BEGONIA CALCEOLARIA 22 1 



fall, Begonias may be stored for their season of rest, allowing them to 

 remain in the same pots in which they have flowered. They can be 

 put away in a dry cellar, or on the ground covered up with cocoa-nut 

 fibre, in any shed or frame where the bulbs will remain dry and be 

 protected from frost. Both damp and cold are very injurious to them. 

 The temperature during their season of rest should be kept as near 

 50 as possible. Nothing more remains to be done till they start 

 naturally in the spring, and it is always best to leave them undisturbed 

 till they show signs of growth. 



BEGONIA, FIBROUS-ROOTED 



Half -hardy perennial 



FIBROUS-ROOTED BEGONIAS are exceedingly valuable either for bed- 

 ding in summer, or greenhouse decoration during the autumn and 

 winter. They produce a continual succession of flowers, rather small 

 in size, but very useful for bouquets. The directions for sowing and 

 after-treatment recommended for the Tuberous-rooted class will be 

 suitable also for the Fibrous-rooted varieties. 



CALCEOLARIA, HERBACEOUS 



Greenhouse biennial 



THE importance of subordinating garden practice to the teaching of 

 Nature is exemplified in an interesting^ manner in the history and 

 cultivation of this flower. It was for many years the custom for 

 cultivators to obtain their stocks of fine varieties of Calceolaria, 

 Cineraria, and other plants of similar habit, by means of cuttings 

 and divisions, rooted portions of mature ' stools ' being most in 

 favour because the most certain. But this tedious procedure made 

 an immensity of trouble, and consequently there were but few 

 successful growers. Nature certainly does not multiply these plants 

 by cuttings and divisions, but by scattering the seed broadcast, and 

 leaving every seed to find for itself a resting-place. Since the grow- 

 ing of such plants from seed has obtained the attention it deserves, 

 the number of cultivators has been augmented indefinitely, and so 

 also the varieties, which in truth are beyond numbering, while the 

 range of variation appears also to be without limit. Therefore, when 



