MONTHLY CALENDAR. 



471 



1433. Such stove-plants as are intended to flower in the winter, as justicias, 

 Eranthemum pulchellum, euphorbias, jasminums, &c., should be looked to. 

 Many of these things require to be kept in small pots, and should be watered 

 with liquid manure to grow them on without getting into too large pots. The 

 last batch of achimenes may now be potted, and kept in a close frame for a 

 late show of bloom. Fuchsias, if not in their blooming-pots, should be 

 shifted into them at once. Encourage plants now established by using liquid 

 manure. Young plants growing into specimens will require constant stopping 

 and tying to get them into proper form. In shifting for the season, many 

 conservatory plants will now be in the open air ; but some of the New 

 Holland, such as Boronita pinnata and B, serrulata, still require a little heat 

 and pretty free stopping to insure handsome plants. 



1434. Begonias. — There is no plant admitted into the conservatory more 

 worthy of cultivation than the Begonia ; and the facility with which it is cul- 

 tivated is equal to its beauty. All they require is a good rich loamy soil, 

 mixed with a Uttle sand, and a little heat to start them in. Either hotbed or 

 stove answers every purpose, provided there is a conservatory or greenhouse 

 in which they can be flowered ; the chief requirements being heat, moisture, 

 and shade. 



1435. There is a delicious fragrance about some of the species, which parti- 

 cularly recommends them for cultivation ; others are recommended by their 

 richly-variegated foliage and graceful habit, and they all hybridize with great 

 facility. The following are a few choice sorts selected from 350 species known 

 to botanists : — 



1. B. fuchsioides, — remarkable for its 



graceful habit. 



2. B. odorata, — remarkable for the fra- 



grant odour, from which it derives 

 its name. 



3. B. nitida, — an almost perpetual 



bloomer, one plant having hud 

 three or four cymes of flowers 

 always open for three years. 



4. B.manicata, — produces a large mass 



of flowers at one time in the 

 early spring. 



5. B. octopetala, — a tuberous-rooted win- 



ter-flowering species, with large 

 pure white blossoms. 



6. B. splendida, — grown for its crimson 



velvety young leaves, which lose 

 their beauty, however, as the 

 plant approaches maturity. 



7. B. splendida argentea, — equally beau- 



tiful; a pink tinge shiningthrough 

 the silvery hue of the leaves. 



Griffithi, or pieta, — richly-variega- 

 ted, with colours shading beauti- 

 fully into each other, 



xanthia lleichenheimii, — in which 

 green bands follow the principal 

 veins, the spaces between being 

 pure white, 



xanthia lazula, — having copper- 

 coloured leaves, shining with a 

 fine metallic lustre. 



xanthia pectafolia, — the copper- 

 coloured leaves relieved with 

 large distinct white blotches. 



Queen Victoria, — a hybrid raised 

 in Belgium ; the leaf milky- 

 white, except the margin of green 

 dots, and a few central dots. 



argentea, — the upper surface of the 

 leaf of a pure delicate white. 



amabilis, — the bright banded leaves 

 very glossy and shining. 



1436. Many other begonias, both distinct species and hybrid varieties, are 

 in cultivation, nearly approaching these in beauty ; but none will be found to 

 exceed them. 



1437. Balsams, thunbergias, and other annuals intended to decorate the 

 ■conservatory and show-house for the next two months, should be finally 



