94 THE TUBEROUS BEGONIA. 



netting, or some kind of perforated material over the ventilators ; or the house, 

 if a roomy one, and the weather is not too hot, may be kept closed for two or 

 three days. Some have even recommended enclosing the blooms (which can 

 be stripped of their petals without injury) in little bags of muslin or oiled 

 silk, but we have never found it necessary to be so particular as this, as 

 thorough impregnation at the right time seldom fails. 



If the "cross" has "taken" properly, the fact will be made known by the 

 falling of the petals within forty-eight hours at the farthest -usually within 

 twenty-four hours -from the time the operation was performed. When the 

 pods are properly set and are swelling up, they should be kept perfectly dry, 

 freely subjected to the influence of light and air, and a fair amount of sun 

 acting upon them will also be found beneficial. When they turn brown, but 

 before they burst, gather and lay them on pieces of clean paper in some sunny, 

 protected place, and when thoroughly ripe, shake out the seed and place it in 

 strong paper pockets. 



SELECTING THE FLOWERS FOR CROSSING. 



THE method of fertilisation having now, we trust,, been made pretty clear, 

 let us proceed to consider the rules that govern t!ie important point of selection. 

 In the first place it may be taken as an axiom, that if an improvement in the 

 quality of the flowers is desired, this can only be brought about by cross- 

 fertilisation (breeding). Inoculating the female blooms of a plant with pollen 

 from its own male blooms, causes a stricter adherence to the characteristics 

 of the parent, but it is very seldom that any real improvement is effected 

 by this course of procedure. Indeed, it may be fairly said that in this respect 

 plants resemble animals, for what is known as inbreeding, especially when 

 this is continued for several generations, is in both undoubtedly injurious to 

 the qualities of the race or " strain " ; whereas the constant inter-crossing of 

 individuals differing widely in one or more points from each other, or, in 

 other words, the repeated introduction of fresh "blood," is almost always 

 productive of a class possessing remarkable vigour, and superior in many 

 points to the parent stock. Careful selection has, of course, a great deal to 

 do with success. 



Reducing this to practice, it will be found that the inter-crossing of plants 

 or blooms possessing widely different qualities (though each must have really 

 good points), will be unfailingly productive of great improvements if per- 

 severed in. Begonias, especially under the influence of hybridisation, are 

 exceedingly "sportive" subjects, and among a goodly number of seedlings 

 from a judicious "cross," there can scarcely fail to occur one or more breaks 

 into a class or type superior to either of the parent plants. And the further 

 removed from what may be termed "related" the parents are, the finer will 

 the result prove to be, in all probability. It therefore follows that a fresh 

 infusion of "blood," at intervals, or the importation of plants or seed from 



