THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



. 35 



A House of Tuberous Begonias Grown for Exhibition in England. 



to be nearly touching put into 2-inch 

 pots and grow on. The seedlings hardly 

 make bedding plants the first year, but 

 can be planted on a good piec.e of soil 

 and will make fine bulbs for the succeed 

 ing year. When the tops are killed, be 

 fore there is any danger of frost at 

 the root they should be lifted, dried in 

 a sunny place and then stored away in 

 some perfectly dry material (dry sand 

 will do), till it is time to start them 

 again in the spring. 



For the busy florist it is, however, ad 

 visable to leave the raising of seedlings 

 to the specialist who grows them by the 

 hundred thousand and be content with 

 buying the dormant roots each year. It 

 is cheaper, for the price is now lower 

 than you could anord to raise them for. 

 The double varieties are about twice as 

 costly as the single ones and are no more 

 effective as bedding plants. 



The middle of March is early enough 

 to start them, which is best done by 

 putting the tubers into flats of ^sandy 

 soil. Half leaf-mold and half sand is 

 a good mixture and two inches of it in 

 the flats is enough. Place the tubers 

 just below the surface and an inch apart. 

 \Ve place the flats above the hot-water 

 pipes and remove to the bench as soon 

 as the young leaves are showing. By 

 middle of April the leaves will be 

 crowding and every tuber will have made 

 a mass of roots. There is now only one 

 place for the plants and that is a mild 

 hotbed. No great heat is needed. We 

 pot into 4-inch and plunge in the bed. 

 By middle of May the glass can be re 

 moved except on cold nights. By this 

 method you will have fine, sturdy plants 

 inured to the weather and broad sun 



and they will receive no check when 

 bedded out. 



As a bedding plant they need lots of 

 water and for that reason the beds 

 should not be rounded up, but should 

 be flat so that the water will soak in 



Begonia Globe cU Lorraine. 



and not run off to the sides to nourish 

 the grass. They should not be watered 

 overhead as you would a bed of gera 

 niums, but the hose, running an unob 

 structed stream, should be guided among 

 the plants. I said unobstructed because 

 the different kinds of sprayers and at 

 tachments they have for spraying with 



a hose are an abomination to a gardener. 

 A good light soil into which has been 

 dug a liberal dressing of rotten cow 

 manure will suit the begonias. 



Plants grown in pots want a liberal 

 sized pot and plenty of air, and to do 

 them well they should be shaded only 

 from the brightest sun. Few insects 

 trouble the begonias. Bust is their 

 greatest trouble under glass and this is 

 caused by heavy shade and a damp, 

 stagnant atmosphere. 



Semi-tuberous Section. 



The popular Begonia Gloire de Lor 

 raine belongs to this class, Socotrana 

 being one of its parents. More care is 

 needed to grow them well. Gloire de 

 Lorraine is now a Christmas plant of the 

 first importance. The following cultural 

 directions are by Mr. J. A. Peterson, of 

 Cincinnati, Ohio, and there is no more 

 successful grower of this beautiful 

 plant: 



I now wish to call your attention to 

 another highly decorative plant which, 

 in my estimation, stands without a peer, 

 the incomparable Begonia Gloire de Lor 

 raine. This begonia, by far the most 

 useful and truly magnificent of all be 

 gonias, is a hybrid between Begonia 

 Socotrana and Begonia Dregei. and was 

 raised by that celebrated horticulturist, 

 M. Lemoine, of Nancy, France. 



&quot;To derive the best results this plant 

 should be propagated from leaf-cuttings 

 in October and November. Select only 

 good mature leaves ; take the leaves, in 

 cluding the stalk, and insert the latter 

 about one-half its length in the sand- 

 bed; press firmly; by all means do not 

 let the leaves rest flat on the sand, as 



