BRACHYSEMA. 



3: 



BROMPTON STOCKS. 



Bottom heat is the warmth im- 

 parted to the roots of plants, by 

 plunging the pots in which they grow 

 into a hot-bed or bark-pit. The effect 

 this produces in stimulating the plants 

 is very great ; and it is particularly 

 advantageous in striking cuttings, 

 which, under ordinary circumstances, 

 would not readily throw out roots. 

 Bottom heat is often very useful in 

 enabling hothouse plants to stand in 

 the open air during summer. A bed 

 may be formed of bark, decayed 

 leaves, or stable manure, in which 

 the pots may be plunged, and the 

 surface covered with a thin coating of 

 turf ; and in this manner all the hot- 

 house climbers might be trained over 

 the trellis- work of a veranda, and 

 palms, bananas, and other tropical 

 plants might be made to decorate an 

 English garden. 



Bouvardia. — Rubiacece, — B. tri- 

 phylla aud its varieties are very or- 

 namental, with scarlet flowers and 

 smooth shining leaves. It, and all 

 the other species, grow freely in loam 

 and peat in a warm situation ; and 

 they are increased by cuttings of the 

 roots. B. versicolor has fine red 

 flowers and is very ornamental, though 

 more tender than B. triphylla. 



Bowers. — Slight arbours, formed 

 by training climbing shrubs over trellis 

 work so as to form a covered seat. 

 They only differ from arbours in 

 being less closely covered. See Ar- 

 bours. 



Box-tree. — See Buxus. 



Box-edgings. — The kind of box 

 used for this purpose is Buxus super- 

 virens nana. For its culture, see 

 Buxus and Edgings. 



Brachyse v m a. — Leguminosece. — 

 B. latifolium is a very ornamental 

 New Holland climber, with fine large 

 glaucous leaves and crimson flowers ; 

 and it grows freely in loam and peat, 

 flowering abundantly, aud ripening 



seeds, by which, or by layers, or cut- 

 tings, it may be readily propagated. 



Bramble — See Rubus. 



Briza. — Graminece. — Quaking- 

 grass. B. media, the common kind, 

 is a perennial, and B. maxima, a 

 gigantic species, is an annual, requir- 

 ing only to be sown in March or April, 

 in the open borders. 



Brompton Stocks. — Mathiola in- 

 cana. — These splendid flowers are 

 biennials, and their seed should be 

 sown early in May, in a border of 

 light sandy soil with an eastern expo- 

 sure, and never in front of a hothouse 

 or south wall, as they cannot bear too 

 much heat. The seeds should be 

 sown very thinly in narrow drills, 

 made about six inches apart. As 

 soon as the plants begin to grow, and 

 have expanded their second pair of 

 leaves, they should be watered every 

 evening with a watering-pot or gar- 

 den-engine, having a very fine rose. 

 When the plants are about three 

 inches high, they should be thinned 

 out so as to be at least six inches 

 apart, and the plants removed should 

 be carefully replanted in another bed. 

 In about a month's time they should 

 be thinned again, the alternate rows 

 taken up, so as to leave the remain- 

 ing plants about a foot apart every 

 way ; the plants removed being taken 

 up with balls of earth and carefully 

 transplanted, watered, and shaded till 

 they have re-established themselves. 

 Great care is necessary in transplant- 

 ing, as the stocks have long tap. roots, 

 with very few fibrils attached. When 

 the plants are wanted to be very fine, 

 they may be protected during winter 

 by hoops and mats, or hand-glasses, 

 but in general this is not thought ne- 

 cessary. In March or April a com- 

 post should be formed of very sandy 

 loam or sand, enriched with the re- 

 mains of an old hot-bed, or vegetable 

 mould, formed of decayed leaves ; 



