On visiting the greenhouses of R. J. Halliday, Baltimore, the other day, I found there a very interesting collection of palms, ferns and leaf-plants. Amongthe latter were two very handsome begonias. One named the Fire King is a leaf-plant, though the flowers are quite pretty being a rose-pink in color. The stems of this plant when young, are of a brilliant fire-red, and covered with a growth of fine hairs which add to the curious effect. Over the young leaves of a pale green brown deepening in the centre to brown, there seems to shimmer a glow resembling flame, while the whole leaf, when just opening, is of striking fire-red. When the plant is new to the beholder, the effect is almost startling. The stems are long in proportion to the leaf and the outlines very graceful.

The second one has large pale green leaves, shaded and tinted with brown, the nerves or veins being of a bright green. A rich velvety sheen covers the leaves, and gives to the plant a distinguished and very elegant appearance. The colors seem to change with the light, as if the leaves were in motion. As the plant can be cultivated to a considerable height, and is covered closely with the leaves, it makes a valuable ornament to the parlor or conservatory. The flowers are of a light pink and grow in pretty clusters over it. The name is Begonia Sogoensis. I saw, also, at this establishment, the Paulinia thalictrifolia in bloom. The leaves are divided like the Maidenhair fern, but are small. The flowers are white, and in shape like a forget-me-not, but much larger, and grow in pretty clusters on rather a short stem. They are fragrant, and when plucked with a leaf or two adhering make a fairy-like bouquet.

During the past summer, while cultivating several varieties of begonias, I found they flowered beautifully on being treated twice a week with a weak solution of liquid manure. The tuberous rooted varieties were loaded with flowers, and when these were sometimes broken off for bouquets, new shoots appeared with marvellous rapidity. The young plants increased speedily in size, and showed that they were in proper course of cultivation, by their luxuriance in blossom and leaf. They were watered as freely as a Calla lily; often twice a day if the heat was excessive. Partly-spent cow-manure was added to the earth in which they grew. Baltimore, Md.