re'jiiiaiy 0, 187G. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



89 



and efficient. Water ehould be very spaiingiy npplied until 

 the plants have made some growtb, but when they are grow- 

 ing vigorously a more copious eupply is neceesary. Aa they 

 increase in size they should be shifted into larger pots, and 

 the ehilting repeated till the flower buds make their appear- 

 ance. The temperature in which the plants are started should 

 he from 50" to 55°, as the season advances this may be slightly 

 raised. Under the conditions abo'ie stated fine specimen 



plants in 8 and even 12 inch pots may be obtained from good 

 tubers. 



As soon as the Cowering is over — which in healthy well- 

 grown specimens lasts from two to three months — the tubers 

 must not be allov/ed to dry too rapidly, or they will shrivel 

 and weaken. They should be allowed to dry-off very gradually 

 and afterwards be preserved iu a cool but dry place; of course, 

 free from frost. 



Fis- 24.— BeijUMA STELLA. 



Garden CoLiUEJi — These Btgoniaa have been proved to be 

 grand additions to the summer llower border. To insure their 

 flowering freely and producing flowers of good proportions, 

 the border should have a south aspect, and particular attention 

 should be given to the drainage, for these Begonias are sub- 

 alpine plants, the parents of the best of the hybrid varieties, as 

 Begonia Veitchii and B. boliviensis, having their native homo 

 on the Andes of South America at considerable elevations. 

 They will be found to succeed beet if the tubers are potted as 

 described above, early in spring, in a temperature of about 50 , 

 or for want of this in a cold frame, and, when the weather is 

 sufficiently mild and the plants hnrdened-off, to plant them 

 out where they are intended to flower. In sheltered situations, 

 and in the south and west of England, a covering with fibre 

 2 or o inches thick will be a sufficient protection through 

 ordinary winters ; but generally it will be safest to treat the 



tubers after flowering in the same manner as those grown in 

 pots, by taking them up and drying them off gradually. 



The following, introduced and raised by Messrs. Veitch and 

 Sons, are undoubted acquisitions : — 



Begonia Vciichii. — Flowers from i\ to 3 inches in diameter, 

 vivid vermilion. Figured in the "Botanical Magazine" for 

 18G7, where Dr. Hooker says of it^" Of all the species of 

 Begonias known, this is, I think, the finest. With the habit of 

 Saxifraga ciliata, it has immense flowers of a vivid vermilion 

 cinnabar red that no colourist can reproduce. It adds the 

 novel feature of being hardy in certain parts of England at 

 any rate, if not all." 



li. intermedia. — A cross between B. Veitchii and B. boli- 

 viensi?. A plant of vigorous habit and fine foliage. Flowers 

 cinnabar red, deeper than B. Veitchii. 



B. Vcsuiius (Sgnied lastweik). — A very prof use bloomer and 



