388 
THE BEGONIA. 
when kept in a group by themselves : and as 
regards treatment, especially with respect to 
moisture, this arrangement is much to be pre- 
ferred ; for in the growing season, when they 
require a liberal supply, it can be afforded, and 
they can be readily sprinkled with the syringe 
two or three times a day, which is very bene- 
ficial ; and in the winter season, or when they 
are at rest, the syringing may be discontinued, 
and the soil more easily prevented from get- 
ting more moisture than would be desirable. 
These remarks apply chiefly to the plants 
during the periods of active growth and rest, 
for when in flower, it is of course quite pro- 
per to remove them to any particular position 
Begonia coccinp.a. 
where the beautiful effect of their blossoms may 
be required, and if several ma/ happen to be at 
one time in bloom, it may be preferred to distri- 
bute them throughout the structure, rather 
than to locate them in one particular spot. 
Having said thus much with respect to the 
situation most proper for them, it will hardly 
be necessary to say, that a mean artificial 
heat of sixty degrees is sufficient for them ; 
of course, if they are kept in a stove, they 
will during spring and ■ summer be sub- 
mitted to a much higher degree of heat than 
this, derived directly from the rays of the sun. 
Another advantage to be derived from the 
practice of grouping them together in one part 
of the house, consists in the facility afforded 
for shading the plants, or otherwise. During 
the winter portion of the year, the whole of 
the species, except the tuberous-rooted ones, 
which will be stored by till the spring, are 
benefited by having as much light and sun as 
they can have at that season of the year, which, 
of course, is not much, and of which they 
would partially be deprived if associated 
among other plants, such as the majority of 
stove-plants usually are. In the summer, on the 
other hand, they are benefited by shade afforded 
in a moderate degree ; and as shading is not 
required by the majority of a mixed collection, 
the arrangement of these in a separate group af- 
fords the readiest means of giving them the par- 
ticular degree of shading which they require. 
The treatment of the more hardy kinds 
which may be grown in a warm green-house, 
is similar in all the leading points to that 
already noticed for the others. Of course, 
being in a lower temperature, they will not 
either bear or require so much moisture as 
they would do under other circumstances. 
Especially during the winter season, when the 
plants will be in an inactive state, must this 
supply be limited, or the plants will be liable 
to rot off. 
The green-house will be found exceed- 
ingly appropriate for the whole of these plants 
during the summer season, and the space thus 
gained for the circulation of air, and the more 
full admission of light, from their being less 
crowded by other plants, will be productive 
of great benefit in causing a more full and 
perfect maturation of the parts which have 
been formed during the spring and early 
months of summer. And those, too, which 
bloom at that period of the year, will also re- 
ceive a very great amount of benefit, both in 
the colouring and preservation of their flowers; 
the colours will be produced much deeper and 
more brilliant, and the blossoms will be re- 
tained for a much greater length of time. 
When in this situation, the daily use of the 
syringe to supply the plants with moisture 
should be resorted to, for they are plants 
which especially delight in atmospheric hu- 
midity. Early in the afternoon, and also in the 
morning, the floors, pathway, stages, and even 
the plants themselves should be well damped, 
for the purpose of raising a genial humidity 
in the house ; and this should especially be 
done in clear bright days, for the purpose of 
counteracting the parching effects of the sun, 
which without this precaution would speedily 
dissipate a great portion of the moisture both 
of the atmosphere and of the plants. 
Some of the species produce seed, and from 
these young plants may be raised with facility 
by the following process : — the seeds should 
be sown as soon as they become ripe ; they 
may be scattered thinly over the surface of a 
pot of well-drained peat earth, the top of 
