184 VILLA GARDENING part ii 



are most useful for summer aud autumn decoration. Tliey fiU up 

 weU in the greenhouse or conservatory after the Pelargonimns and 

 other early-blooming plants are past theu- best ; the coloiu-s, too, 

 are bright, aud they flower continuously for several months. AVhen 

 the flowering is over they may be stowed away in a cool place. 

 We pack them away thickly on tlie border in the orchard-house ; 

 if they have been grown in pots, they are tiu-ned out, the balls 

 packed closely together to economise space, and a little fine sandy 

 soil scattered among them to fill in all the interstices between the 

 balls. In this condition they may remain till growth becomes 

 active again in spring, or, if early-blooming plants are required, 

 they may be potted in February and plunged in a gentle hotbed 

 in a pit or frame. They require to be kept just moist in Avinter, 

 and in a cool place — treating them as I have suggested — veiy little 

 water will suttice. If kept too diy, there is danger of their 

 perishing. They may be wintered beneath the stage in the pots in 

 which they grew, in a cool greenhouse, but should be shaken out 

 and repotted as soon as the eyes start. 



Propagation. — An easy way is to divide the tuberous kinds 

 in spring. "When the earth is shaken away it is an easy matter 

 to take off rooted cuttings with a sharp knife, as usually numbers 

 of eyes will start. These, if potted and placed in heat, will make 

 strong plants in a little time. They may be rooted from cuttings 

 of the shoots the same as other Begonias, but they do not take 

 kindly, aud are a long time rooting. The quickest way of getting 

 up a large stock is to sow seeds. Very often the seeds drop about 

 on pots anil borders during the summer, as they seed very freely, 

 and grow in large numbers. These may be lifted in patches and 

 planted in the frame to acquire strength. When the seeds have 

 been saved with care from good varieties, all the plants raised will be 

 good enough for decorative puiposes, and some, doubtless, will be 

 worth perpetuating. Good-sized specimens can be grown in one 

 season from seeds if they are sown early in March, and are helped 

 on in a close warm pit till I\Iidsmumer. The seeds are very 

 small, but any one who can get up Calceolarias or Gloxinias will 

 succeed with Begonias. The soil in the pots should be light and 

 sandy; if it is made firm and well moistened before the seeds 

 are sown, the merest sprinkling of sand will suffice for a cover- 

 ing. The longer seeds of so diminutive a nature remain in the 

 earth before they germinate, the more danger there is of their not 

 growing at all, or at least starting away so weakly as not to make 

 good plants in a reasonable time ; therefore they should be plunged 

 in a gentle hotbed at once. The seeds must be sown thinly, as a 

 tendency to debility is often engendered in the seed pot by thick 



