74 
BEGONIA COCCINEA„ 
US. A handsome specimen which is flowering superbly at Mrs. Lawrence's, 
Ealing Park, is one of the finest features in the stove at this period, and yields in 
interest to scarcely any of our old established favourites. 
In propagating the species, common cuttings are employed, and are treated in 
the ordinary way, requiring some care to keep them from damping off. The plant, 
like most of the other Begonias, will not bear to be neglected, but must be culti- 
vated, in the literal sense of the word. It should be potted in a rich loam of a 
light and fibrous nature, mixed with about a third of loose decayed manure, or 
leaf-mould, and shifted gradually into a moderate-sized pot. If planted in very 
poor soil, or much cramped at the roots, it will never grow and bloom otherwise 
than imperfectly. While growing, it demands a large supply of water, though it 
is essential that the drainage be so good as to admit of this fluid passing off readily. 
Below is given a woodcut, portraying the specimen which is flowering so 
profusely at Mrs. Lawrence's. The vase in which it is shown is one which is 
manufactured in artificial stone by Mr. G. Falcke, Battersea. 
