FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 



125 



seedlings will find it expedient to plant them out in 

 the open ground, say, early in June^ if large enough. 

 It is true the plants will flower late, and some may 

 not bloom at aU ; hut it wiU enable the cultivator to 

 ascertain the varieties worthy of being retained of 

 those that bloom, and he can reject all inferior forms. 

 Now, if some of the best of these flowering planted- 

 out specimens be taken up from the open ground 

 during September, carefully potted, and put into a 

 green-house, they will continue in bloom for a con- 

 siderable time, and wiU be of use for decoration at 

 that season of the year. Begonias are hardier than 

 is generally supposed ; they need no protection, and 

 require no heat, except in the seedling stage, when 

 first forming their tubers. 



But supposing a raiser of seedlings should be 

 fortunate enough to raise one or two fine varieties, 

 how can he increase them ? as he may desire to grow 

 nothing else. He can do this by means of cuttings, 

 and the best course will be. to start the tubers into 

 growth early in March in a rather brisk temperature, 

 and to commence taking the cuttings as soon as the 

 growth is sufiiciently advanced, and continue the 

 work as successive crops of lateral shoots are produced. 

 The plants must not be cut back too severely in order 

 to obtain cuttings, or the growth made afterwards 

 wiU be more or less weak, and be decidedly unsatis- 

 factory. The cuttings as they are obtained should 

 be inserted, either singly or two or three together, in 

 small pots, and placed in a propagating frame or in 

 a heated pit where they can have the assistance pf a 

 little bottom heat, and be shaded fi-om brilliant sun- 

 shine. Cuttings of Begonias do not require to be kept 

 80 close and moist as those of most other subjects, 

 and it may also be observed that the cuttings taken 

 during the summer months can be struck most 

 readily without the aid of bottom heat. The cut- 

 tings should be put singly into three-inch pots as 

 soon as rooted, and those struck early in the 

 spring may be planted out at bedding-out time; 

 but those struck at the end of the spring season 

 and during the summer months should remain in 

 the pots until early in the year following. The 

 latter should have a place in a light airy pit, with 

 moderate supplies of water untU September, when 

 the water must be gradually withheld ; and, as the 

 stems die down, they may be stowed away for the 

 winter under the green-house stage, or remain in the 

 pit with protection from frost. 



At most of the flower shows, prizes are offered for 

 tuberous-rooted Begonias in flower. The best plants 

 to grow on for exhibition are two-year-old seedlings ; 

 and supposing the specimens are required for the 

 show at the end of July or during August, the 

 tubers should be potted in April, selecting pots that 

 will allow of an inch space or so between the edge of 



the tubers and the pots. They should be clean and 

 well drained ; and the compost employed shoidd be 

 one made up of sandy loam, plenty of leaf -mould, and 

 well-rotted manure. They should be potted so that 

 the crown of the tuber is level with the surface, and 

 the soil should be pretty firmly pressed about it. The 

 pots should be placed in a warm house, but where 

 they can have plenty of light ; and when the plants 

 have pretty well filled the pots with roots they should 

 have a slight further shift, and this must be repeated 

 as long as necessary. As the plants grow on into size 

 they must have plenty of light and air ; for if they, 

 become drawn they wiU be practically useless for 

 exhibition purposes. There should be no difliculty 

 in having, in the space of four months, plants two 

 feet or even more in diameter. 



There is one very useful decorative purpose to 

 which Begonias can be put— as basket-plants for 

 the decoration of the green-house and conservatory. 

 The single and double varieties are both used for this 

 purpose. The tubers should be started into growth 

 in pots, and when they have made shoots some three 

 inches in length they should be transferred to the 

 baskets in which they are to flower. Wire baskets, 

 about a foot or fifteen inches in diameter, are the 

 best. Three plants should be put into each basket, 

 and the spaces between them carefully filled with 

 soil similar to that in which the tubers were first 

 potted. When this is done the plants need just 

 sufficient warmth to insure a fine growth, and they 

 should be kept near the glass, using a thin shading 

 to the house in bright weather. The baskets should 

 be about eighteen inches from the glass ; and as the 

 plants make a vigorous growth the shoots wiU depend 

 naturally over the sides of the baskets, and when 

 they are full of bloom they have an extremely rich 

 and elegant appearance. They are also very con- 

 tinuous in blooming. We have seen, in Mr. Laing's 

 nursery, baskets so filled of prodigious dimensions, 

 and objects of great beauty during the summer season. 



There is a group of flowering Begonias of a very 

 interesting character, easily grown, and very free of 

 bloom, mainly in winter and spring. These, however, 

 requiring heat, come more properly under the head of 

 Stove Plants, and wiU be treated under that section. 

 They are indigenous to both the Eastern and Western 

 Hemispheres, the greater portion having been in- 

 troduced from South America, and large numbers 

 of fine hybrids have been raised in gardens. By the 

 use of a few varieties they can be had in bloom all 

 the year round ; but it is in the winter and early 

 spring that they are most useful. Some of these 

 varieties are used with excellent effect in the flower 

 garden during summer. 



Selections. — The following is a list of some of the 

 best varieties in cultivation : — 



