376 



THE BEGONIA 



the siiiKition most proper for them, it will 

 liardly bo necessary to say, that a mean ar- 

 tificial iieat of sixty degrees is sutlicient for 

 them ; of course, if they are kept in a stove, 

 thev will during spring and summer be sub- 

 milted to a much liigher degree of heat 

 than l\ns, derived directly from the rays of 

 the sun. 



Another advantage to be derived from 

 the practice of grouping them together in 

 one part of the house, consists in the facili- 

 ty afforded for shading the plants, or other- 

 Avise. During the winter portion of the 

 year, the whole of the species, except the 

 tuberous-rooted ones, which will be stored 

 by till the spring, are benefited by having 

 as much light and sun as they can have at 

 that season of the year, which, of course, 

 is not much, and of which they would par- 

 tially be deprived if associated among other 

 plants, such as the majority of stove-plants, 

 usually are. In the summer, on the other 

 hand, they are benefitted by shade afforded 

 in a moderate degree ; and as shading is 

 not required by the majority of a mixed col- 

 lection, the arrangement of these in a sepa- 

 rate group affords the readiest means of 

 giving them the particular degree of shading 

 which they require. 



The treatment of the more hardy kinds, 

 which may bo grown in a warm green- 

 house, is similar in all the leading points to 

 that already noticed for the others. Of 

 course, being in a lower temperature, they 

 will not either bear or require so much 

 moisture as they would do under other cir- 

 cumstances. Especially during the winter 

 season, when the plants will be in an inac- 

 tive state, must this supply be limited, or 

 the plants will be liable to rot off. 



The green-house will |^ found exceed- 

 ingly appropriate for the whole of these 

 plants during the summer season, and the 

 space thus gained for the circulation of air, 

 and the more full admission of light, from 

 their being less crowded by other plants, 

 will be productive of great benefit in caus- 

 ing a more full and perfect maturation of 

 of the parts which have been formed during 

 the spring and early months of summer. 

 And those, too, which bloom at that period 

 of the year, will also receive a very great 

 amount of br>aefit. botli in the coloring and 



preservation of their flowers ; the colors 

 will be produced much deeper and more 

 brilliant, and the blossoms will be retained 

 for a much greater length of time. When 

 in this situation, the daily useof the syringe 

 to supply the plants with moisture should 

 be resorted to, for they are plants which 

 especially delight in atmospheric humidity. 

 Early in the afternoon, and also in the 

 morning, the floors, pathway, stages, and 

 even the plants themselves should be well 

 damped, for the purpose of raising a ge- 

 nial humidity in the house; and this should 

 especially be done in clear bright days, for 

 the purpose of counteracting the parching 

 effects of the sun, which without this pre- 

 caution would speedily diss.ipate a great 

 portion of the moisture both of the atmo- 

 sphere and of the plant?--. 



Some of the species produce seed, and 

 from these young plants may be raised 

 with facility by the following process : — 

 the seeds should be sown as soon as they 

 become ripe ; they may be scattered thinly 

 over the surface of a pot of w^ell-drained 

 peat earth, the top of which should have 

 been left in rather a rough and uneven 

 state ; over this the seeds may be loosely 

 scattered, but not covered with soil ; the 

 pots should, however, be covered with a 

 closely-fitting bell-glass to prevent the eva- 

 poration of moisture, and may then be set 

 upon a shelf near the glass in the hot- 

 house. Previously to sowing the seeds, the 

 soil should have been well damped. When 

 the seedlings appear, a little air must be 

 given by occasionally tilting up the bell- 

 glass ; and as soon as they are large 

 enough to handle, they may be transplant- 

 ed several together in the same pot of soil, 

 and afterwards, when a little more advanced, 

 potted singly into small pots, and treated as 

 the established plants. 



Besides this method of propagation, as 

 well as that of cuttings and division of the 

 plant, there is also another plan which may 

 be adopted with some of the species. Seve- 

 ral of the kinds produce small bulbs in the 

 axils of the principal stem leaves, and when 

 these become matured, which is easily as- 

 certained by their separating readily from 

 the stem, they may be treated just in the 

 manner of seeds, and will produce a supply 



