Gextilizing 
You should use an acid react- 
ing fertilizer, sold by most 
nurseries, and begin applying 
it in the spring just as soon 
as the Camellia is through 
blooming, as new growth is 
about to begin. Loosen the top 
half inch of soil with a hand cultivator as illustrated below, 
apply two handsfull of fertilizer around a small plant, more 
around larger bushes. Water immediately. Using this 
amount of fertilizer, two applications a year is sufficient. 

Camellias are top feeders and Cultivating 
should never be cultivated 

deeply. It is well to keep the 
surface of the soil loose so that 
water will permeate and not 
run off. This is especially de- 
sirable after fertilizing. Use 
a hand cultivator and do not 
cultivate deeper than about 
14 inch—just enough to pre- 
vent a top crust from forming. Weeds should be pulled by 
hand from immediately around the plant. 



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Camellias very often set more A 2 
buds than it is desirable for Dishudding 
a plant to mature. To leave 
all of these buds on a plant 
causes it to exhaust its energy 
maturing a large crop of some- 
times inferior flowers. By 
proper disbudding and ferti- 
lizing, you can appreciably in- 
crease the size of the blooms. 
Leave but two buds to each terminal and be careful not 
to injure the sharply pointed leaf bud in removing the flower 
buds. 

CP lanting Season 
Under favorable conditions 
Camellias can be planted dur- 
ing almost any month of the 
year if bought in containers 
and the root system is not dis- 
turbed in transplanting. Ball- 
ed plants are taken up in the 
nursery during the winter and 
early spring when the plants are dormant, and should be 
set out in the garden at that time. In our nursery we nor- 
mally ball Camellias from the first of November to the mid- 
dle of April—depending upon weather conditions. 

