6 4 6 



THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



Fig. 416. — Begonia manicata. 



of extensive culture than the Begonia. The species are very 

 numerous, and the varieties, most of them of great beauty, are innu- 

 merable. Diligent hybridisers 

 have taken such an interest 

 in increasing and improving 

 varieties, that we are now 

 never without a good display 

 of flowers the whole year 

 through. Especially is this 

 the case with the tuberous- 

 rooted section, for, by cross- 

 ing the late-flowering sorts 

 with B. .socotrana, we now 

 have a class of winter- 

 flowering hybrids of great 

 value as decorative plants. 

 It would be useless to recom- 

 mend any particular varieties 

 whilst so many new hybrids 

 of sterling worth, both double- 

 and single-flowering, are being 

 constantly added. We, how- 

 ever, still have a great liking and admiration for many of the 

 old evergreen and perpetual-flowering kinds, such as B. fuchsi- 

 oides, B. hydrocotylifolia, B. insignis, B. manicata (Fig. 416), B. 



nitida, B. parviflora, 

 B. Davisii (Fig. 417), 

 &c. ; while the newer 

 winter - flowering hy- 

 brids, such as John. 

 Heal, Mrs. Heal, 

 Adonis, Winter Gem, 

 Gloire de Lorraine, 

 Gloire de Sceaux, and 

 the semi-double En- 

 sign, are so beautiful 

 that they need no 

 word of praise to 

 recommend them. 



Equal parts of peat, 

 loam, leaf-mould, and 

 sand form a suitable 

 compost for Begonias, 

 and they are of easy 

 culture. The ever- 

 green sorts need a 

 liberal supply of water during growth, and the - tuberous-rooted 

 varieties require their tubers well ripened after flowering, and 



Fig. 417.— Begonia Davisii. 



