836 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 3rd. 1903. 
over such a length of period as no other class of flowers of 
this quality could accomplish. 
We now proceed to deal with some of the choice older 
varieties which we noted, and also to give some indication, of the 
character of the seedlings which have been selected from the 
beds in the open air and put to- various- tests under glass to 
prove their quality. A very pretty one, we- may mention, is 
Miss Alice Tate, with golden-yellow petals-, the outer ones being 
fringed. Mrs. James Po-rtbury is white, shaded with blus-h, 
with a delicate* edge of a- deep- pink. This collection has long 
been notable for the high quality of its Pico-t-ee-edged Begonias-, 
and any mention of them would be incomplete were we to 
omit that named Samuel Po-pe, which long stood unriva-lled in, 
this class of flowers, and even now it would be hard to- beat. 
The ground colour is white-, with a well-defined ro-sy pink edge, 
and the flowers are very large and full, while the form is per¬ 
fectly refined. Quite of another type is Jubilee Beauty, having 
salmon-coloured flowers and a pure white centre. 
Without names it would be impossible to fix up any par¬ 
ticular variety with certainty, but- we- sha-ll mention a- number 
of them in our attempt to give some idea of the many beau¬ 
tiful forms- to which names- have not yet- been given. There 
were primrose flowers with very broad petals imbricating 
round a single centre. Alongside of these- was a glowing crim¬ 
son variety with crimped petals beautifully refined. A pale 
creamy variety was also- notable for its handsome shape-. An 
uncommonly dwarf variety was notable for its large white 
flowers and very bread petals;; while there was another creamy 
white one with smoothly imbricated petals. Choice and pretty 
was that with sa-lmon-pink flowers and a- nearly white centre. 
A very choice- variety was that with creamy white flo-wers 
crimped at- the edges and produced in great- abundance. It will 
be impossible to get improvements upo-n this variety, as it 
produces no seed, the female flowers being inclined to- become 
double and occasionally running into- peculiar structures in the 
centre. This does not, however, affect- the form o-f the- properly 
double male flowers upo-n the plant. Very choice was that 
with buff-golden flowers, and the outer or guard petals slightly 
fringed. A Camelliarshaped flc-wer was- notable for the thick 
texture of its petals, which were regularly imbricated and pure 
white. One of the mo-st delicate and choice colours we noted 
wa,s a variety having salmon-flesh flowers. 
After this we went through a- house de-voted to seedlings in 
various stages of growth and presenting all possible variations 
in the colour of the flowers, such as those we have already 
described above. Another house was filled with single- varieties 
assorted according to colour. These plants were selected from 
the open field last- year, and represent the most advanced fonns 
of the strain. Many of them were also set for s-eed. The next 
house entered was filled with the best double and single selec¬ 
tions, many of which were set- or being set- for see-d. 
In order to make sure of the highest percentage of double 
varieties amongst seedlings, pollen is taken from the best 
doubles only, and in order to get it, it- is necessary to starve 
old plants which have been grown, in- pots for a season, or adopt, 
other measures best known to- the cultivator himself for pro¬ 
curing that- end. While the blooms remain perfectly double 
under full vigour of growth, no pollen is obtainable. 
We next- visited the 0 -p-en field where the- seedlings of this 
yea-r have been grown. The seeds were sown on January 27th 
last, and planted out at the usual bedding time. They have 
been struggling t-o- flower grandly for some weeks pa-st, but 
they have had a great- deal to; contend with in the matter of 
bad weather, low temperature, rain, hailstorms, and frost. The 
fine days of the last week or so have enabled them to improve 
immensely, and a- glance over the field reveals a gorgeous 
spectacle indeed. All the varieties- are arranged in colours-. 
Both single and double varieties have been classified in twelve 
of the leading or more- distinct colours, which might be- us-e-d 
for bedding purposes in these colours. There -are something 
like fourteen to twenty beds of a colour. The beds a-re 4 ft. 
wide, so as to facilitate keeping them clean and inspecting 
them for the- best varieties and labelling them according to 
their quality. 
The scarlet strain was of very high quality indeed, and the 
numerous beds- of this colour showed how effective this class 
of plants might be for bedding purposes. The same might 
be said of the white varieties, which have perfectly circular 
flowers of splendid quality. The next colour was salmon, and 
the flowers of this hue- were equally large as those above men¬ 
tioned, and the plants very florife-rous. We- noted fine shapely 
flowers also in the beds of pink varieties. In the beds of 
golden,-bronze- all shades might be seen, ranging from bronzv- 
ye-llow to orange; a-nd approaching orange-scarlet. The next set 
of colours we came to was what Mr. Pope termed fancy colours, 
as they included seedlings having white centres to the flowers, 
Standard Blenheim Orange PirpiN, carrying 18 fi: e fruits, 
(See p. 829.) 
also Picotee-edged, white-edged, flaked, striped, -and mottled 
varieties. Some of these were veiy choice indeed, especially 
the rose and carmine varieties having a white centre. 
The yellows included all shades, fro-m cream t-o- golden-yellow, 
and the flowers; in- many ca-s-esi were perfectly circular, and of 
the largest size- for this colour. The beds of crimson varieties 
showed a- very large percentage of flowers 1 of the first- class. 
1 he colour in all cases wa-s 1 of a rich crimson, but some of them 
bordere-d upon maro-on. Many choice and delicate varieties 
could be selected from the- beds- of salmon-pink flowers. The 
orange varieties were notable for their vigour, floriferousness; 
and the handsome character a-s well as the rich hues- of orange 
prevailing amongs-t- the seedlings. Tire blush varieties, while 
of that colour on the inner face of the petals, were more or 
