110 FAMILIAR GARDEX FLOWERS. 



seed produced. It will be advisable to fertilise the female 

 flowers which are easily distinguished by the incipient 

 seed-pod at the base with pollen taken from male flowers 

 differing from them in colour. The seed-pods should be 

 pinched off before the seeds begin to scatter, and being 

 laid loosely in a clean box or glass dish, will soon ripen, 

 and none of the seed will be lost. The seed is as fine as 

 snuff, and in sowing it care should be taken not to cover 

 it with soil at all. Prepare some shallow boxes or pans, 

 with about three inches of light rich soil say turfy loam, 

 clean leaf-mould, and very old rotten hotbed manure in 

 equal parts. Having sprinkled some sand over the surface 

 and pressed it flat with a board, sprinkle the seed very 

 thinly, and then cover with a sheet of common glass. 

 The soil ought to be moist enough to need no watering 

 until the plants are up, but should water be needed, the 

 boxes or pans must be immersed nearly to the top edge 

 for an hour or two, and should then be removed. In a 

 warm greenhouse or pit the seed will soon germinate, 

 and the seed-~boxes will present the pleasing appearance of 

 hundreds of young begonias. 



The best time for sowing the seed is during February 

 and March, as the young plants have the whole summer 

 before them to complete their growth. Being carefully 

 pricked out into other pans or boxes, and as soon as large 

 enough sepai'ately potted, they will grow rapidly, and the 

 whole of them will floAver before the season is past. As 

 they flower those of no merit should be destroyed; the 

 best, of them should be named or numbered ; and a few 

 plants may be struck from cuttings of any decidedly good 

 ones that flower early. 



The result of a season's growth will be the formation of 



