MERITS AND CULTURE OF BEGONIAS. 



3" 



ance. The colour range is, as in the singles, very great, and new combinations are 

 forthcoming every season. In at least one instance, the pink, instead of suffusing the 

 petals, has collected at the edge, the variety, one of Mr. Laing's, being appropriately 

 named Picotee. (See Fig. 144.) 



A perfect upright-growing plant for exhibition is indicated in the rules for judging, 

 formulated by the Eoyal Horticultural Society, as follows : — 



Maximum number of points or marks of merit 7, allotted as under : — 



" (a) Number, quality, and size of blooms in proportion to size of plant, 2 points. 

 (b) Distinctness and clearness of colour, 1 point, (c) Abundance of healthy foliage, 

 1 point, (d) Form of flower, 1 point, (e) Erect flower-stems, 1 point." 



Yery different in habit, however, are some varieties. Instead of the stems being 

 upright they droop in the most graceful manner, and as two or three whorls of double 

 and semi-double flowers are produced on slender pendent stems, such plants are very 

 beautiful when well grown in baskets suspended from the roof, or elevated on pedestals 

 in the greenhouse, conservatory, or room. 



Cultural Details. 



These begonias are raised by sowing seeds, and increased by cuttings of young 

 growths in summer, and by division of the tubers in the spring, as set forth on page 206. 

 Eaising from seeds will also be found fully treated on pages 215 and 216. Young 

 plants, if kept in a semi-starved state in small pots for a few weeks, at a time when they 

 ought to be growing strongly, are practically spoilt for the rest of the season. When 

 comparatively small they may be more easily kept in a thriving condition in boxes of 

 light rich soil than in small pots, and from these boxes they should be transferred, 

 before they overcrowd each other, to their flowering pots, which may be from 6 inches 

 to 8 inches in diameter. 



High temperatures are ruinous, and till the end of May the plants may be kept 

 growing healthily in a warm greenhouse, the temperature of which seldom exceeds 60° 

 or falls much below 45°. The finest blooms are obtained from plants standing during 

 the summer in a light, airy greenhouse, not allowing them to flower till within a month 

 of the date they ought to be at their best. It is these young plants that will produce 

 the best blooms. 



After October the tuberous begonia ceases to be ornamental, and the plants ought 

 then to have less water, gradually drying them off. Clear away the decayed tops, and 



