30 
THE MANUAL OF GARDENING. 
manufacturers — a class of floral amateurs unknown in the United 
States. It is doubtful whether the Auricula will support the 
winter in the latitude of Philadelphia, even in sheltered situa- 
tions; and the safer plan will be to confine its culture to pots, 
which may be removed, on the approach of severe weather, to a 
place of safety. 
Bignonia. — See page 73. 
Begonia Discolor serves to create a variety, the foliage being 
strangely coloured. The leaves are green on the surface when 
fully expanded, but when young, and always on the backs and 
along the veins, they are bright red ; the flowers which appear 
in July, are pink with a yellow tuft in the centre; they hang in 
bunches very elegantly, and never fade, but drop off' when at 
maturity: water should be gradually withdrawn after blossoming. 
The plant is easily kept in a dormant state throughout the win- 
ter; indeed, after its flowering it will fall to pieces down to the 
surface, when the pot should be placed in a dry spot and kept 
carefully from frost and mice; the latter are very fond of the 
tubers. In February it will come up, when it should be repotted 
in a rich loamy soil. It must now be well watered; it should 
daily have a good supply, not from a flat or saucer, but freely 
applied to the surface of the soil. After flowering, small bulbs 
appear on the joints of the plant, but not where the flowers 
appeared : they grow to the size of peas of a pear shape: these 
as they fall should be lightly covered with the soil ; they will 
grow the next spring, and form. the future tubers; they do not 
blossom the first year, but should be potted out two or three in a 
pot, and when they die off, set them by as you did the old ones; 
they will become the blooming plants of the next season. 
Bletia Tankervilli produces spikes of showy flowers; but to 
have it in high perfection, requires strong heat. 
Brunsvigia Josepiiina, a fine bulb, from the Cape of Good 
Hope, yields conspicuous rose-coloured flowers in umbels. 
Cactus. — This tribe is in variety almost innumerable. It has 
been sub-divided by botanists into several genera ; many of them 
are desirable only as objects of curiosity ; for of all the vegetable 
creation, they are certainly most strange. Those which are 
cultivated lor the flowers, are principally ranged under the head 
of Cereus ; of which, grandijlorus, or night-blooming speciosus, 
speciosissimus , akermanni, truncatus, jenkinsonia, and russel- 
lianus, are the most showy. They all require strong heat to 
bloom in perfection, and rich light soil; if watered occasionally 
with liquid manure, it will promote their growth, and luxuriance 
of bloom. 
Mr. Poinsett, during his mission to Mexico, procured and ship- 
