August 5, 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
627 
Evergreen 
Begonias: 
Undoubtedly this is one of the most popu¬ 
lar races of garden plants. The species are 
very numerous, and include plants of various 
habits of growth. The shrubby evergreen 
species and varieties embrace several very 
beautiful plants, the best amongst them being 
the variety President Carnot. This is a 
cross between B. coccinea and B. olbia. The 
stems grow to a height of from 3 ft. to 6 it., 
having large leaves, slightly spotted ; the 
flowers are coral red, produced in immense 
clusters, most of them females, these being 
in much larger clusters than the males, and 
far more beautiful. As a pillar plant it is 
also very beautiful. 
B. coccinea is a very useful species, with 
Bamboo-like stems, growing into large speci¬ 
mens in pots, and is also admirably suited 
for training on the end of a greenhouse. The 
flowers are blood-red in colour, and produced 
very profusely in small clusters, and are suit¬ 
able in a cut state for table decoration. 
Plants in pots of this species require rather 
hard pruning in the spring. 
B. ecliinosepala is a beautiful species, 
having dark purplish-green leaves and stems, 
is bushy in growth, and a most desirable plant. 
The flowers are produced in axillary clusters, 
being pinkish-white, with papillose sepals. 
B. fuchsioides is a very useful species for 
(winter flowering, as the plants continue tq 
bloom through the winter, and with its 
drooping panicles of rich scarlet flowers it 
forms a very pleasing feature. Those men¬ 
tioned are easily propagated from cuttings, 
which readily strike in early spring in leaf 
soil and silver sand, with a bottom heat of 
Which to Gfiow 
and How to Grow The/a- 
75 deg., afterwards being grown on in a tem¬ 
perature of 55 deg. to 65 deg. They should be 
potted rather loosely, using a compost of 
loam, peat, and leaf soil, with a little sand 
and dried cow-manure. Artificial manure is 
not necessary, weak manure-water and soot- 
water being all that are required in the form 
of stimulants, and, if treated in this way, 
fair-sized plants may be grown the first year, 
and flower in late summer and autumn. 
During the winter months the plants should 
be kept in a temperature of 50 deg. to 55 deg., 
the soil being rather on the dry side, but a 
humid atmosphere is essential at all seasons 
to ensure the well-being of all Begonias. In 
February repotting should be done, and the 
house kept rather close for a time, and when 
they have got hold of the new soil the plants 
require to be pruned, the long sucker-like 
growths of coccinea being cut back to within 
about three buds of the base ; from these they 
will break away very readily. The others do 
not require to be pruned so hard, not being 
so rank in growth. 
Two other varieties, of smaller dimensions 
but very useful, free-flowering, evergreen 
plants are B. ascotensis and B. Corbeille 
de Feu. Both of these are bushy in growth, 
forming very useful plants in 5 in. or 6 in. 
pots, the former producing deep pink and 
the latter orange-scarlet flowers. Cuttings 
should be of the growing shoots, as flowering 
points refuse to break, and if these are rooted 
in autumn, and kept growing through the 
winter, form very useful plants for spring 
and early summer, and, struck in spring, for 
late summer and autumn work. E. A. 
CINERARIA 
St ELL AT A : '• 
Cultural . 
Instructions. 
To my mind there is no more useful and 
beautiful plant for producing a display of 
bloom for conservatory and greenhouse de¬ 
coration during winter and early spring than 
the above, and since they were first intro¬ 
duced, a few years ago, the improvements as 
regards colour and form of the flower have 
increased to a great extent, and almost all 
nurserymen have their own particular strain, 
each one differing in some respect or other. 
They are, however, all equally charming, and 
hardly two plants are alike. 
The seed may now be sown in shallow, well- 
drained pans, using a light compost of loam, 
leaf soil, and sand passed through a ^-in. 
sieve. Press the soil fairly firm, sow the seed 
thinly, and just cover with fine soil, and water 
m with a fine-rose can. Place the pans in a 
cool house or frame, and exclude the light 
until the seed has germinated. When the first 
rough leaf appears prick the plants off into 
small sixty-sized pots, using the same soil, 
but not quite so finely sifted. Place the youim 
plants on a bed of sifted cinder-ashes in a 
cold frame, and shade them from the bright 
sun. The best position to grow these plants 
until the winter is under a north wall, where 
they will not require too much shading. 
Keen the syringe going daily to promoted 
quick and healthy growth, and water very 
carefully, especially while the plants are in 
a young state. When the pots become nicely 
filled with roots pot them on into forty-eight¬ 
sized pots, using a slightly rougher compost 
each time of potting, with the addition of a 
little bone meal and dried cow manure. Place 
them in the same position as before, and keep 
close for a few days until they recover the 
check of potting, after which allow plenty of 
air night and day during favourable weather. 
Should extra large specimens be desired 
the plants may be potted on into 7-in. and 
8-in. pots, using rough, fibrous turf pulled 
to pieces by the hand preferably, and allowing 
two parts of this to one part leaf soil and one 
part of old manure and cow manure mixed, 
with the addition of a 6-in. potful of bone 
meal and a 5-in. potful of Clay’s fertiliser 
to a barrow-load of soil, with plenty of sand 
added to keep the whole porous. Keep the 
plants close for a few days, as previously ad¬ 
vised, and syringe overhead night and morn¬ 
ing. When the plants are established re¬ 
move the lights in the daytime during mild 
weather, and about twice a week water them 
with diluted farmyard manure water. At 
no time during their growth should the plants 
be coddled, and only use fire heat when neces¬ 
sary to expel frost. I have always noticed 
that these plants do best when stood on a 
bed of ashes from the time they are sown 
until they have finished flowering. 
During the dull winter months they should 
be watered very carefully, as they soon show 
signs of careless watering by drooping their 
foliage, and ultimately turning yellow, and 
they will not recover from such a state very 
easily. Should there be any special colour 
that the grower would care to save for another 
season, he should, when the plant has 
finished flowering, place it in a cool airy 
house where the sun can reach it, and allow 
the seed to thoroughly ripen. When it is 
seen that it is sufficiently so, cut off the seed- 
pods and place them on a newspaper to 
thoroughly mature, afterwards carefully rub¬ 
bing them out, and put the seed into a small 
paper bag and correctly label it until it is 
time to sow it again. R. Thatcher. 
Wistow Gardens, Leicester. 
Single Hollyhocks- 
A fine strain of these stalely flowers 
exhibited at the last meeting of 
the R.H.S. 
Many people experience difficulty in grow¬ 
ing a collection of Hollyhocks free from 
disease, but evidently it can be done with a 
reasonable amount of care, even within the 
radius of London. A fine exhibit, consist¬ 
ing of 100 spikes of single Hollyhocks, was 
exhibited by Lady Phillimore (gardener, Mr. 
Becht), Cam House, Campden Hill, W., at 
the meeting of the R.H.S. on July 18th. 
The situation of this private place is London, 
two miles from Hyde Park Comer, and yet 
the foliage was in splendid condition and 
perfectly free from disease. Good specimens 
about 4 ft. to 5 ft. high were shown, but in 
the garden the stems averaged about 10 ft. 
m height. 
More than one species of Hollyhock were 
shown, and among varieties of the common 
one (Althaea rosea) were noted some charm¬ 
ing varieties that had received distinctive 
names. That named Rosy Dawn had flesh- 
pink flowers, while those of Rosy Gem were 
bright rose. Other selections considered 
worthy of a name were The Bride, with pure 
white flowers; Sunset, salmon; and Black 
Prince, with flowers of a blackish crimson 
or maroon, being the darkest which we noted 
m the collection. 
Several crosses and selected seedlings had 
also been obtained from the Fig-leaved Holly¬ 
hock (A. ficifolia), characterised by the leaves 
being deeply divided into five finger-like seg¬ 
ments. The original form of this species has 
Primrose-yellow flowers, but we noted a beau¬ 
tiful buff variety tinted with rose in the 
centre. Primrose Queen would be a selection 
and improvement upon the type. Rose Queen, 
however, had bright rose-pink flowers, with 
the foliage characteristic of this distinct spe¬ 
cies. 
The number of shades of colour represented 
by the whole group was very greet, and we 
can make no attempt here to describe a tithe 
of them. All of these have been raised from 
seeds, and the selections are the finest forms 
taken from crosses made by Mr. Becht. A 
Silver Banksian Medal was awarded this col¬ 
lection. 
A correspondent of the ' Daily Xews’’ 
observes that “ vast quantities of Apples 
are imported from Canada, Tasmania, and 
New Zealand, and arrive in good condi¬ 
tion. Contrast these with the ordinary Eng¬ 
lish-grown Apples—mixed sizes, and tumbled 
about like pebbles—and then the complaint is, 
they don’t sell at a profitable price. Yet the 
best samples of mod English Apples, properlv 
stored, keep sound and good till April, May. 
or June of the next year after gathering, and 
sell at profitable prices.” 
