374 



THE BEGONIA. 



lumps ol porous iiKiierial, such as oliar- 

 coal, free-stone, or broken hriclco ; the plants 

 too iiiusi be set where they will command 

 the inlliience of abuntiance of light, every 

 rav that can be afTorded them — during the 

 earlier stages of their progress ; otherwise, 

 the abundance of food taken up by the roots 

 will not be properly elaborated, and its pur- 

 pose will be defeated. Such potting as this 

 must not be done, except in the spring and 



Begonia yarcifulia. 



early summer, for the saniiner-flowering 

 species, and early in the autumn for those 

 that produce their bloom in winter and 

 spring: it is the means to be resorted to, to 

 produce the growth that is to afford abun- 

 dance of flower ; and, consequently, as the 

 summer-blooming ones will not have com- 

 menced growth, and the winter-bloomers 

 will be just arriving near maturity, neither 

 class will properly require such potting in 

 the depth of winter. In the case of plants 

 that may be duplicates, and whose season 

 of growth may have been altered for the pur- 

 pose of securing a succession of bloom, repot- 

 ting must of course be done at a period 

 suitable for inducing bloom at the time re- 

 quired. If, with this in view, it becomes 

 necessary to p')t in the winter, of course a 

 smaller pot will suffice than might be em- 



ployed at a season more favorable to 

 growth. 



In regard to soil, the Begonias delight in 

 that in which vegetable soil abounds, al- 

 though, when vigor and maturity of growth 

 are desired, something more substantial 

 must be added. Nothing can suit the ma- 

 jority of them better than a mixture of the 

 turfy part of sandy loam and well-reduced 

 leaf-mould, in about equal proportions, or 

 with a slight preponderance of loam, suffi- 

 cient drift, or river-sand, being added to 

 cause the whole to be perfectly permeable to 

 moisture. With a mixture such as this, and 

 a good portion of drainage, in the shape of 

 broken potsherds, or small lumps of char- 

 coal, in the bottom of the pots, and some 

 larger pieces used intermixed among the 

 soil, all that need be attempted will have 

 been done, so far as the soil is concerned. 



The herbaceous species, including also 

 under this head those with short stems an 

 inch or two long, having leaves at their ex- 

 tremity, may be multiplied by division of 

 the plant, and by seeds. Sometimes these 

 short branches will issue from the lower 

 part of the parent plant, and spring up 

 through the soil, and become furnished 

 with roots ; in which case, the divided por- 

 tions will be plants at once, and in a very 

 little time will have become well-estab- 

 lished, if ordinary care is afforded them 

 after their removal. Sometimes however, 

 such portions may be detached without 

 having roots already formed; and in this 

 case they must be treated as cuttings. When 

 they have a portion of roots when first de- 

 tached, they should be carefully potted in 

 small pots — as small as may suit their size, 

 and should then be removed to a warm and 

 moderately close situation, until they are 

 perceived to have commenced growing, 

 when, of course, they may be regarded as 

 being established. The same remarks, as 

 regards soil and potting, apply to them, as 

 to the sub-shrubby ones, excepting that, in 

 some cases, the herbaceous ones, from the size 

 of their leaves, and the general vigor of 

 their growth, will require pots a trifle larger 

 than the others. 



The tuberous rooted species require pre- 

 ciselv the treatment of tuberous and bul- 



