86 THE TUBEROUS BEGONIA. 



SEED SAYING AND HYBRIDISATION. 



WHEN" the principles of cultivation are thoroughly mastered, down to 

 the minutest details, and the conditions necessary to ensure success 



^? are rightly understood not before the ambitious and persevering 

 grower, be it of Begonias or any other subject, may enter the more 

 scientific and wider field of hybridisation; and supposing him to be pos- 

 sessed of the true florist's spirit, he will find the occupation of crossing 

 the different varieties, and raising seedlings from the resultant germs, a 

 most fascinating as well as an instructive and profitable amusement. But 

 until the secret of growing the plants to perfection, or nearly so, has been 

 learnt until, in fact, the alphabet of floriculture has been mastered, it is 

 useless to attempt the more ambitious task as useless and inconsequential 

 as it would be for a child to attempt to read before learning its letters, 

 or for a tyro to try to perform on an instrument before he has mastered 

 the notes and scales. 



This much may be safely and most positively stated, that no flower we 

 possess will so surely and certainly and, indeed, so quickly also repay the 

 hybridist for any amount of care, thought and trouble that may be bestowed 

 on it, as the Tuberous Begonia. The process of fertilisation and seed 

 saving is really, like many other things, by no means difficult or intricate 

 when you know how to do it And once the principles have been grasped, 

 nothing can .be more fascinating and pleasing than, season after season, to 

 watch the successional expanding of the results of the previous year's labours, 

 and note the gradual but certain steps towards perfection that are gained, 

 which in their turn become the starting point for fresh endeavours and 



THE PROPERTIES OF A SINGLE BEGONIA, 



BEFORE proceeding farther, it may be as well to state the points of good 

 Begonias, or those qualities which it is the constant aim of growers to produce 

 in the highest degree. 



Form is undoubtedly the most important. The circular form, with broad 

 overlapping petals, developed to the highest possible point, is^the standard of 

 perfection here, as in the case of the Zonal Pelargonium. The earliest 

 varieties had flowers composed of long narrow petals, forming what is termed 



