2 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 3, 1881. 
hope useful advice. One thing I can claim, it has been 
advice well meant; and never more well meant than at this 
time, when I advise young gardeners to spend well their 
spare time—spend it, not waste it. With these words I 
wish you all a Happy New Year. —Wiltshire Rector. 
BEGONIA HYBRIDISING. 
Perhaps in the whole history of horticulture we have not a 
moi’e striking instance of what can be accomplished by careful 
hybridisation and skilful cultivation, when brought to bear upon 
a particular race of plants, than is presented in the case of that 
section of the Begonia family known as the tuberous-rooted. 
Not only has success been both brilliant and, in a manner, 
complete, but it has been attained in a marvellously short time 
when compared with the results of similar work on other plants, 
the whole work of improvement having been accomplished in 
about a dozen years; indeed we might almost say it has been 
done in half that time, for it is only during the last six years 
that the work of improving the habit and flowers of Tuberous 
Begonias has been entered upon on anything like an extensive 
scale. The few hybrids we possessed previous to that period 
were valued only because of their possessing the combined 
characters of two distinct species, and were raised most likely 
■because of the interest that is usually attached to hybrids, and 
not with the view of their proving stepping-stones towards an 
.improved race of garden plants. No doubt these species of 
Begonia proved much more pliant in the hands of the hybridist, 
and more prone to cross and recross with each other than is 
usually the case; but whatever may be the truth on this point, 
the fact remains that in a wondrously short time horticultural 
skill has developed from three or four species of Begonia a rate 
of garden plants which, for horticultural purposes, rank among 
the vei-y best of decorative utility both for the indoor and 
outdoor gardens. 
The history of the Tuberous Begonias bears some analogy to 
that of the Pelargonium, out of the original species of which the 
Pelargoniums of to-day have been obtained by means of hybrid¬ 
isation. In the Pelargonium we have a strong line of demarcation 
between the race known as Show, French, Fancy, &c , and those 
generally known as Gei’aniums, and, so far as is known, this line 
has never been broken by crossing the races one with the other. 
Out of the crude material our grandfathers possessed in the 
species of Cape Pelargonium these two distinct races of plants 
were started, which have since then continued improving in the 
hands of skilled cultivators until we have now hundreds of 
varieties of both kinds, and Pelargoniums are absolutely 
.indispensable in gardens. 
Whether results similar to those obtained in the case of the 
Pelargoniums would be obtained with other plants depends 
.largely on the capabilities of such. It is easy to point to cases 
where failure has been the result of attempts at improvement 
by means of hybridising. In the case of the Begonia, however, 
success with one section of the genus points to the probability 
-of equal success with the other section—namely, the shrubby 
species, if the same skill and care were brought to bear upon 
them as were devoted to the improvement of the tuberous- 
rooted kinds. The riches of the shrubby species of Begonia, 
whether judged from their bright-coloured, large, sweet-scented, 
or curious flowers, or their erect or trailing, compact, or shrubby 
habit, or from their great diversity in form and colour of leaf, 
point to a field in which a full harvest would surely reward the 
hybridiser’s pains. In their free-dowering, free-seeding nature, 
in the monoecious arrangement of their floral organs, these 
plants are possessed of just those characters that should make 
the work of hybridisation easy and full of good results. What¬ 
ever attempts have been made at an improvement of the shrubby 
species have hitherto been limited to efforts at crossing them 
with the tuberous-rooted kinds, and the result has always been 
failure. Whether success in this particular direction is capable 
-of attainment we cannot as yet say. So far absolutely nothing 
has been accomplished, but it would appear that the shrubby 
species have among themselves all those characters which, if 
properly worked upon, would yield surprising results. 
Although there appears to be some physiological difference 
between the shrubby species of Begonia and the South American 
tuberous-rooted kinds which prevents their intercrossing, we 
have several species the characters of which seem to be inter¬ 
mediate—these are B. caffra, B. natalensis, and B Richardsiana 
from South Africa, B. gracilis, B. Martiana, and B. eucullata 
from South America, and one or two Indian species. In these 
we have the large tuber and succulent annual growth which are 
characteristic of the popular tuberous Begonias, and the shrubby 
habit and floral characters of many of the shrubby section. It 
may therefore be said that naturally these intermediate species 
are the connecting links which unite the two distinct sections. 
Here we have the key to the road to success in bringing the 
tuberous and shrubby Begonias together by means of hybrid¬ 
isation, and it may be worth the while of those who are anxious 
to raise plants that shall possess the habit of the shrubby 
species and the large richly coloured flowers of the tuberous 
ones, to commence by operating upon the intermediate species 
above mentioned. 
In the shrubby species of Begonia there is, as already noticed, 
a wide range of variation both as regards floral characters and 
habit. In their time of flowering, too, we have a range extending 
over the whole year, though the bulk of them flower in winter, 
which should place them in a foremost place for horticultural 
purposes. Many of them, such as B. fuchsioides, B. nitida, 
B. suaveolens, and the pretty B. socotrana, are already well 
known and cultivated as winter-blooming plants. In addition 
to these we have several hybrids raised from different shrubby 
species which are useful in winter—these are B. Saundersn, 
B. Knowsleyana, B. weltoniensis, B. Ingramii, and B. ascotensis. 
With the exception of B. weltoniensis the whole of these bear a 
close resemblance to each other. When the large leaves and 
tall-growing species, and those with flowers borne on long erect 
stalks and in large clusters, are better known and have been 
improved by skilful hybridisation, we shall have a wealth of 
fine-flowered, noble-foliaged plants of first-rate value for garden 
purposes. 
Perhaps the only establishment where the less known species 
of Begonia are to be seen is Kew. There over a hundred species 
of the shrubby section are grown, and in looking over the col¬ 
lection just before Christmas we saw some thirty or forty species 
either in (lower or in bud. Of these the most noteworthy were 
B. socotrana, whose pretty deep rose flowers are useful for cut- 
flower purposes, as they last for several days in water; B. rnala- 
barica, with large bunches of pale pink flowers; B. xantlnna, 
w 7 ith tali-stalked panicles of yellow flowers; B. incarnata, a 
large-leaved species, of which the variety known as purpurea is 
a handsome foliage plant; B. heracleifolia and B. jatrophsefol a. 
The tiny species, perhaps the smallest of all the Begonias^ v lz -> 
B. prismatocarpa, was represented by a pan of the healthiest of 
plants; and its small dipetalous yellow and red flowers, peeping 
up from among the curiously bi-lobed dark green foliage, was 
quite a picture. This species never grows more than 2 inches 
high.—W. 
CLEANSING VINES INFECTED WITH MEALY BUG. 
For the next two months the cleaning of vineries and 
preparing the Vines for next year’s crop will be going on. I 
pity anyone who has charge of Vdnes infested with mealy bug, 
for it was truly said by one of our leading gardeners a few 
years ago—“ Those who have a mealy bug on their Vines may 
consider it as bad as the phylloxera.’ I consider it much worse, for 
in the case of mealybug the gardener year after year battles with 
his grievance, giving the Vines their yearly dressing thinking it 
will be the last required for eradicating the pest; but when the 
thinning time comes round he finds to his horror that he has 
been disappointed, as he has found some on one of the bunches. 
Then there is nothing for it with some but the water engine 
a splendid method for increasing the bug besides disfiguring the 
crop- Taking them out of the bunches with a small brush is 
another expensive method, the crop of Grapes often not worth 
the labour to keep the bunches fit for use- 
Since Mr. Pettigrew, the able gardener at Cardiff Castle, 
explained in the pages of the Journal of Horticulture the way 
we got rid of the bug in our vineries I have had many letters 
from gardeners asking for more information on the subject, and 
the following successful method in my case may be relied upon. 
Presuming there are many gardens with a range of glass 
composed mostly of vineries with an entrance at each end, they 
are advised to proceed as follows. Our plan is to commence 
cleaning the middle house, taking all bedding plants out, if any, 
and leaving nothing but the Vines to be dealt with ; then cover 
all the border to the depth of 9 inches with long litter from the 
stables—this saves the soil from being trampled on too much, 
and catches all insects that may be washed off the Vines the 
house. The Vines are next taken down, pruned, and laid along 
the front of the house; all the loose whitewash is then scraped 
off the back wall, and nothing is speed^ 1 ' f° r this w i c ? r j £ ^ban a 
Dutch hoe. When the wall is finished and all the dirt settled 
we give the house a thorough washing down with the watei 
engine, mixing the water with paraffin oil, a little strongei 
