POPULAR GARDEN PLANTS. 



517 



ing four or six plants in a 8- or 10-inch pot or 

 pan 



The worst insect pest is the Begonia mite, 

 which is difficult to exterminate if once it gets 

 established on the leaves. Frequent applica- 

 tions of soft-soap, tobacco- water, and sulphur 

 are the best remedy. Bug also attacks them, 

 usually on the under side of the leaves; it must 

 be watched for, and the usual remedy applied. 



Tritonia (Montbretia) (fig. 630).— Among 

 the many beautiful bright - flowered genera of 

 bulbous plants inhabiting the veldts and rocky 

 ridges of South Africa Tritonia is conspicuous. 



Fig. 630.— Tritonias. 



Several species are in cultivation, and from 

 these have originated, principally through the 

 efforts of M. Lemoine of Nancy, a race of hy- 

 brids, which for brilliant colouring and free- 

 flowering propensities ranks high among the 

 best subjects of the bulb garden. They are 

 not very fastidious in their requirements. 

 Given a sunny position, a good, well -drained 

 light soil, plenty of water, and occasional ap- 

 plications of weak liquid manure while growth 

 is active, and a decided rest of several months' 

 duration after the leaves are dead, success 

 should be certain. 



In the south-west counties, or wherever 

 severe frosts are not experienced, Tritonias 

 may be successfully grown in a bed or border 

 all the year round. In less favoured places 

 they require to be cultivated in a sunny green- 

 house or frame, or in a south border close to 

 the wall of a warm house. Grown in the open, 

 they should be planted in late autumn or early 

 spring, 3 inches below the surface, a little sand 

 being placed beneath each bulb. In early sum- 

 mer, when growth is active, a surface dressing 

 of rotten manure is advisable. The flowering 

 period is from July onwards for three months. 

 For indoor culture, seven or eight bulbs may 

 be placed in a 6-inch pot, in rich soil, and grown 

 on during winter to flower in early spring. 



After the flowers are over, the plants must 

 still be given a light, sunny position, with plenty 

 of water until the leaves begin to turn yellow, 

 when it mUst be withheld. The following are 

 useful species and varieties : — 



T. crocosmceflora. — A handsome hybrid between T. 

 Pottsii and Crocosmia aurea. It is very vigorous, and 

 produces orange-red flowers in quantity. Good varieties 

 of it are Bouquet Parfait, Etoile de Feu, Gcrbe d'Or. 

 Lustre, Transcendant. 



T. flava. — Flowers yellow, 1 inch long, in large branched 

 racemes on scapes 1| to 2 feet high. 



T. lineata. — Flowers pale-yellow, stem 18 inches. 



T. Pottsii. — Gladiolus-like in habit, flowers bright- 

 yellow, red outside, tubular, 1 inch long, in branched 

 spikes 9 inches or more long surmounting stem 2h feet 

 high. 



Tulip. — Of this showy genus there are 

 seventy or more species distributed in Europe, 

 North Africa, western and central Asia as far 

 east as Japan. The Tulip was introduced from 

 Turkey, by Busbecq, to Vienna, and thence to 

 Holland, about the year 1560, where their 

 beauty and variety of colouring soon created 

 much emulation, and their popularity culmin- 

 ated in the historical craze, the Tulipomania, 

 a stock-exchange bubble; 2000 to 5000 florins 

 being exchanged for a single root, or even for 

 its reputation and name only. 



In 1597 they had become so very popular in 

 England, that Gerard said his friend, Mr. James 

 Garrett, an apothecary, had by the diligent 

 sowing of seeds for twenty years, obtained such 

 variety that he, Gerard, only describes less than 

 a score, referring the rest to "some that mean 

 to write of Tulipa a particular volume ". 



Gerard thus early divided Tulips into early, 

 medium, and late flowering kinds, a distinction 

 which holds good to-day. 



The early, or bedding Tulips, are believed 

 to have originated from T. suavcolcns (South 



