RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF WINTER-BLOOMING PLANTS. 
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Begonia coccinea. — This is a magnificent plant, blooming profusely, either as a 
large or a small plant, and continuing for a very long time in perfection. It is 
readily propagated by cuttings in a gentle bottom-heat, at any time, and plants 
struck in the spring or summer make beautiful specimens for blooming through the 
following winter. All the Begonias grow freely in any free open soil, but a mixture, 
consisting of turfy-loam, leaf-mould, and peat, in about equal proportions, with 
plenty of coarse sand, is the best for them. In potting, observe to elevate the ball 
a little in the centre of the pot, as water, in a stagnant state, about the collar of the 
plant is very injurious. For decorative purposes, neat plants, in 24 or 16-sized pots, 
are the most serviceable ; and cuttings rooted in the spring, and grown gently on 
through the summer, make plants of this description without much trouble. These 
plants if grown through a second season make magnificent specimens, if they are 
shortened in a little at the time of starting them, and are kept in a forcing-house 
until they get well established. B. incarnata, with its delicate pink flowers, on a 
bush three or four feet in diameter, is scarcely less beautiful than B. coccinea ; 
B. manicata is singular and deserving of cultivation, as are also B. fuchsioides, 
alba-coccinea, odorata, and hydrocotilifolia. B. atrosanguinea and zebrina are 
also remarkable for their foliage. The Begonias require a temperature of from 50° 
to 65° to bloom them well, but once open, the flowers will stand for a long time in a 
temperature of 45° without injury. 
Euphorbia jacquiniflora. — Who is there who does not admire this splendid 
plant ? With its wreath-like branches of bright orange- scarlet flowers it is certainly 
one of the finest plants in cultivation, and claims a front place in every conservatory. 
It is readily propagated by cuttings of the ripened wood, in a brisk bottom-heat, and 
the cuttings, if stopped occasionally and kept growing in a forcing-house through the 
summer, make beautiful plants for blooming the first season. To ensure their 
blooming it is necessary that they be ripened off in the autumn, and for that purpose 
they should be removed into the greenhouse about the middle of August. They 
will bloom during the winter in a temperature of from 50° to 60°, and after they get 
shabby they may be set aside, and kept almost without water, until it is time to start 
them the following season. In starting, prune them in to within two or three buds 
of the old wood, and after giving the soil a good soaking of water, lay the pots on 
their sides in a brisk heat, until the shoots are an inch or so long, as this, by 
equalising the distribution of the sap, will cause many buds to break which otherwise 
might remain dormant. When the shoots are about an inch long reduce the balls 
and re-pot into smaller pots, using the same compost as for the Begonias, and 
plunge the pots in a brisk growing-heat of 65° to 75°. In such a situation they 
will soon make progress, and by proper attention will form plants five or six feet 
high, and proportionately bushy, by the autumn. Euphorbia splendens also makes a 
fine plant for spring forcing, but if required very early should be forced to make an 
early growth in the preceding season. 
Poinsettia pulcherrima. —This, with its magnificent scarlet bractaea, is a splendid 
