BALCONY GARDEN. 
BALSAMINIA. 
AZAROLE TREE.—See CrRAT2 ‘GUS. 
AZEDERACH.—See Me‘zia. 
B. 
Basia\na.—TJriddcee.—A genus 
<f Cape plants, with solid bulbs or 
corns, which are eaten by the Hot- 
tentois ; and which, when roasted, 
are said to resemble chestnuts. The 
species have all showy flowers. For 
their culture, see Buxss. : 
Batcony Garpen.—The most 
suitable plants for balconies are those 
of low growth; and as, from their 
exposed situation, they are liable to 
great and sudden changes, with re- 
gard to temperature, winds, and 
moisture, they ought to be naturally 
tolerably hardy. ‘To prevent the 
soil in the pots from becoming over- 
dried, from the pot being constanily 
exposed to the wind, one pot ought 
to be placed within another, with a | 
little sand or moss between, and this 
sand or moss ought to be kept con- | 
stantly moist. The pots may be 
set in saucers, provided a little 
gravel be placed in the bottom of 
each saucer, so as to allow the free | 
escape of water from the hole in 
the bottom of the pot; for if this 
water stagnates in the pot, it soon 
swells the soil so as te clese up the 
hole in the bottom, and to prevent 
the free escape of water; in which 
case the soil in the pot is sure to 
become sodden. When there is no | 
gravel in the saucers, the plants 
should be weil and frequently wa- 
tered; but the water that runs 
through the earth inthe pot into | 
the saucers, should be poured out | 
immediately and threwn away. A_ 
very good mode of growing plants | 
in balconies is, to set the pots in | 
wooden boxes or troughs, painted 
stone colour, with a little gravel at | 
the bottom, for the pots to stand on, | 
and with the interstices filled in with 
moss, which may also coyer the rims 
11* 
‘ 
| supplied with water. 
and surface of the pots; so as to 
make the plants appear to be grow- 
ing out of moss. Mignonette and 
‘trailing plants are best grown en- 
_tirely in wooden boxes, without the 
intervention of pots. 
Ba'ccuaris. —- Composite. — 
Ploughman’s Spikenard. Shrubs 
generally with white flowers, and 
natives of America, growing 1n any 
common garden soil. 
Batm.—See Dracocer’PHALUM. 
Batsam.—See Bausami'nia. 
Batsami'n1a. — Balsaminacee.— 
Tender and half-hardy annuals, with 
splendid flowers, mostly natives of 
the East Indies. The common 
Balsam (B. horténsis) is a well- 
known greenhouse plant of great 
beauty. To grow it in perfection, 
the seeds should be sown on a hot- 
bed, and when the plants come up 
they should be transplanted into 
very small pots, which should be 
plunged into the hotbed, and well 
In about a 
week, the plants should be trans- 
ferred to larger pots; and this ope- 
ration should be repeated ten or 
twelve times, always removing the 
plants to pots only a little larger 
than those they were taken from. 
As soon as the flower-buds begin to 
form, the plants should not be shifted 
any more, and the pots which con 
tain them must no longer be placed 
in the hotbed, but the plants must be 
| gradually exposed to the open air. 
Many gardeners never plunge the 
pots after the plants are three or four 
inches high, and remove them from 
the hotbed to the greenhouse as soon 
as possible. Repeated shiftings are, 
however, essential to produce fine 
large flowers and handsome plants 
The great secret 1n growing Bal- 
sams is to allow them plenty of air 
and light, and never to suffer them 
to become drawn up; as when that 
is the case, they will never after- 
wards make handsome plants. As 
Balsams, from their succulent na- 
