BEET 



BEGONIA 



409 



ing is practised, the drills may be as close as 1 foot 

 apart, in which case the young beets are thinned to 6 

 inches apart in the row. But in ordinary gardening, it 

 will be found most convenient to run the rows 2 to 3 

 feet apart, allowing cultivation with the horse. The 

 plants in such rows can be left 4 inches apart at thin- 

 ning time. The thinning is done when the young 

 plants are large enough to be pulled for ''greens," for 

 which purpose they find a ready market. Beets are also 

 crown in quantities as a fall crop, and are stored for 

 winter use. When this is to be done, the seed is sown 

 in June, and the plantation is managed in all respects 

 like the spring sowing. When the young roots are 

 ready for the early market, they are pulled and tied 

 in bunches of five or six. The fall crop is pulled soon 

 after the first frost, the tops are removed, and the 

 roots stored in pits or root cellars. 



Marketing. 



Greenhouse beets and early beets are usually bunched 

 for market, three to six together, according to size. They 

 are bunched together tightly with a string about the 

 tops. All beets should be thoroughly washed before 

 marketing. Considerable quantities of late beets and 

 field-grown stock are sold in bulk, like potatoes. In 

 ! his case the tops are cut off. Late-grown beets may be 

 stored over winter in the same manner as potatoes. 

 They are often buried in the fields in pits, but may be 

 kept in a good cellar or storage house. The yield of 

 mature beets varies from 200 to 500 bushels to an acre, 

 300 being an average yield. 



Insects and diseases. 



There are many species of insects that feed upon 

 beets, but flea beetles are about the only ones of im- 

 portance. These may be poisoned by spraying with 

 paris green or arsenate of lead, and they are driven 

 away in many cases by the use of bordeaux mixture 

 which is also the most important preventive of leaf- 

 spot. This leaf-spot is perhaps the worst disease which 

 attacks beets, but this is more common upon the sugar- 

 beets in the field than upon the more common varieties. 

 The potato scab, very common on potatoes, is found 

 also on beets, and as this disease lives in the soil from 

 year to year, it is a bad practice to grow beets after a 

 crop of potatoes. p. A. WAUGH. 



BEGONIA (named after Michel Begon, superin- 

 tendent at St. Domingo, 1638-1710, a French pro- 

 moter of botany). Begoniacese. BEGONIA. ELEPHANT'S 

 KAH. BEEFSTEAK GERANIUM. A various group, rang- 

 ing from hothouse to conservatory and window-garden 

 subjects, many of them grown primarily for foliage, 

 others for the showy bloom; treated mostly as single 

 pot^specimens, but some kinds used for bedding. 



More or less sappy or succulent herbs or undershrubs, 

 having the st. in some cases reduced to a thick rhizome, 

 in others to 11 distinct .small tuber, while a few others 

 ixjssess a semi-tuber in which there are a number of 

 closely set scales or suppressed Ivs., resembling bulbs: 

 Ivs. variable, alternate, more or less unequal-sided, 

 entire, or lobed, or toothed, ovate-acuminate, orbicular 

 or peltate: fls. monoecious (bisexual variations are 

 known: Dummer, Annals Bot. xxvi. 1123), asym- 

 metrical, usually in axillary cymes, the males usually 

 with 4 parts, of which 2 arc mostly small, the 

 females with 5 (run ly 2), pink, white, rose, scarlet, yel- 

 low, and all shades of these, being represented; stamens 

 numerous: filaments free or united at the base; styles 

 2 or 4, free, sometimes connate; .stigmas branched or 

 twisted like a corkscrew; ovary inferior: fr. usually a 1- 

 3-winged caps., which is often colored; seed numerous, 

 very minute. The genus Begonia, with 400-500 

 species in warm countries around the globe, gives the 

 name and definition to the Bcgoniacc:i>. Only three 

 other genera are recognized: Hillebrandia, witli 1 spe- 



cies in Hawaii; Symbegonia, 1 little-known species in 

 New Guinea; Begoniella, 3 species in Colombia. The 

 begonias are exceedingly variable, the genus running 

 into about 60 well-marked sections, but the inter- 

 gradations are so many and the essential floral charac- 

 ters so constant that it is impracticable to break up 

 the great group into separate genera. 



The begonia is one of the great groups of cultivated 

 ornamental plants. Very many species have been intro- 

 duced, and there are numberless hybrids and variations. 

 The most popular single begonia is now probably the 

 wonderfully floriferous Gloire de Lorraine (Fig. 505). 

 The foliage begonias are of many original kinds, and 

 the numerous hybrids and variations have given great 

 choice to the cultivator. B. Rex is the chief basis of 

 the foliage races. Many cultivators are unaware of the 

 possibilities of the Rex derivatives, because they grow 

 them in pots (for commerce) on benches, whereas the 

 singular and characteristic results are secured by grow- 

 ing them in the earth against greenhouse walls or in 

 rock pockets below the benches (Plate XIV). 



Because of the great numbers of interesting forms, 

 begonias have appealed strongly to collectors and 

 fanciers. In recent years, however, the collections have 

 been passing out in the large private places; and most 

 dealers now carry only a few standard kinds (mostly 

 modified cultivated forms), in addition to the florists' 

 bedding and garden sorts and a general mixed stock of 

 tuberous kinds. The following botanical account, there- 

 fore, does not accurately represent the present state of 

 the begonia trade. It is to be regretted that the fan- 

 ciers' collections are not kept; and it is partly in the 

 hope that the desire for collections will return that 

 this rather full treatment is given of the main species 

 and stem-groups now in cultivation. 



The foliage begonias of the Rex type are subject to 

 an insidious disorder, affecting the leaves and eventually 

 the entire plant. The remedy seems to be to discard 

 all suspected stock and to propagate from wholly 

 healthy plants, or to grow them out of it by planting 

 them in a shaded airy greenhouse bench for a summer 

 and potting again in fall. 



The interest in begonias centers in their use as orna- 

 mental subjects. It is said that the stalks of some of 

 the species are used as the leaf-stalks of rhubarb are 

 used. The rhizomes of many species, particularly 

 those from South America, are bitter and astringent 

 and are employed locally for certain fevers and for 

 syphilis. Some species contain purgative principles. 

 The sour sap of one of the Asiatic species is said to be 

 used for the cleaning of weapons. 



The first begonia was introduced into England in 

 1777, B. nitida. Since then, about 200 have proved of 

 value to the horticulturist. Few other plants have been 

 improved or varied so rapidly, there being thousands 

 of variations now in cultivation, displaying the most 

 gorgeous colors in their flowers and beautiful color- 

 ing in their leaves. The development of the modern 

 race of hybrid tuberous begonias followed the intro- 

 duction of B. Veitchii, B. ross-flora, B. Davisii, B. bolivi- 

 ensis, B. Pearcei and others after 1860. The geograph- 

 ical distribution of begonias is very disjunctive and 

 localized. They are indigenous to Mexico, Central and 

 South America, Asia, and South Africa. They seem to 

 have no genetic relationship with other plants now 

 living. For literature, see Dryander, The Genus Be- 

 gonia, Trans, of the Linn. Soc., Vol. I, 1791; Klotzsch, 

 Begoniaceen-Gattungen und Arten, 12 plates, 1855 

 (Abh. Ak. Berlin); DeCandolle's Prodromus, 15, 1, 

 1864; and floras of regions in which begonias are native. 



L. H. B. 

 General culture and propagation. 



For horticultural purposes, the begonias may be 

 arranged in four groups: The socotrana or semi-tuber- 

 ous set; the tuberous-rooted; the foliage kinds, mostly 



