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 or border well drained it is hardly possible to
overwater the roots of camellias during their period of wood-making.
The temperature may range from 50° to 65° during most of the period.
As the flower-buds form, and become more conspicuous, the tropical
treatment may become less and less tropical, until the camellias are
subjected to the common treatment of greenhouse or conservatory plants
in summer. Even at this early stage it is wise to attend to the
thinning of the buds. Many varieties of camellias--notably that most
useful of all varieties, the double white--will often set and swell
five or ten times more buds than it ought to be allowed to carry.
Nothing is gained, but a good deal is lost, by allowing so many embryo
flower-buds to be formed or partially developed. It is in fact far
wiser to take off the majority of the excess at the earliest possible
point, so as to concentrate the strength of the plant into those that
remain.

As it is, however, often a point of great moment to have a succession