TUBEROUS BEGONIAS. 107 



during tho summer. For the first few "weeks, they 

 should be kept in a narrow, low house, where they can 

 be near the glass and with a temperature of sixty to 

 sixty-five degrees. They should be shaded from the sun, 

 ami will be benefited by frequent applications of liquid 

 manure. As the season for rest approaches, they should 

 be gradually dried off, and stored where they will be 

 dry, in a temperature of forty-five to fifty degrees. 

 They can be kept in any frost-proof cellar. If the air 

 is very dry, they should be placed in a box and covered 

 witli dry soil or sphagnum, to prevent shriveling. The 

 tubers should be started into growth in March or April. 

 They may be placed in small pots at once, or they may 

 he started in shallow boxes filled with sphagnum. The 

 first pots should be but little larger than the tubers, but 

 the plants should be shifted as soon as the roots show 

 the necessity. Good results can be obtained when the 

 final shift is into seven-inch pots, but the best plants 

 and largest blooms cannot be secured in less than ten- 

 inch pots, and some go still larger. As a rule, it may 

 be said that, for specimen plants (Figs. 36 and 37), the 

 repotting should be kept up as often and as long as the 

 roots fill the pots fairly well, and the larger the pots 

 that can be filled with roots, the better the results. 



Throughout the season, frequent applications of 

 liquid cow manure should be made, and if it is desired 

 to grow them in small pots, they should be top-dressed 

 with cow manure as soon as the roots fill the pot after 

 the last shift. During the summer, when grown in a 

 greenhouse, they require an abundance of light and air, 

 but the best success cannot be obtained unless draughts 

 of air and direct sunshine are avoided. The optimum 

 temperature for growth is about sixty-five degrees, and 

 during the summer the air should be cooled and kept 

 moist, by frequently wetting down the walks. 



For out-of-door culture, the plants should be hard- 



