SHOW DAHLIAS OF 1850. 
When they are first potted it -will be necessary to water the plants with caution, but after they 
get into free growth, and are well rooted, a good soaldng ocasionally with weak Hquid manure, such 
as is produced by steeping a bushel of sheep's dung in a hogshead of soft water, to which a peck of soot and 
a quart of guano may be added, will be of considerable service. This, diluted with an equal quantity of 
clear water, will be found excellent for plants of all kinds, providing its use is guided by a practical 
eye, and too much is not given at one time. As a general rule, if the soil is good, hquid manui-e should 
never be used until the pots are tolerably well filled with roots, and under no cii'cumstances to a plant 
that is in delicate health. To expect to invigorate a sicklj' plant by giving it hquid manure, would 
be as wise as to expect to sober an intoxicated man by administering alcohohc drinks ; therefore 
recoUcct in plant cultivation, over-feeding is worse than under-feeding, for you may keep a plant 
ahve on sJiort commons, but once gorge the system, and a plethoric habit is induced, and all healthy 
action is at an end. We make these remarks thus plainly, not only as applicable to this tribe of 
plants, but to aU plants, and to all cultivation, therefore inexperienced persons wiU act wisely to make 
a note of it for theii- future guidance. All the plants belonging to this genus are very subject to the 
attacks of the red spider, so it will be well to look them over occasionally, and after syringing, if they 
are aftected, dust them over with sulphirr, and let it remain for a few days, when it may be washed 
off again. 
Bossieeas may be propagated by cuttings of the half-ripened wood, but, as they produce seeds very 
readily, it is seldom necessary to increase them by cuttings, The seed should be sown dii-ectly it is 
ripe in July, and the x^lants be nursed in small pots thi'ough the winter. 
In the second year, the established plants may be grown, after they have bloomed, in the open an-, 
taking the same precautions as before dhected as to insects, &c., and potting them when necessary. 
The following are distinct and pretty species : the engraving represents B. tenuicaulis : — 
B. cordifolia. — A dwarf-spreading shi-ub, with terete villous branches, and cordate-acute, nearly 
sessile leaves. The yellow flowers are marked at the base of the standard with a purple circle, and 
have a dark purple keel. New Holland. Introduced 1824. Flowers in April and May. 
B. disticha. — A dwarf shrub, rather erect in habit, with slender branches, and two-ranked ovate- 
obtuse leaves. The flowers are showy, on stalks longer than the leaves ; the standard is pale yellow, 
with a spot of deeper yellow at the base, and bordered with red — the wings stained with red at the 
base- Flowers from April to October. Swan River. Introduced 1838. A variety of tins is grown 
in gardens under the name of B. disticha plumosa. 
B. ensata. — A singular-looking upright species, with compressed linear leafless branches, toothed 
along the edges, and bearing the flowers from the notches. The flowers are yellow ; the base and 
back of the standard brownish orange purple ; the keel brownish purple. Flowers from May to July. 
New Holland. Introduced in 1825. 
B. linoj}hi/lla. — A small, slender, erect-growing shrub, with compressed branches, bearing linear 
leaves with the edges recurved. The flowers are yellow, the standard veined at the base with red, 
and the wings and keel marked with the same colour. Flowers fi-om May to September. New 
Holland. Introduced in 1803. 
B. rhomhifolia. — A small spreading shrub, with the branches terete, and the branchlets compressed, 
bearing rhomboidal-orbicular leaves, somewhat emarginate and mucronate. The flowers are yellow : 
the standard v\-ith a zouate red mark at the base, the base of the wings red, and the keel brownish 
purple. Flowers from April to Jmie. New Holland. Introduced in 1822. 
B. tenuicaulis. — A pretty twiggy shrub, with round, slender, straggling branches, and sub-sessile 
ovate-subacute mucronulate leaves. The flowers are yeUow ; the standard marked with a zonate 
blotch of red at the base, the wings streaked with i-ed, the keel dark i-ed. Flowers in April and 
May. Van Dieman's Land. Introduced in 1 836. 
SHOW DAHLIAS OF 1850. 
By Me. G. GLENJTT, F.H.S. 
KEYNES' Magnificent, a singularly novel colour, which has been variously described as a lakey 
purple, rosy pm-ple, pm'ple crimson, &c. A dark amethyst colour is the nearest. Fine outline, 
•■ good symmetarical face, neat regular cup and full size, quite the best of the new flowers of the year. (o 
Q, — Sir Frederick Bathurst, a flower after the style of the Standard of perfection, but larger, and every i) 
way better. Both this and the former have been flgured very much to their disadvantage. — Snoic- ,W,. 
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