122 
TIIE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
brethren, and they have acted on it. To show the result, and 
the estimation in which this flower is held by them, we subjoin 
the following interesting communication, translated from an 
article in the Avranches Journal, which has been kindly sent to 
us by a friend : 
“ Of all shrubs cultivated for the ornament of greenhouses, 
there is none superior to the camellia, whether we look to its 
smooth and evergreen foliage, or to its flowers always rich and 
numerous. This precious plant, that in our days is met with m 
the planthouse of every amateur, which is during winter the most 
graceful ornament of the saloons of the rich, whose white, car¬ 
nation or purple flower, rests so becomingly on the head ot that 
beauty which it makes more beautiful, was unknown fifty 
years ago. It was about the end of the last century that it 
was introduced into Europe by Father Kamell, from whom it 
derives its name. About thirty years ago, upon its appearance 
in Paris, it at once became the favorite of royalty, of the 
great proprietors, and of all the florists of the capital and pro¬ 
vinces. As an illustration of the care since bestowed upon its 
cultivation, we may mention that, according to the horticultural 
statistics of Maine et Loire, of 1842, there are nearly 500 
garden varieties of it; about fifteen years ago there were 
scarcely thirty or thirty-five. 
“ The plant of which we speak is a native of China and Japan, 
where it is cultivated with great zeal, although it grows sponta¬ 
neously, and to an height of twelve or fifteen feet; with us it is 
only a low shrub, but, docile to the hands of skilful horticul¬ 
turists, no doubt when become indigenous and freed from the 
shackles of the hothouse, it will raise itself, if not to the height 
it does in its native country, at least to such an elevation as will 
make it the king of our ornamental shrubs. 
“ Stimulated by an artificial heat, the camellia flourishes with 
us from December to April, three months before the time fixed 
for it by nature; its hastened bloom no doubt lessens the beauty 
it would possess were its growth left free, but let us not be un¬ 
grateful, it is still very precious, since alone it suffices to make 
us forget the mourning, and so to speak, the state of death that 
nature is in at this period of the year. In Japan and China, it 
blossoms from April to October. 
“To render suited to our climate a shrub on which the eye 
always reposes with pleasure, and which improved by natura¬ 
lization, and in strength and vigour will delight us for nine 
consecutive months, by its soft foliage and brilliant flowers, is 
assuredly to deserve well of horticulture; it is to add to the joys 
of every year a sight lovely and gay in our groves and parterres. 
“ M. Bataille is about to resolve the problem of the naturaliz¬ 
ation of the camellia in our country, going openly and boldly 
