MR. DOXALD'S NOTES UPOX BEGONIAS. 133 



of a year, viz., February and August ; but this rule, like many 

 more in gardening, is not without an exception ; one plant may 

 grow faster than another under the same circumstances, and 

 therefore ought to be repotted when it requires it, nothing being 

 worse for any plant than to cramp its roots. 



As Begonias are generally intermixed with other plants, and 

 receive a similar supply of water both in summer and winter, 

 they may well present a sickly appearance. There are few 

 plants that require a more liberal supply during summer 

 than they do ; indeed some of the robust growing sorts will 

 flourish with their pots half immersed in water ; but, like other 

 plants, they require a season of rest, at which time comparatively 

 little moisture is required. This period is clearly pointed out by 

 nature. In October all the species with which I am acquainted 

 begin to show that water should then be gradually withheld ; if 

 it is continued, some begin to drop their leaves, others to decay at 

 the root or assume a languid appearance : therefore it is obvious 

 that they should be kept dry from the 1st of November to the 

 1st of February. During that time if water is given once or 

 twice a week it will be sufficient, and the herbaceous sorts may 

 be kept quite dry. Although many species remain green and 

 healthy in winter, the growth they make is but trifling, nor should 

 they be induced to grow, for if they are deprived of the season 

 which nature has provided for their rest, the best of management 

 will not compensate for it in twelve months afterwards. 



There are some who imagine that a bushy plant cannot be 

 produced, unless it has been cut down in winter or pinched back 

 during the growing season, but this is a mistake. If B. undulata, 

 or any of the fibrous-rooted sorts, which require pruning, are cut 

 down in winter, the root will in all probability die, and if 

 pinched back, when are they to flower? To such as 13. Evan- 

 siana the knife is never required, because the stems die down 

 annually ; and it is never necessary to cut such as B. hei-acleijHia : 

 therefore this matter rests with the tall-growing sorts. To 

 explain this it will be necessary to consider what functions such 

 stems perform. Take B. undulata for an example: every stem 

 of one year's growth, notwithstanding its flowering, is a magazine 

 in which secretions are stored for the support, during a certain 

 time, of those which may arise from its base the following season, 

 and thus the stems become analogous to the pseudo-bulbs in 

 Orchids ; were this not the case, suckers would rise as strong 

 without the stem as with it, and they would not be liable to damp 

 off", although it should receive an injury. From this it is evident 

 that all the pruning that is necessary is to cut out all the stems 

 above two years old, and this should be done in spring when the 

 plant is repotted in order to give room for the young shoots. 



