114 OENAMENTAL FOLIAGE PLANTS. 



a free circulation of air being absolutely necessary to 

 their existence. BanJcsias require thorough, drainage, 

 without strict attention to which faUnre is sure to ensue. 

 The soil should be a mixture of peat, loam, and sand, 

 in about equal parts. In repotting them, especial care 

 should be taken that none of the roots are broken, or 

 mutilated in any way. In watering, extremes must be 

 avoided, for although they do not like too much, yet 

 few plants suffer more from the effects of drought. 

 They may be increased by cuttings of well-ripened young 

 wood, placed in small pots ' of sand, not shortening any 

 of the leaves, but only removing sufficient to allow the 

 cutting to be firmly fixed; then place them under a 

 bell-glass in a cold frame, shading them from the sun. 

 They are also increased by seeds, which should have but 

 a slight covering, and be transplanted as soon as they 

 are large enough to handle. The species described be- 

 low are all handsome and well deserving cultivation, and 

 were all to be found a few years ago in our national 

 Botanic Garden, from which we much regret the dis- 

 appearance of so many of these noble plants. Let us 

 hope, however, that every effort will be made to repair 

 the loss of these and many other fine old greenhouse plants, 

 for which those gardens were once so famous. 



B. austraUs, — A species of compact habit, growing some 

 five or six feet high. The leaves are from one to two 

 inches long and half an inch broad, blunt at the apex, 

 armed with several short sharp spines, and tapering at 

 the base, deep green on the upper surface, snowy white 

 beneath. Native of South Australia. 



B. Galeyi. — This is an elegant species. The leaves are 

 from six to twelve inches long, linear, and deeply and 

 regularly toothed from base to apex, dark green above, 



