May 22.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
115 
season I thought I would change the tactics with my 
few Hybrid Rhododendrons. After yielding the benefit 
of their too limited supply of bloom, the plants were 
placed in an airy veranda, with glass in front, 
until the middle of May, and there they grew but 
little. They then stood a fortnight in an open ve¬ 
randa, just to shelter them, more from the sun than 
from cold. They were then moved into a place, out 
of doors, sheltered all round, but where the plants 
would receive the full benefit of the morning and 
evening sun, and the full force of its rays at mid-day, 
standing at no great distance from a south wall, and 
consequently receiving, even from that position, a certain 
amount of heat and light from radiation and reflection. 
The pots were not plunged, but they were top-dressed 
with cow dung; and over the cow dung and hanging 
over the sides of the pot, were placed green moss, alike 
to save the roots from being parched, and to prevent the 
necessity of frequent waterings, and thus, by causing the 
loss of moisture by evaporation to proceed chiefly through 
the stem and foliage, to render the juices more highly 
concentrated and organisable. Just before winter they 
were removed into a cold greenhouse, where no arti¬ 
ficial heat had been, or could be applied, and for more 
than two months, their appearance met my highest 
expectations. Some of the plants presented a most 
brilliant appearance. The flowers, in general, were very 
large, and beautifully dotted, and round shaped. I had 
no names with them, but they are most beautiful things. 
Many of the single blooms were 2% inches in diameter; 
a single truss contained upwards of twenty-four of these, 
arranged in the shape of a cone, the base being from 6^ 
to 7 inches in diameter, the cone, from the centre of the 
base to the apex, being the same in height, while a line, 
stretched from the base on one side across the apex to 
the base on the other, measured fully 15 inches. Some 
very dark spotted kinds were smaller in the flower, and 
fewer flowers in the truss. One plant of a beautiful 
light spotted variety, and the individual flowers not 
quite so large as those described, had sixty-four trusses, 
each in a cone shape, expanded at once. The height of 
plant, with pot, was six feet, and the diameter of the 
head four feet; size of pot fifteen inches by twelve. 
Now, as I said, I merely mention these tilings as facts. 
I build upon them no sure theory as to culture. I have 
only, myself, a very misty perception as to the true 
system of the pot culture of the arboreum, and hybrids; 
for I must tell you, that beautiful as most of my plants 
were, two of the finest plants, subjected to exactly the 
same mode of treatment, did not bloom at all, and had 
not done so the year previously either. I may mention 
that none of them had been shifted for at least three 
years, and in this respect, too, they had equal treatment; 
the compost being three parts peat, and one of fibry 
loam, with half a part of sand, charcoal, dried cow dung, 
and pieces of broken brick in equal proportions. Could 
we only flower these splendid things regularly, as easily 
as we bloom a hardy Rhododendron ponticum or hirsutum, 
they would be much more in demand for decorating our 
greenhouses and conservatories in early spring and 
summer. 
Considerable difference exists as to the intoxicating 
nature of the honey produced from the flowers of the 
Rhododendron, as the effect produced upon Xenophon’s 
10,000, in completely paralysing them, is ascribed by 
one to Rhododendron, and another to Arabia pontica. 
Be that as it may, the quantity of honey water secreted 
in the bottom of the flower of the arboreum, and some of 
I its hybrids, is very remarkable. For several days in 
! succession, by reversing the flower, I have obtained a 
small teaspoonful a day, which was very delicious to the 
taste ; but I thought had more of a tnuddifying than a 
clearing effect upon the brain. R. Fish. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC STOVE PLANTS. 
begonia culture —(Continued from page 88). 
Soil. —The first thing to attend to when beginning to 
cultivate any plant, is to procure and prepare the proper 
compost, in which experience has proved the particular 
family of plants will grow and flower best. Without 
this foundation be attended to, it is in vain to look for 
success, though every other adjunct be present. The 
compost suitable for this beautiful tribe is formed of 
turfy loam one part, sandy peat one part, and vegetable 
mould one part, or, if that cannot be had, use half a 
part of well-decomposed hotbed dung. These may either 
be mixed together, and turned over frequently for twelve 
months, or the different materials may be kept separate 
in the compost yard, be turned over for the same time, 
and mixed at the time of potting without sifting. If the 
loam and peat are not naturally sufficiently sandy, add 
as much as will give it a sandy character. This is a 
necessary article, and the silver sand is the best. If 
river, or pit sand of any other colour is used, it should 
be put through a fine sieve. Another needful point to 
attend to, is to have the compost in neither a wet nor 
dry state. A good test of this is to take up a handful, 
give it a gentle squeeze, and let it fall upon the potting 
bench. If it adheres together till it reaches the bench 
it is not too dry, and if it falls in pieces when it reaches 
the bench it is not too wet. 
The next thing to provide is the drainage. Clean 
broken potsherds is the most common, and the best 
material for the purpose. In old-established gardens 
this material is generally but too plentiful. For a new 
place a supply may be easily procured from the pottery 
yard, which might be ordered at tbe same time as the 
pots, for this especial purpose. 
Propagation. By Cuttings. —Whenever they can be 
had the best cuttings are the young shoots. Prepare, 
first, the cutting pots by placing a piece of potsherd 
something less than the bottom of the pot, place a few 
smaller pieces upon it, and upon them an inch of still 
smaller pieces, cover the whole with a thin stratum of 
moss, or the fibrous parts of the peat and loam. Then 
fill the pot to within an inch of the top with the compost 
previously passed through a sieve with a medium-sized 
mesh, then fill the remaining inch with pure silver sand, 
in a moderately dry state; give a gentle watering, to 
settle it firm, and it is ready for the cuttings. Take 
these off with a sharp knife, using the tops only, where 
the cuttings are plentiful; cut off' the lower leaves close 
to the stem, without wounding it; make them not more 
than two inches long, finishing by a clean horizontal 
cut just below a joint. Allow them to lie for two hours, 
exposed to dry the cut ends, and then insert them in 
the sand with a small stick, filling up the holes with a 
little dry sand; give another very slight watering, and 
let them stand for an hour to dry the leaves and the 
surface; then fit a bell-glass over them in such a way 
that the leaves of the cuttings may not touch the sides 
of the glass. If cuttings are scarce, the shoot may be 
cut half way between each leaf, and the leaf, with a bud 
at its base, may be formed into a cutting ; it will soon 
root, and the bud will grow and form a plant. Some 
kinds will grow from leaves without a bud at the base. 
We have done this successfully with the leaves of B. 
albo coccinea : the leaf-stalk formed a callosity, or swell¬ 
ing, at the base, and soon sent up, through the sand, 
several shoots. This is certainly a curious phenomenon. 
Where, it may be asked, did the buds for the shoots 
exist? Is the leaf-stalk full of them? It would seem 
so; for whether tbe leaf-stalk was left long, or cut off 
short, close to the leaf, tbe shoots were still produced. 
As soon as the cuttings are planted, whether made of 
the young tops of leaves with buds at their base, or with 
