8 THE TUBEROUS BEGONIA. 



double flowers remain in beauty longer than those of almost any other plant, 

 OrChids alone excepted. We have frequently noticed blooms on some plants 

 of double-flowering Begonias to last and remain in good condition on the 

 plant for at least three or four weeks, and in some cases for even a longer 

 time than this. The buds, particularly of the very large and fully double 

 varieties, open very slowly, expanding by often barely perceptible degrees 

 from day to day ; and when fully developed, they do not, as the single kinds 

 are rather apt to do, drop off unexpectedly, but remain upon the stalk until 

 petal by petal they wither away. 



The improvements that have been effected since their first introduction are 

 even more extraordinary in this section than in the case of the single 

 forms. We can distinctly remember some of the first double Begonias that 

 were raised. Certainly they were far from beautiful, and it can scarcely be 

 wondered that for a long time so little attention was paid to them. The 

 blooms were then about 1^ or barely 2 inches in diameter, mostly only semi- 

 double or little more, and consisting of a few narrow-pointed flimsy petals 

 of a dull red, or sickly pink colour, while the habit of the plant was still 

 worse, the growth being in some cases a yard long or thereabout, with 

 small and scanty foliage, and often crowned by no more than one or two 

 forlorn-looking blooms a spectacle of pity. Still, they were double, and bit 

 by bit have been improved in size, shape, colour, and in the number of 

 petals, as well as in habit and growth, until at the present time a well- 

 grown double Begonia, of a really good variety, is about as beautiful an object 

 as the most ardent horticulturist or amateur could desire to behold, or as 

 could be met with in the whole range of floral beauty. The very largest 

 double blooms are often of some shade of pink, frequently with a white 

 centre, though the largest blooms are generally of a soft bright red. The 

 double whites, if pure, are generally of only a moderate size, though many of 

 the blush and cream-coloured flowers are large, and some blooms among the 

 rich red and crimson shades are now of immense size, the largest being 

 found among the pseony-flowered section. Double yellows up to the present 

 time have been comparatively scarce, but fine new varieties are now making 

 their appearance in greater numbers. 



Among the double Begonias, we have now whites as snowy and pure in 

 colour, as double, and nearly as perfect in form as a Camellia (see p. 89), 

 an infinite number of shades of blush, rose, pink, orange, and many other 

 similar shades, as well as rich scarlet and crimson flowers ; and though in 

 these darker shades we cannot quite equal the brilliant and glowing tints 

 of some of the newest" and best single varieties, yet the attainment of this 

 'perfection of colouring is only a matter of time. Most of the yellow and- 

 orange- coloured doubles have a decided tendency to produce erect flowers, 

 much more so, we think, than those of any other shade. This peculiarity is 

 also distinctly noticeable in the single kinds. These and other late produc- 



