearty sympathies are with the amateur who seeks 
to grow and flower a few Camellias —a genus he en¬ 
thusiastically admires —in his small house. They are 
usually in pots, and if he succeeds in producing a 
fairly good growth and a few buds, he often has the 
mortification of seeing his flower buds drop just as 
they are swelling off to expansion. What can be 
more annoying or irritating? I think several causes 
operate to bring about this unfortunate result—extremes 
of heat and cold, dryness of the atmosphere, dryness of 
the root, or, it may be, a sour and unsuitable soil. 
But it is difficult to prescribe in individual cases. I 
can only indicate causes. 
I think that too much sunlight is sometimes a cause 
of failure. The young leaves of Camellias are not only 
impatient of sun, but the old leaves become scorched 
quicker than those of almost any other hard-wooded 
plant I know. The trees then get out of health, and 
they 'suffer—much more so when in pots than when 
planted out. There is no doubt that the main elements 
of success during a season of growth are heat, shade and 
moisture. 
Some Suggestions Towards Successful Culture. 
Plants in or about to bloom should have a rather 
warmer atmosphere than those less advanced. A little 
fire-heat every day, with the ventilators open at top in 
favourable weather, and occasionally at bottom, is 
desirable ; but the amateur can scarcely do this in the 
case of a house of mixed plants, and not at all in the 
case of a cold house. Such sorts as the old double 
white and all light varieties are better when a 
circulation of moisture and air takes place, as it is a 
condition that appears a good preventive to the iron- 
mould-like spots that will follow a close, moist 
atmosphere. The plants must never be allowed to 
become too dry at the roots, but it is quite as bad 
practice to have the roots saturated with moisture, and 
in each case destructive to the buds. No fresh-potted 
plant requires liquid or artificial manure, but such 
plants as have been growing for two or three years in 
the same pot, and the roots so compact that they 
cannot be disturbed with the point of a stick with 
impunity, will be much benefited by a judicious 
application. Standen’s Manure for hard-wooded plants 
is a good one to apply to Camellias in pots in this 
condition.— E. D. 
-- 
FRUIT-GROWING UNDER GLASS 
This department of horticulture is yearly gaining 
ground and favour ; our climate, precarious and 
unsettled as it is, renders this necessary if we would 
attempt to meet the demands of the growing propensity 
for fruit of good quality. As civilisation advances so 
do our tastes and palates improve. Fruits which our 
grandfathers, nay, indeed, our fathers were satisfied to 
pronounce good are now not considered of very extra¬ 
ordinary value for cooking. America supplies us with 
our Apples, the continent of Europe with our best Pears, 
also many other fruits which a few decades ago we 
appear to have managed in our own island to our 
entire satisfaction. All that we at present mean to say 
of this is that so stands the matter—we have apparently 
thrown away the sour Apple for the sweet one, but we 
must not forget that in this we are just a shade ex¬ 
travagant. 
Though we are assigned the title of a “Nation of 
Shopkeepers,” it is possible we may not be a nation of 
economists ; with regard to this matter I am certain 
we are not. The amount of money yearly expended (n 
all kinds of fruits which could be managed under glass 
in Britain would erect enormous ranges of glass 
structures suited for hardy fruits, such as Apples, Pears, 
Plums, Cherries, &i., to completely compete avith, if 
not eclipse the foreigner. If the British show a steady 
and increasing favour for the consumption of fruit, I 
have no doubt that the time is not far distant when a 
huge company will start up and supply them with 
home-grown produce cheaper and better than our friends 
over the water have sent across hitherto. It is quite 
possible that our Government, who have always an eye 
to a prying business, may take an important matter of 
this kind in hand. At any rate, few will dispute the 
fact that there is room for speculation here. 
The expense of building these structures in the outset 
I grant would be a rather weighty item, but with good 
management there would be little fear but that a few 
years would square matters. What must be borne in 
mind is this : provided a good article the British are not 
afraid to pay for it. At present perhaps they pay 
40 per cent, too much for imported fruit, while they 
pay 120 per cent, for the cultivation of their own for 
feeding pigs. The last season, for instance, is surely 
sufficient to convince any person of the great need we 
have for artificial protections from the weather. Few 
people, it may be said, enjoyed a proper dish of Straw¬ 
berries—the crop was abundant, I believe, everywhere, 
but the terrible rainfalls at the time least required 
converted them into manure instead of money. Thus, 
by the vagaries of a capricious climate, for want of 
ingenuity the nation has been the loser of thousands of 
pounds. And of our Plums we had none either, and 
this, though not due to the same cause directly, certainly 
was brought about by lack of protection at a critical 
time. Even when this important subject affects us 
individually, we fail to look at it in a business-like 
way. Many gentlemen of means will stare at the 
proposal of his gardener to increase his glass structures 
for this purpose, while he will, without a grudge, pay 
enormous sums for foreign fruits. 
It is not a good thing for us to live as if we were only 
living for the day, yet this is exactly the policy of 
many gentlemen on this matter. A thousand pounds or 
two expended iu orchard or general hardy fruit-houses 
is a small sum when divided over a period of years, and 
must be considerably less than the sum paid for market 
fruit. But it is a large sum to launch out at once they 
think, and as such financiers know the value of money 
only in gold, silver, or copper, they are, as a result, 
chary in laying it out at little piofit at first, in the 
hopes of getting an ultimate return tenfold. The 
difficulty altogether lies in the fact that they are butvery 
indifferently versed in horticulture as it is, and its 
future probabilities. It is a pity that those who have 
the. means of giving every encouragement to the deve¬ 
lopment of horticulture do not more often use them. 
The time is surely past for this useful industry to 
be any longer denominated one of pleasure. That idea, 
if not extinct, must go the way of all misconceptions, 
and horticulture will flourish.— Gamma, Edinburgh, 
