826 THE FLORIST AND 



What growers consider beauty in a Pelargonium are, the perfect develop- 

 ment of all its parts, and that they should be symmetrically disposed. 

 Compact, healthy plants cannot be obtained, if water is not carefully ap- 

 plied, or if crowded, or not freely aired upon all favorable occasions. If 

 kept close and warm, and watered freely in winter, they grow weak, and if 

 kept cool and watered, they become yellow and spotted. 



To make good specimens, take your cuttings before cutting back your 

 old plants, which is generally done in July, and put them into small pots, 

 one in each, filled with sandy loam. Plunge into a gentle bottom heat in a 

 frame, taking off the sash on mild nights. In three or four weeks they will 

 be well rooted ; then they should be shifted into larger, and grown until the 

 roots fill the pots. Keep them moderately dry and stop the shoots, having 

 a care to the symmetry of the specimen. After stopping, give plenty of air 

 and grow them strong and bushy. Through the winter months, give suffi- 

 cient water to keep them from flagging ; in the middle of February, shift into 

 blooming pots, 8 or 10 inch pots being sufficiently large. The best soil to use 

 is two-thirds turfy loam that has been kept a season, and one-third rotten 

 manure and sand, rubbed together with the hands ; press the soil well in 

 potting. To grow plants for exhibition tie all the shoots to stakes to keep 

 them in their place, those for the green-house only need to be regulated. 

 In cutting down old plants, it is best to allow them to become dry to heal 

 the wounds. At starting again, keep them close and give water, and when 

 they have started, shake them out and trim the roots pretty close, repot 

 and put in gentle bottom heat until they emit new roots, then give them 

 the same treatment as recommended above. 



Wm. Grey, 

 Gardener to J. T. Norton, Esq., Farmingion, Ct. 



NEW PLANTS FIGURED OR DESCRIBED IN EUROPEAN 



PERIODICALS. 



Begonia var. Lapeyrousei. — M. cle La Peyrouse had the kindness to 

 send me last year a Begonia which he had obtained from seed, which excels 

 in beauty all the species and varieties yet known. It is derived from B. 

 hydrocotylefolia, fertilized by B. incarnata. Its appearance is majestic, its 

 stalks robust, its leaves very large, very thick, of a fine shining green more 

 like those of B. hydrocotylefolia than those of B. incarnata. This last 



