CULTURE UF FAIOJ^JJE PLAXT: 



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Ill the garden they should be set about a foot and a half apart, with the same care for 

 their nourishment as in the conservatory, stakes being supplied them to prevent their 

 being overturned by the wind. The flowers are rich in quality and in colors, being cither 

 plain, spotted, splashed or streaked, and in tiie double \:iricties they fully equal the 

 Camellia. For bouquets and decorative purposes tine thread-wire is drawn through them 

 in the same manner as for the Camellia, and the ends brought together, thus leaving the 

 flower in a loop, and forming a manageable stem. A little damp moss or cotton-batting 

 being then placed at the base of the blossoms, keeps them fresh for some time. The 

 flowers of this plant occasionally' bloom douhle witiiout tile aid of the cultivator. 



\.IXLY cultivated in the hothouse until a comparatively recent 

 period. Begonias are now kept principally in the greenhouse, 

 except when it is wished to stimulate them to an extraordinary 

 „io\\th, for which purpose the hot, steamy air of the formei-'is more 

 ^ JO suit ible. Of the Begonias there are several kinds, differing in both 

 ^-.^i^jlcat and flower. The. first and jji-obably most cultivated are those 

 populnU known as the Elephant's Ear, with large leaves, oblique and rounded 

 It the b ISC, and sharply pointed at the apex, with the upper lobe, or half, much 

 . dL\ eloped than the lower. They are richly colored, being changeable in 

 C tints fiom bioiize to green, with large silver bands in some, and irregular spots 

 in otheis, the underside being of a reddish-purple tint. The upright or bushy 

 \ lULtiLs hue tianspncnt stems, many of them with glossy, irregular, waxy leaves, while 

 the flow CIS lie ot \ irious colors, from white to bright carmine. The broad-leaved kind 

 snouia De watered ireeiy during summer; the other species when in bloom, and at other 

 times just sufliciently to keep them in fiiir condition. There are also some with tuberous 

 roots, which can be laid away during their season of rest, in any place that is free from 

 frost, the roots only being sparingly moistened. Begonias should be onlj- sprayed, that 

 is, lightly syringed, as the water bears the leaves down to such an extent that they do not 

 spring upright as readily as other plants. The soil used is one part peat, one of loam, and 

 one of decomposed manure. The large ones are easily propagated from the leaves, thus: 

 Take a leaf, cut the stem oflf rather close, lay it on a surface of wet sand in a pot or box 

 that can be covered with glass; pin the leaf down with broom splints, then with a knife 

 cut across the large veins in numerous places, and at each cutting roots will start, from 

 which young plants will spring. These should be potted as soon as the leaves get to be 

 from half an inch loan inch long. Many of these plants accommodate themselves readily 

 to the fimily sitting-room, only they must lie kept free from' frost. We have some of the 

 large-leaved ones that iiave for several years hung just back from the windows, where 

 they get about an hour of sunshine daily, and this in a small, ordinary parlor, requiring no 

 great care except hanging farther in on extra-cold nights, the ordinary watering daily, or 

 less frequently in winter, and dusting the leaves with a small feather-duster. 



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