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RENOVATION OF CAMELLIA PLANTS. 
colour of the flowers, resembles the well-known H. ovata , but the flowers are white with a green spot 
on the base of the standard. For the purpose of variety, where greenhouse-conservatory creepers are 
prized, this may be considered as a desirable novelty, the contrast being good between its dark green 
broad leaves, and the pure white of its flowers. 
Camellia Martinii , raised by Messrs. Jackson, of Kingston, and nicely figured in our contemporary 
the Florist, is deserving of special mention, as being the brightest coloured among the red Camellias 
at present known, and proving the nearest approach to scarlet. It is, in addition to this, a flower of 
good properties, well made, and very full of rounded imbricating petals. The Countess of Ellesmere , 
another of Messrs. Jackson’s seedlings, is probably the finest and most beautiful light-coloured Camellia 
in existence, its fine broad, cupped petals, white faintly striped with pale rose, reminding one at once 
of the famous Coupe de Hebe Rose. This variety had a first-class certificate awarded to it by the 
National Floricultural Society, in April last. 
The collection of Aquatic Plants in the Aquarium of the Botanic Garden, at Hamburgh, is in 
excellent condition. It includes ten young plants of the Victoria Regia, eight of Euryale ferox, a 
very scarce and fine annual water plant; together with many species of the genus Nymphcea, as N. 
ccerulea , cyanea, dentata, micrantha, neglecta, odorata, pygmcea, rubra , semiaperta, thermalis, &c.; 
besides many other aquatics, which are expected to give a fine show next summer. Mr. Otto, the 
inspector of the garden, is an ardent cultivator of aquatics. We understand that his foreman, Mr. 
Loscher, is at present engaged in the preparation of a work on Victoria Regia, its history, cultivation, 
&c., with two plates. 
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RENOVATION OF CAMELLIA PLANTS. 
M OST collections of Camellias contain some tall woody plants, which from some cause produce 
only a few leaves and flowers at the top of their branches. Such plants, themselves but 
little prized, may nevertheless, by a process of grafting, be converted into beautiful flowering trees. 
In this way these old woody plants, which are only fit to stand at the back of a collection, are turned 
to good account by many of the Camellia growlers of Belgium. This practice is not on the Continent a 
novelty, but it is not so generally made available by English cultivators. On this account a short 
description of the modus operandi may not be unacceptable. 
Old plants, from six to ten feet high, and having a straight stem from two to three inches in 
diameter, are the most suitable for being grafted, in the way about to be described, but others which 
are more branchy may also be employed. The first part of the operation consists in removing all the 
branches (supposing the plant to have a long straight stem), so that nothing is left but the naked stem 
or trunk, which is cut clean off, the top and the summit being pared quite smooth, and covered with 
grafting clay. Then along a spiral and imaginary line, carried the whole length of the stem, grafts or 
buds are inserted at the distance of every second inch m height. These grafts are tied in the usual 
manner, and the tree or plant is placed in a narrow upright glass frame, which is made about a foot 
higher than the top of the stem. This narrow frame or cover is carefully mulched with moss at the 
bottom, which rests on the soil in the pot, for the purpose of excluding the air. The tree with its 
glass cover is then removed to a house where the temperature is moderately warm, or nearer that of an 
ordinary stove than a cool greenhouse. 
The method of constructing these covers is very simple, and they are always useful in such cases. 
The frame-work consists of four upright wooden bars of sufficient strength and height, grooved so as to 
admit of being glazed, and the top may be covered with a single square of glass. They may be made 
of any width, but five or six inches will be found to be wide enough for most purposes. By means of 
these cases the newest and most select varieties may be worked on the old trunks, either singly at the 
top or several may be distributed over the whole stem, and in this way many different sorts can be 
grown on one plant. 
The tree thus treated will have made vigorous shoots at the end of the second year; but the 
shoots which may push out on the old trunk must be carefully cut off as soon as they appear.—II. 
