SOME FINE BEGONIAS. 



485 



past, Narcissus, Hyacinths and Tulips of 

 various colors should be coming- on ; the 

 bulbs having been planted to harmoniously 

 fill out the design formed by the crocuses, 

 care should be taken to use the latter as 

 well as the early sorts in order that the sea- 

 son may be lengthened until into June. 



At this time Iris, of the various sections, 

 English, German and Spanish, will be com- 

 ing into bloom, while the Japan Iris will 

 prolong the season with its gorgeous or- 

 chid-like flowers. The hardier and more 

 robust of the Lilies should be distributed 

 over the bed. 



To furnish bloom through the later sum- 

 mer months, gladioluses and perhaps a few 

 dahlias tubers might be used for the sake of 

 variety. Then to close up a long season of 

 bloom there should be set all over the bed, 

 about a foot and a-half apart, plants of the 

 Japan anemones, using both the red and 

 white varieties ; although they are not of a 

 bulbous nature their low habit of growth 

 through the summer renders them eminently 

 fitted for such use, as they shade the ground 

 somewhat, for the bulbs are not yet in the 

 way of their well doing ; late in the fall after 

 nearlv all other flowers are gone, the ane- 



mones and dahlias should be staked while 

 in bloom, then it will be an easy matter to 

 find the bulb when they should be taken up 

 in the fall, care being of course taken to dis- 

 turb the other bulbs as little as possible. 



Where it is not practicable to have such 

 a bed as above outlined, a judicious plant- 

 ing of many bulbs may be made in the 

 shubbery border, in any open spaces. If 

 even this is not allowable from the lack of 

 space, the earlier blooming kinds, including 

 tulips and hyacinths, can be used in the 

 same beds that summer-grown plants are 

 grown. The bulbs can be dug up as soon as 

 the flowers have gone, and planted in some 

 out-of-the-way place for ripening until plant- 

 ing time in the fall, after the first hard frost. 



In the formation of such a bed it is of 

 course necessary that the soil should be 

 deeply dug and well fertilized with old and 

 well rotted manure. Early in the winter, 

 after the ground is frozen, a good top dress- 

 ing of manure should be given the bed, 

 both for protection of the bulbs, hardy 

 though they are, and the continued fertiliz- 

 ing of the bed, as this manure is dug into 

 the surface the following spring. — Our 

 Country Home. 



SOME FINE BEGONIAS. 



Sir, — I enclose you a photograph* of a 

 group of Begonias in bloom, the size of the 

 plants, and the amount and size of the bloom 

 I think is seldom seen. 



My reason for sending you the photograph 

 is two-fold. First, I consider this variety 

 of begonia the Queen of the family, and the 

 readers of your journal will do well to secure 

 a plant of this variety, which requires very 

 little more care than a geranium, only it is 

 not so hardy. 



I wish to say here that I do not sell plants 

 but the variety can be secured from the 

 florists about here, and the next thing is to 

 know the name, since it goes under four or 

 five names, and I am not sure which is the 



♦ See page 474. 



right one, and this my second reason for 

 sending you the photo, thinking that some 

 one of your readers might be able to give it 

 its proper name. 



I secured the cuttings under the name of 

 Pictaviensis. I have been told that it came 

 from the United States under two names, as 

 follows, — Velutena and B. Cuprea. I see 

 a cut resembling this one in English journals 

 under the name of Haegeana. I also 

 noticed a cut in the Horticulturist in the 

 spring, by Webster Bros., Hamilton, re- 

 sembling this variety. The question is, are 

 they all one variety under diff"erent names, 

 or are the varieties all different. 



Niagara Falls South. R. Camerox. 



