16 STOVE AND GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 



bedding plants. Nearly all of them will grow in a wide range of soils. 

 Two parts loam and a third of equal parts decayed cow manure and 

 sand will be found to answer the requirements of most of them. 



Sowing Seed— The seeds of all Begonias are very minute and should 

 be sown on finely sifted and previously watered soil, without covering, 

 excepting perhaps a very fine dusting of silver sand. The pan may be 

 covered with glass until germination takes place. 



The tuberous rooted section behave grandly in some parts of the 

 country when planted out. In the warmer localities they do not thrive. 

 The tubers are Wintered much in the same way as those of Caladiums or 

 Gloxinias. Young plants are raised from seed in Spring, but they bloom 

 late. 



Winter Bloomers— Begonia Gloire de Sceaux is a hybrid between B. 

 Bubpeltata and B. socotrana, the latter being one of the parents of the 

 wonderfully floriferous Gloire de Lorraine. Gloire de Sceaux is a trifle 

 miffy and that is probably the reason we see less of it grown than we 

 did a few years ago. Flowering wood is not the best for cuttings. 

 Young plants are best started from the leaves. When well flowered it is 

 a very effective plant for decorations, owing to the bronzy color of the 

 foliage and bright pink flowers. Paul Bruant is one -of the best flower- 

 ing of the genus, and one which does well in a house window; the foHage 

 slightly resembles that of B. Gilsonii, another good Winter bloomer, 

 with double flowers, said to have been raised before the War of the Re- 

 bellion by a colored man named Gilson. Its history would be interest- 

 ing, seeing that it is a shrubby kind with the flowers double. President 

 Carnot, after having grown this hybrid since it was sent out a few years 

 ago, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to manage it, in 

 the absence of a place in the greenhouse, where it can be planted out, is 

 to put it out in the open lot in the Summer, where it is encouraged to 

 make all the growth possible; lift with a good ball, pot carefully, when 

 it will flower in midwinter most profusely. The large clusters of female 

 flowers are one of the most attractive features in the greenhouse in mid- 

 winter. Two other good Winter blooming species for house culture are 

 B. manicata aurea and B. acuminata; the former has light pink flowers 

 and yellow spotted leaves; the latter small, crisp-looking foliage and 

 pure white flowers. 



Begonia Corallina-^ffo grow this species from seed is rather unsatis- 

 factory; it takes the best part of a year to bloom and then, as a rule, 

 many of the seedlings are inferior to the forms already in cultivation, 

 the most noticeable point being their lack of free-blooming qualities. 

 Cuttings of this, the queen of shrubby Begonias, either for bedding pur- 

 poses or pot plants, should always be preferred, as they begin to flower 

 shortly after being potted off. It is a species which stands very rich 

 soil. Other good shrubby kinds are B. nitida and B. nitida alba, B. 

 incarnata, B. fuchsioides, B. Saundersii and B. semperflorens gigantea 

 rosea. 



Begonia Qloire de Lorraine was raised about nine years ago. It is a 

 hybrid between B. socotrana (a species discovered in the Island of 



