FLORISTS' FLOWEES. 



123 



took up tho work of improvement So auspiciously 

 commenced, and carried it on with success. One of 

 these was llr. O'Brien, then of the Wellington 

 Koad Nurseries, St. John's Wood. Prominent as a 

 raiser is Sir. John Laing, of Stanstead Park Nur- 

 sery, Forest Hill, who has made a gTcat speciality 

 of this plant, has greatly improved it, and who an- 

 nually raises thousands of seedlings. On the Con- 

 tinent also Mons. Victor Lemoine and others had 

 hccn at work ; and the hest of their productions, as 

 well as of those that had emanated from Chelsea, 

 were used by Mr. Laing and others for crossing 

 purposes. The latter made use of evei-j'thing good 

 that he could lay his hands upon, and with excellent 

 results. Here it may he remarked that the earliest 

 introduction, B. BoUvienaia, had long-pointed petals ; 

 hut B. Veitohii, also introduced, had petals of a 

 hroader and rounder character. A union of these 

 two gave more rounded and hroader petalG than the 

 last-named parent, thus giving a very interesting 

 example of the curious effects of hybridising in mo- 

 difying the forms of flowers. In the present day, 

 massive petals or segments have so broadened that 

 they overlap each other ; and the leading flowers are 

 of great size and splendid quality. The predominat- 

 ing colours are pink, rose, scarlet, and crimson ; but 

 B. Fearcei and other hybrids of a similar colour have 

 produced flowers of rich shades of lemon, yellow, and 

 orange ; while pure white, creamy, blush, and flesh- 

 coloured varieties, of rapidly increasing quality, are 

 getting quite numerous. 



Up to a certain period the varieties of tuberous- 

 rooted Begonias were all single-flowered. Then 

 varieties bearing double flowers came to this coimtry 

 from across the Channel. Mons. Victor Lemoine, of 

 Nancy, was one of the first to exhibit these. There 

 had been produced in Fngland some semi-double 

 types, but they fell short of the fully double cha- 

 racter of the varieties raised in France. Mons. 

 Bouchet, a gardener near Paris, was successful in 

 raising some double flowers of the BoUviemis type. 

 The fine full varieties introduced by M. Victor 

 Lemoine were taken in hand by Mr. Laing, and he is 

 now quite in the foreground as a producer of these. 

 Some of his more recent doubles are characterised by 

 great size and wonderful fulness, looking more like 

 hollyhock flowers. Occasionally new varieties of 

 this character come to us from the Continent, and a 

 few other English raisers are doing their share also. 

 But it is Mr. Laing that has taken the lead ; and for 

 eight or nine months in the year, at least, he has a 

 large and unrivalled collection in flower. 



Begonias can be raised frtom seed with the greatest 

 ease provided a little bottom heat be at command ; 

 at the same time seedlings can also be raised in an 

 ordinary unheated green-house, placing the pans or 



pots on a warm shelf near the glass, and covering 

 with a piece of glass to induce a more rapid germi- 

 nation; and shading from the sun when necessary. 

 But a much better start can be effected when the 

 seed is raised on a gentle bottom heat. The seed 

 should be sown as thinly as possible in weU-di-ained 

 pans or pots, using a mixture of leaf-mould and 

 sUver sand, carefully sifted, to take from it any 

 lumps or stones. This gives what is absolutelj' 

 necessary — a light, free soil — and it should be used 

 moist, but not wet or sticky. The surface should be 

 made flat and smooth, and the seeds sprinkled upon 

 it as thinly as possible, and at the same time equally ; 

 and then covered with a very slight sprinkling of 

 dry silver sand, this being necessary to fix the seeds, 

 otherwise in moving the pans the seeds might run 

 together. The pans should be placed in a warm 

 house, and in a moderate bottom heat; placing a 

 sheet of glass over each pan to promote germination 

 and prevent evaporation. The seeds must on no 

 account be allowed to become dry, but when it is 

 necessary to give water it must be applied with the 

 greatest care." The best plan is to dip the pans in a 

 paU of lukewarm water, but not sufficiently deep to 

 cover the surface ; the water will gxaduaUy rise and 

 moisten this. As soon as the seedlings are large 

 enough to handle, the largest of them, if not aU, 

 should be pricked off into other pans or pots of 

 similar soil, but this is an operation requiring great 

 care. At the Stanstead Park Nurseries, where thou- 

 sands of seedlings are raised, two persons sit, one on 

 either side of a pan, which is raised breast-high. 

 Each has a piece of thin stick, a foot in length, 

 pointed at one end, and with a cleft at the other end. 

 The pointed end is placed imiier the tiny plants, and 

 they are gently raised by it, but not lifted entirely 

 out of the soil. The pointed stick is then employed < 

 to make a hole in the pan to be filled ; then by re- 

 versing it and using the cleft end, which grasps 

 the tiny plant under the seed-leaves, it lilts it, places 

 it in the hole made for it, and the pointed end is 

 again used to press the soil about the roots. A 

 little fine silver sand can be dusted over the sur- 

 face, the pans are returned to the warm house, and 

 their occupants soon lay hold upon the soil with their 

 roots. Pricking off in this way may be done with 

 advantage two or three times, giving the plants more 

 room each time, and encouraging them to grow as 

 strongly as possible. When but a few seedlings are 

 grown, they can be potted off singly to flower. Mr. 

 Laing plants out in prepared ground in the open air 

 every year thousands of seedlings, and a large num- 

 ber of them flower the same season. 



The tuberous-rooted Begonia being a perennial, 

 the tubers must be wintered after the foliage has 

 died down. When the foliage commences to decay. 



