PRUNING Is but little required. Should a branch grow out of place or die, it should be neatly cut off; and a judicious pinching does much to regulate the shape of a plant. Of course all dead leaves and old blossoms should be cut off at once. ་་་་ 1 THE CAMELLIA: History. - Culture. - Soil. Temperature. Potting. - Pruning. Selection of Varieties. ORANGE AND LEMON TREES. Culture.- Growth.- Blooming. Varieties. Seedlings. Budding. THE DAPHNE: Pruning. - Potting.- Varieties. - Soil. THE AZALEA Description.-Potting.-Culture.- Pruning. - Varieties. THE HEATH: History. Soil. - Drainage. Watering. Hard and Soft Wooded. - Temperature. - Summer Culture. - Re-potting. Insects. - Rooting Plants. Varieties. THE CYCLAMEN: Potting. Soil. - Growth. N the selection of our plants, we must le much influenced by the extent and location of our accommodations. Some plants thrive with less heat and light than others. As a general rule, choose only green-house plants, avoiding any usually catalogued by nurserymen as stove plants. Discard ferns and lycopodia. With but few exceptions, these perish in the hot, dry, dusty air of our rooms. The Wardian case is their proper place. Remember it is better to grow one plant well than two badly. Because you have roses, geraniums, and daphnes, which do well, it is no reason you should also grow verbenas, fuchsias, and azaleas; your space is sufficient for the first three only; then be content, and do not crowd your plants. Now let us first give in detail, with their treatment, a list of plants suitable for window gardening; then select those for peculiar exposures. THE CAMELLIA The camellia is a native of China or Japan, from whence it was introduced to British gardens about the year 1739. The name was given in honor of Father Kamel, a Moravian priest, whose name, Latinized, became Camellus. The plants first introduced were fairly killed by kindness; an error not unfrequently repeated in our day with newly-discovered plants. They were planted in a stove, where the extreme heat soon dried the leaves and parched the plant. We find no further mention of the plant till 1792, when the single red variety (Camellia Japonica) was introduced, and flowered profusely in a common greenhouse; during the next year many plants of this variety were obtained from China; next we find mention of the double red; soon after, the fringed double white, and many varieties too numerous to mention. Strange to say, the single white was not imported till about the year 1820, and even now it is not common, though a showy and freeblooming variety. The camellia, in its native country, is a shrub or small tree, though Mr. Fortune mentions specimens of the single red as sometimes exceeding twenty feet in height, with trunks of proportionate size. This variety is almost hardy, and in the Middle States will often endure the winter; we have known it to survive even our climate, when well protected; all other varieties are more tender, and few will bear any severe frost without injury. Most of the kinds in our green-houses are derived from Camellia Japonica, though other varieties have, we believe, afforded fine seedlings. CULTURE. The plants should be grown in light loam, or sandy peat and loam, say three parts loam, two parts leaf mould, one part sandy peat; fill the pots one third full of potsherds, to secure drainage, which is indispensable; if the roots of the plant become sodden, particularly during the season of rest, the health of the plant is gone, and years of care may fail to restore its beauty, or remedy the evil caused by a little carelessness in watering. When in a growing state, you can hardly give too much water, and much good may be derived from frequent sprinklings or syringings; this operation, however, must never be performed in sunny weather. One chief care in the culture of camellias is to keep them perfectly clean; dust upon the foliage not only injures the beauty of the plant, but affects its health. The |