December 27, 1883. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
543 
27 
th 
28 
f 
Quekett Club at 8 r.5i. 
29 
s 
SO 
SUN 
1st Sunday after Christmas. 
31 
M 
1 
Tu 
2 
W 
TUBEROUS BEGONIAS. 
H, how lovely ! I never knew that there were 
such exquisite varieties of Begonias,” said 
many of my fair visitors who saw my house 
full of these charming plants last season. 
And indeed anyone who had only seen the 
small narrow-petalled single kinds generally 
I grown might well be astonished. There might 
he seen singles, like great butterflies, 4, 5, and 
6 inches across, some pure white, others yellow, pink, 
flesh, orange, scarlet, and every conceivable shade of 
red; some wide open and erect, with their four wings 
spreading at right angles, others gracefully drooping and 
hanging in clusters from their slender arching stems like 
cascades of pearls and rubies. And then the doubles. What 
a charming combination of colours ! What diversity of shape 
and habit ! Some like a Cactus Dahlia, some like a very 
double Hollyhock, others like beautifully imbricated Roses or 
Camellias, and others, again, forming the very prettiest of 
rosettes. Then see how beautifully the flowers contrast with 
the shining stems and quaint tropical-looking foliage— 
foliage which differs almost as much as the flowers—dark 
green, light green, veined, marbled, narrow and tapering to 
a point, broad and heart-shaped, with one of the lobes always 
smaller than the other, giving it that appearance peculiar to 
the Begonia tribe. 
Truly the tuberous-rooted Begonia is a flower with a 
future ! When it is considered that we have only just begun 
with it, and that a few years since it was almost unknown, 
what may we not expect now that enthusiastic hybridisers 
are diligently at work on this comparatively virgin soil 
which has already produced such great results ? We have 
almost ceased to hope for anything really new in the way of 
Pelargoniums or Roses. The poor old Zonal has been 
nearly done to death, and even the queenly Rose has been 
repeated again and again almost ad nauseam. But the 
Begonia—well, we shall see. One thing I feel convinced of— 
that everybody with a greenhouse must grow Begonias if 
they wish to enjoy a really new sensation in floriculture, 
and, indeed, everyone who has a garden without a green¬ 
house ; for, startling as it may appear to some, this glorious 
flower has proved itself to be almost hardy. The very 
choicest kinds will stand one or two degrees of frost without 
injury to the foliage, and even should the foliage be cut by a 
harder frost the tuber will survive, and, with a little protec¬ 
tion, will winter in the open ground and throw up again 
vigorously in the spring. But if the cultivator is not in¬ 
clined to run this risk, he can take them up and store them 
like Dahlia tubers in earth or sand in any place safe from 
frost, and be happy and forget them until spring comes again. 
Think of that, ye who worry over tall scraggy Pelargoniums 
all the winter, and after all have the mortification of seeing 
them damp off. 
But it will perhaps be said, “How am I to get these 
fine varieties of Begonias ? I cannot afford to give 2s. 6d., 
5s., or 10 s. Gd. a piece for them, and I see that nearly all the 
best are about this price.” True, but I do not advise you, 
unless “ money is no object,” to buy these expensive varieties 
to start with. Try some unnamed seedlings of a good strain. 
You can buy them as dry tubers in winter and spring at a 
very trifling cost, and many of them you will find to be 
almost equal to the named sorts; or, better still, if you 
have any means of raising the seed, a couple of half crowns 
will secure you enough plants to fully stock your garden or 
greenhouse, and among them, from really good seed, you 
ought to get some as good as any with the very finest of 
names. For this let me state what is required and how to 
set to work. 
In the first place there must be either a house or frame 
heated to about 65°. If this cannot be managed, let the 
seed alone. But I will suppose that my readers are happy 
enough to have either the one or the other. Buy the seed 
in January or February, the earlier the better. Buy the 
best that can be had, it is the cheapest in the end. Do 
not be disappointed at finding the packet to consist of 
what appears to be the tiniest pinch of snuff. The 
seed is very fine indeed; take all the more care of it. 
Prepare a 6 or 7-inch pot thus : 1^- inch of broken crocks at 
the bottom, then a thin layer of moss, then nearly fill it 
with finely sifted leaf soil, with which about a fourth part of 
silver sand is mixed. Press the soil level, water it thoroughly 
through a fine rose, allow it to drain for a few minutes, then 
sprinkle the seed evenly over the surface. The seed need not 
be covered with soil; a sprinkling of sand may be placed over 
it, but it is not really necessary. Cover the top of the pot 
with a square of glass, and then with a piece of brown paper 
to exclude light. Place it on your hotbed, and watch care¬ 
fully for the gei ruination of the seed. The moment it appears 
remove the paper, and when the seedlings are fairly up the 
glass also. No watering ought to have been required up to 
this time, but now if getting dry place the pot in tepid water 
to within an inch of the rim until it has sucked up sufficient 
moisture. On no account drench overhead, or many of the 
tiny seedlings will be destroyed. Never allow the soil to 
become dry, and as the plants gain strength water through a 
rose in the usual manner. Do not be in too much of a hurry 
to prick them out, but when they can be handled well place 
them in the same kind of soil as before, and continue care¬ 
ful treatment, transferring them to single pots as they become 
large enough. If these directions are successfully attended 
to by June the grower will be the happy possessor of a fine 
stock of healthy young plants, many of them by that time 
showing flowers, and all through the season there will be the 
intense pleasure of watching the development of the flowers, 
speculating as to what they will be when fully open—hoping, 
fearing, triumphing by turns as some new beauty gradually 
expands. 
Seedlings always grow well and are easily managed. But 
if the named expensive varieties are purchased, many of 
them require care. They have the unhappy knack at times 
of decaying just at the collar, and it ought to be seen to that 
the earth in the pot is slightly raised towards the centre, 
throwing the surplus water to the sides of the pot; this pre¬ 
vents damping. In watering do not wet the stems, and avoid a 
close stagnant atmosphere. 
Begonias are by no means difficult to propagate from 
cuttings. Inserted either singly in very light soil, or planted 
out over a slight bottom heat in cocoa-nut fibre or some such 
material, they soon root and form small tubers. Their great 
enemy is damp, and while rooting the foliage and stem must 
not be suffered to remain wet, or they will decay. No plant 
is more easily hybridised. Here in Devonshire, where the 
climate seems to suit them, they seed very freely, and nearly 
every pod even of the doubles ripens well. I am looking 
forward to the coming season with the greatest expectations, 
and, judging from past success, hope to see some new wonders 
In the open ground here they do remarkably well. Some of 
my acquaintances had beds of them which were really 
beautiful, and I quite expect that ere long they will be as 
