PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 43 



become both larger and sounder than those that are grown altogether under 

 glass ; "but tubers obtained by the planting- out system are undoubtedly 

 superior in every way to any pot-grown roots, starting more strongly and 

 forming finer specimens the following season. Begonias grown in outside beds 

 can always be distinguished by the large size of the roots emanating from the 

 tuber, as well as by a certain rough fleshy appearance, while pot roots are 

 more scaly-looking, darker in colour, and have seldom other than fine fibrous 

 roots. 



Should it be inconvenient to have the plants occupying space in the houses 

 before they come into bloom, they may, when potted into 5 or 6-inch sizes, 

 be placed on ashes in a cold pit or frame near the glass with the best results. 

 Here, with plenty of air after the first week or two and slight shade from hot 

 sun, they will make very dwarf and sturdy growth, and if brought indoors 

 when coming into bloom, they will produce an abundance of large and fine 

 flowers for some months. 



II. PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 



THIS mode of increase is only resorted to in the case of named varieties, or 

 those possessing some characteristic feature of sufficient importance to render 

 them worth preserving. Cuttings may be taken either in spring, when the 

 young shoots from the tuber are two or three inches long, or in the summer 

 and autumn, making use of the suckers or young growths which are in many 

 cases freely produced from the base of the main stem, or of the stubby side 

 shoots, taken off with a slight "heel," or even of the growing tops of the 

 shoots, these last, however, being very difficult to strike. Undoubtedly the 

 young growths taken off in spring like Dahlia cuttings and inserted in 

 well-drained pots of open sandy soil, in gentle heat, precisely as the cuttings of 

 Dahlias are treated, take root and make plants more easily than can be obtained 

 by any other method. But this treatment is very injurious to the old tubers, as 

 unlike Dahlias, they will not produce crop after crop of cuttings, and even 

 the second growth is much weaker, than the first, and if more than a few 

 cuttings are taken the vigour of the plant seems to be gone for the season. Any 

 young growths, however, produced from the base of the plants, which may often 

 be obtained from a scrap of root, or the short side-shoots that sometimes 

 spring from the lower part of the main stem, may be taken off when about 

 3 inches long, at any time during the summer or autumn, and the earlier 

 the better. 



Slightly dry the cuttings not in the sun, but in some warm, moist, shady 

 place, where they will not flag much, but so that the cut will heal and be on 

 the way to callus when inserted. Put them singly into very small thumb- 

 pots, or "thimbles," filled with a mixture of leaf-soil, coco-nut fibre, and a. 



