64 
FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
The best method of propagation is by seeds, which should be sown in March or 
April, and covered thinly with fine soil ; set the pots in a cool, dry part of the 
greenhouse, where they will be shaded both from sun and wind ; cover each pot 
with a piece of slate or glass, to prevent the soil drying too much, and by the 
following autumn they will be ready to plant singly into small pots. After having 
done so, place them under a hand-glass until they begin to grow, when they may be 
exposed gradually to the air of the house. 
They may also be grown from cuttings ; take off pieces of the ripened wood, 
and without in the least mutilating the leaves, plant them thinly and close to the 
edge of the pot in fine sharp sand. Place the pots on a dry, cool floor, and cover 
them with a hand-glass ; water must be administered with the greatest care, and in 
about two months they will have formed roots. If the pots be plunged or placed in 
heat, success need not be expected. When struck, pot off in small pots, and again 
place them in a similar situation under a hand-glass, until they have begun to grow. 
FLORICULTURAL NOTICES. 
NEW OR BEAUTIFUL PLANTS FIGURED AND DESCRIBED IN THE LEADING BOTANICAL 
PERIOIDCALS FOR JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, &c. 
Aconi v tum autumn a x le. In growth it resembles A. Napellus; in the form of its flowers, A. 
cammarum. The flowers are lilac and white, produced in a simple spike ; the smell of the 
blossoms is heavy and unpleasant. This species was found cultivated in the gardens of Ningpo, in 
the north of China, where it is chiefly prized on account of its flowering in winter. It is 
herbaceous, and will certainly prove quite hardy. — Hort. Jour., vol. ii. p. 77. 
Aza'lea squama'ta. " This fine addition to our Chinese Azaleas has been sent to the Horti- 
cultural Society by Mr. Fortune, who found it on the mountains of Hong Kong, as we learn from 
the Journal of the Society, in which is the following account of it : — e With the habit common to 
all the Chinese Azaleas, this presents the following peculiarities : — In its natural state it blooms 
without leaves, producing at the end of every little shoot a large solitary flower of a clear rose- 
colour, distinctly spotted with crimson on one side, and guarded at the base by a larger sheath of bright 
brown scales (whence its name). Its calyx, unlike that of the neighbouring species, is reduced to 
a mere five-toothed rim. Its ovary, immediately after the fall of the corolla, projects in the form 
of an oblong body quite covered with coarse brown hairs. The leaves, when young, are somewhat 
like those of A. indica, and have nothing distinctive in their shape or surface ; but when old they 
are oval, sharp at each end, perfectly hairless, and as even on the upper surface as those of Rhodo- 
dendron punctatum." A . squamata is expected to prove hardy. — Bot. Reg., 3. 
Bego'nia fuchsioi'des. " A most lovely new Begonia, detected by Mr. Purdie on the Ocana 
mountains of New Grenada, during his missions for the Royal Gardens of Kew. It is easily 
propagated by cuttings, grows rapidly, bears small but copious foliage, and is a plant to which he 
particularly requested our attention, on account of the copious, elegant, drooping red flowers, at 
first sight resembling those of a Fuchsia ; and because it is much eaten to allay thirst, by the 
arrieros (mule-drivers) of the country. He also observes that the globular buds (meaning, 
probably, the buds of the fertile blossoms, which are globular) contain a fluid which, together with 
the acid of the flowers, prove highly grateful in the dry season, and where there are no rivers. It 
has bloomed during the autumn months with Mr. Veitch, of Exeter, and he has at this time 
(December 18th) one plant three feet high, loaded with the richly-coloured flowers. It has been 
three months in bloom, and has abundance of buds yet to expand. Our plants are now, at 
