1877 . ] 
BEGONIA DAVISII. 
85 
planted out in tlie following March, it will yield the heaviest return of any crop, 
whether in field or garden ; whereas the early garden Cabbages will do well with 
six plants to every nine square feet, and occupy the ground for only half the 
summer. Small salad, such as Mustard and Cress, may be grown in any shady 
nook, and be harvested half-a-dozen times in a summer. It is quite pitiful to 
see the square miles of moor and fell, bearing only besom-timber, that would 
bear trees, and might be otherwise improved to profit. There is no want of space, 
but the times and seasons pass over these barren wastes, and leave no blessing behind. 
Here and there we see some of our great landed proprietors draining a lake or 
reclaiming a moss to grow grain and roots, or planting a hill-side or the root of 
some mountain for the sake of the shelter, as well as for the trees, which always 
command a ready sale. The enormous amount of railway-sleepers wanted 
might waken those who have time and space to lay the foundations of their 
fortune in the Bank of Earth.— Alex. Foesyth, Salford. 
BEGONIA DAVISII. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
BEAUTIFUL dwarf-growing species of Begonia.^ recently introduced by 
Messrs. Veitch and Sons, of Chelsea, from whose plants our illustration 
was prepared. It was discovered by Mr. Davis, after whom it is named, 
near Chupe, in Peru, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, and is, therefore, 
probably nearly or quite as hardy as B. Veitcliii.^ which comes from the same 
country. Its dwarf habit and brilliant colour will render it a valuable plant for 
the hybridiser, and we may expect to see its blood shortly imported into the race 
of tuberous-rooted Begonias, which have recently become so valuable as decora¬ 
tive objects, both for the greenhouse and the open borders during summer. The 
present plant was certificated at South Kensington, when exhibited there in 
August last. 
As will be seen from our figure. Begonia Davisii is a stemless plant, bearing 
several radical, spreading, oblique and broadly ovate-cordate leaves, glossy above, 
with a few hairs, and pallid ribs, deep purplish-red beneath, the margins being 
indistinctly lobulate and crenulate. The flowers, which are of a rich clear 
crimson-scarlet, are produced, three together, at the top of simple bright red, 
glabrous scapes, and enclosed by a pair of bluntly, oblong, concave ciliated crimson 
bracts, the centre flower being male, and the two lateral ones female. The male 
flower is somewhat the largest, and measures upwards of two inches across the 
face. In the centre there is in the males a tuft of eight or ton small yellow 
stamens, and in the females three styles with twisted horseshoe-shaped yellow 
stigmas. The roots are tuberous. 
As a dwarf neat-habited high-coloured species of Begonia.^ this plant is one 
which will be welcomed in gardens where variety in the elements of floral decora¬ 
tion is esteemed as it ought to be ; and along with the hybrids of B. holioiensis 
and allied kinds, it will, when well grown, be no unworthy summer ornament of 
