Though the mode of multiplying the camellia by means of leaf-buds has been some time introduced, it is not yet so extensively known and employed as it deserves to be. Many amateurs and cultivators are entirely unacquainted with the process which furnishes the readiest means of propagating any particular variety with great rapidity and entire success, since every leaf-bud, even those on wood of the previous year, may be used. The proper time for employing this method is at the end of February, and in July, before the plant produces new shoots. The buds are cut and shaped very much as they are in ordinary budding, only retaining a somewhat larger portion of wood. The best soil is a good sandy loam, somewhat retentive of moisture, and it is to be pressed moderately close into a pot or box. The leaf-buds, prepared as stated, are then placed on the soil with the wood or cut side flat to the ground, gently pressed in; and secured by neat small wooden hooks. A glass plate is then laid on the pot or box, which is to be set in a hotbed newly prepared; and it should be remembered that camellia cuttings can scarcely ever be kept too warm, if care be taken to supply the requisite amount of moisture, and to keep them shaded from the direct rays of the sun.

The hotbed in which the pot or box is placed, should be renovated every three or four weeks, as a steadily continued and equable heat greatly aids the formation of roots. The cuttings made in July will root in the course of live or six weeks, but should be allowed to remain in the hotbed till the middle of October, and they may then be kept in the same pot or box in a cold frame during the winter, to be transplanted in the spring. Those made in February are usually of more rapid growth, and if transplanted in May, in a loamy soil, will attain a height of ten or twelve inches in the course of the ensuing summer.

I have repeatedly employed this mode of propagating camellias, with great success, and can confidently recommend it to cultivators in general. E. M.

A decoction of common elder leaves (Sambucus niger) has been successfully used, in Germany, to preserve rose-bushes, and other flowering plants from mildew, aphides, etc.

It has been ascertained by numerous experiments, that certain plants are much less sensitive to the influence of chloroform at night than they are in daytime; and it has hence been suggested that delicate and tender plants might, perhaps, be most successfully transplanted at night.

Fruit jellies may be preserved from mouldiness, by covering the surface one-fourth of an inch deep with finely pulverized loaf sugar. Thus protected, they will keep in good condition for years.