EMBELLISHMENTS. — BKGONIA ALBO-COCCINEA. 243 



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 no 

 compensate for it in twelve months afterwards. 



" There are some who imagine that a bushy plant cannot be pro- 

 duced, 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 B. Evansiana the knife is never 

 required, because the stems die down annually ; and it is never neces- 

 sary to cut such as B. heracleifolia : therefore this matter rests with 

 the tall-growing sorts. To explain this it will be necessary to con- 

 sider what functions such stems perform. Take B. undulata for an 

 example : every stem of one year's growth, notwithstanding its flow- 

 ering, 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 re- 

 potted in order to give room for the young shoots. 



" As to propagation, perhaps few plants are so easily increased as 

 Begonias. All those from which cuttings can be taken will strike 

 freely under ordinary treatment, and such as B. Barkeri, from which 

 cuttings cannot be had, may be abundantly multiplied from seed. 

 The seed should be sown when gathered, in light sandy soil, and 

 placed in a moist situation, where the seedlings may be shaded from 

 the rays of the sun." 



Mr. Donald proceeds to give a descriptive list of each of the species 



u2 



