of temperature. A close or arid atmosphere often leads to the
same results. Camellias can hardly have too free a circulation of air
or too low a temperature. Another frequent cause of buds dropping
arises from either too little or too much water at the roots. Either a
paucity or excess of water at the roots should lead to identical
results. Most amateurs overwater their camellias during their
flowering stages. Seeing so many buds expanding, they naturally rush
to the conclusion that a good deal of water must be used to fill them
to bursting point. But the opening of camellia buds is less a
manufacture than a mere development, and the strain on the plant and
drain on the roots is far less during this stage than many suppose. Of
course the opposite extreme of over-dry roots must be provided
against, else this would also cause the plants to cast off their buds.

But our object now is less to point out how buds are to be developed
into fully expanded flowers than to show how they were to be formed in
plenty, and the plants preserved in robust health year after year. One
of the simplest and surest modes of reaching this desirable end is to
adopt a system of semi-tropical treatment for two months or so after
flowering. The moment or even before the late blooms fade, the plants
should be pruned if necessary. Few plants bear the knife better than
camellias, though it is folly to cut them unless they are too tall or
too large for their quarters or have grown out of form. As a rule
healthy camellias produce sufficient or even a redundancy of shoots
without cutting back; but should they need pruning, after flowering is
the best time to perform the operation.

During the breaking of the tender leaves and the growth of the young
shoots in their first stages, the plant should be shaded from direct
sunshine, unless, indeed, they are a long way from the glass, when the
diffusion and dispersion of the rays of light tone down or break their
scorching force; few young leaves and shoots are more tender and
easily burned than camellia, and scorching not only disfigures the
plants, but also hinders the formation of fine growths and the
development of flower-buds.

The atmosphere during the early season of growth may almost touch
saturation. It must not fail to be genial, and this geniality of the
air must be kept up by the surface-sprinkling of paths, floors,
stages, walls, and the plants themselves at least twice a day.

With the pots