276 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



Fig. 106. — Begonia Mrs. J. A. Peterson. 

 This is of the Glory of CincLanati type with 

 dark-colored bronze or reddish foliage. It 

 is a desirable Christmas sort because of its 

 habit, its bright, pink-colored flowers and 

 the setting provided by its fine foliage. 

 It appeared in 1915 



when you notice the fine roots 

 starting to become potbound 

 it's time for a shift. When 

 you begin to fire don't let the 

 house go down below 55 deg. ; 

 in fact, keep it nearer the tJO- 

 deg. point and give the plants 

 full sunlight. Stake your 

 plants and have the stakes of 

 sufficient length to allow for 

 further growth. 



The rest you will have to 

 find out for yourself, no mat- 

 ter how much you may have 

 read of the experiences of suc- 

 cessful growers. 



You may grow these Be- 

 gonias at the first attempt 

 without knowing even as much 

 as is stated above, by hitting 

 upon the correct method of 

 treatment and by chance se- 

 lecting the right house or 

 bench, but it is more likely that you will improve through actual 

 experiments and practice. Even if you don't succeed in producing 

 6- and 8-in. specimens covered with so many flowers that you can't 

 find a leaf' — ^just masses of pink blossoms — and even though all you 

 can get are 4- or 5-in. pot plants, it will pay you to grow them, for they 

 make good stock for the holidays. Later propagated stock and 

 plants in 2j>^- and 3-in. pots, if well in flower, come in handy for 

 made-up pans and basket work. Take three such plants, plant 

 them in an 8-in. bulb pan with Adiantum or Asparagus plumosus 

 around them and you have an arrangement hard to beat. Two 

 sorts similar to Cincinnati which we grow today are Melior, which 

 holds its flowers better than Lorraine, and Mrs. J. A. Peterson, a 

 dark pink with bronze foliage. 



Gloire de Chatelaine 

 As we caU the Schizanthus "The Poor Man's Orchid," so among 

 Begonias we may well call Gloire de Chatelaine "The Poor Man's 

 Cincinnati." To me it seems almost useless to handle any of the so- 

 called semperflorens type of Begonias when you can have Gloire 

 de Chatelaine, especially now that we have its deep pink sport, 

 Mrs. M. A. Patten, and Pride of Newcastle, a fine red. 



"This Begonia you can have in bloom aU the year around and 

 even in Carnation-house temperature you can flower it for Christ- 



