86 FAMILIAR GAKDEy FLOWEEfi. 



o'veenhotise becomes a stove for a brief space of time^ aud 

 in the course of a year a certain number of plants of good re- 

 nown may be so managed that their whole season's growth 

 may be completed by a careful management of fire-heat at 

 first, and suu-heat afterwards, without the aid of a stove, 

 and in a greenhouse of the most commonplace description. 

 We have seen collections comprising many of the best 

 species which are grown for their flowers, aud the whole of 

 the section of Bef/onia ri'.r, which are grown for their mag- 

 nificent leaves, brought to perfection in a common green- 

 house, and the secret of success lay in the judicious timing 

 of their growing and resting to suit the circumstances. 

 The most important point, perhaps, is to keep them so dry 

 in winter that frost will not prove injurious, and, on the 

 other hand, to keeji them sufficiently moist that vitality 

 will not be impaired; for to be dust-dry is deadly to be- 

 gonias, but when wintered at a low temperature they must 

 be kept as dry as possible short of killing them by drought. 

 One reason of their endurance in a nearly dry state with 

 a low temperature is the bulky nature of the root-stock, 

 which, in some sense, serves as a bnlb or corm. So long 

 as this is not frozen, and can be preserved from shrivelling, 

 it has the power to grow when aided by warmth and 

 moisture; therefore when wintered in a common green- 

 house the tender begonias i-equire to be started into growth 

 in spring on a steady hotl^ed, or in the sunny corner of a 

 greenhouse, where they can be a little shaded and ha^'e 

 careful watching, until the growth and the season have both 

 advanced to render such special cares no longer necessary. 



A code of culture for the more tender begonias mav be 

 gi\'en in a few words. They are easily propagated, as the\' 

 root freely in sand}' soil with the aid of heat and moisture. 



