ON BEGONIAS 25 



All of these came from South America, and their 

 offspring are not hardy. The earliest to arrive came, 

 we see, as recently as 1864, so that it is vain to ransack 

 libraries in search of ancient rites and ceremonies, or 

 old beliefs, or literary references, in connection with this 

 now popular flower. It is as modern as torpedo-boats, 

 and society newspapers, and electric tramcars. It can 

 hardly be said to have a history at all. Florists have 

 rushed it into being just as engineers have rushed iron- 

 clads and type-setting machines. 



The history of the development of a popular flower 

 is briefly as follows : 



(1) The introduction of certain species. 



(2) The crossing of these species, resulting in the 



production of hybrids. 



(3) The intercrossing of hybrids, resulting in the pro- 



duction of varieties. 



(4) The intercrossing of varieties ad infinitum. 

 Botanists generally keep records of the crossing of 



species, and often of the intercrossing of hybrids, but 

 when florists take to crossing varieties the herbarium 

 authorities give up in despair. In case the reader is 

 interested in the derivation of garden Begonias, I may 

 give a table showing a few of the early crosses : 



But this has no practical value, because none of the off- 

 spring, or the offspring of the crosses which immediately 



