Plate 197. 



BEGONIA METALLICA. 



The superb new plant which is the subject of the present plate is in the hands of Mr. B. S. 

 Williams, of the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, Upper Holloway, and will be sent out by 

 him in the month of May next ensuing. Begonia metallica will probably prove to be one of 

 the most useful Begonias yet sent out, both on account of its grand foliage and its lovely 

 bloom. The leaves are bronze-green, with a rich metallic lustre, greatly in the style of 

 Alocasia metallica; the mature leaves have dark brown veins on the upper surface, and the 

 back of each leaf is rich blood-red in colour. The flowers are satiny- white and carmine, 

 darker on the back than front, and elegantly covered with hair-like processes. The plant is 

 of shrubby evergreen growth, a profuse and perpetual bloomer, throwing up its large heads of 

 handsome white and carmine blossoms well above the foliage. It makes excellent compact 

 plants, from nine to twelve inches high, so that Begonia metallica will probably prove a new 

 and very valuable ornament for the conservatory and dinner-table. The temperature most 

 suitable for this plant is, says Mr. Williams, that of an intermediate house, say from fifty to 

 sixty degrees, and it should be grown in a light but rich soil, consisting of loam, leaf-mould, 

 and peat in equal parts, with a good sprinkling of sand* 



Plate 198. 



GLOXINIAS. — 1. CROWN PRINCE. 2. AVALANCHE. 3. FASCINATION. 



More than six years have elapsed since we were last able to give a plate of really good and 

 new varieties of Gloxinia. Recently, however, Mr. B. S. Williams, of the Victoria and 

 Paradise Nurseries, Upper Holloway, has sent us a number of new and strikingly beautiful 

 varieties, of which we now figure three, and hope in an early number to figure three others 

 of equal merit with those now given. Varieties of Gloxinia, like varieties of many other 

 florists' flowers, have been numerous enough during the last few years, but very few of real 

 sterling merit like those now illustrated have been met with. The set of Gloxinias which 

 we have seen in the possession of Mr. Williams, of Upper Holloway, and which he intends 

 to send out in the forthcoming spring, have blooms of extraordinary brilliancy, depth, and 

 purity of colour, and great size and substance. They will not fail to secure a good place 

 amongst the most choice varieties of these plants wherever they appear in collections. With 

 pure air the Gloxinia is a plant of easy culture, and can be had in flower during nine months 

 of the year. The soil most suitable is a rich fibrous loam, mixed with leaf-mould and peat in 

 equal parts, with a good sprinkling of silver or river sand. Gloxinias may easily be grown 

 from leaves only, and for this purpose the full-grown leaves destined for plants should be 

 inserted about halfway in the soil, or the leaves may be cut into short lengths, care being 

 taken to preserve part of the leaf-blade intact, and these short lengths planted edgewise in 

 silver sand after the manner of ordinary cuttings. These should now be kept well watered, 

 and placed in a shaded hot-bed or warm propagating-pit, when the roots will speedily appear. 

 Another plan is to cut through the mid-rib at intervals, peg down the leaf, place silver sand 

 about the incisions, and keep the leaf shaded in a close frame, with a brisk heat. The leaves 

 should make roots at each cut. Similar facts hold good with the leaves of Hoyas, Echeverias, 

 and other plants. 



