192 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



be assorted for future work as they come into bloom. They may 

 be sown at almost any time of the year, according to the con- 

 venience and requirements of the grower. For my own purpose, I 

 find that the third or fourth week in January is the most suitable ; 

 and those who have a sufficient command of fire heat will find it 

 advantageous to sow early in the year, as the seedlings are less 

 liable to damp off than when they are germinated in May, June, 

 or July. 



The seeds are sown in pans or in shallow wooden boxes, in a 

 compost of light, porous material, consisting of flaky leaf-soil, a 

 little loam, and plenty of sharp sand. This is mixed, and used 

 in a rough state, with some finely sifted material on the top to 

 form a smooth and level seed-bed, which is pressed firm, watered, 

 or more suitably dipped, and then the diminutive seeds carefully 

 sown upon it. The pans or boxes are placed in a temperature of 

 65° to 70°, with more bottom heat. As soon as they can be 

 handled, the seedlings are pricked out from time to time into 

 other boxes with a finely pointed piece - of wood, divided at the 

 point so as to lift the seedlings. As they germinate very 

 unequally, and in succession, the work of pricking them off em- 

 ploys some men and boys for weeks together. When the pricked- 

 off seedlings begin to get crowded, they are transplanted into 

 other boxes at a greater distance apart. By the middle of May 

 they are ready for hardening off. During the first three weeks 

 of last June a staff of men and boys were constantly employed 

 in planting those now in the open ground. By that time a large 

 proportion of them had commenced to bloom, and several 

 thousand of the most promising doubles, some of them gems, 

 were transferred to 48-size pots, and placed in new houses 

 specially built for their reception. 



The ground in which the seedlings are planted out is heavily 

 manured, and roughly dug up to the action of frost in autumn. 

 Old tubers intended for bedding out should be started about the 

 last week in March or the beginning of April ; small-sized pots 

 will be quite sufficient for them. A warm and showery month 

 of June, with rather drier weather in July and August, is the 

 most favourable to Begonias in the open ground. 



Pot Plants. — One-year-old tubers are the most generally 

 useful for pot work ; but those of two or three years' growth 

 make the finest specimen plants. When four years old they 



