March 6, 1909. 
THE QARDEMHQ WORLD 
153 
favourable seasons the first heads will be 
ready to cut by the middle of June under 
this treatment. 
The accompanying illustration, kindly 
placed at our disposal by Messrs. James 
Carter and Co., High Holborn, London, 
shows a well developed head with the curd 
still closely compacted together. At that 
stage the leaves are still fairly well bent 
About thirty years ago, when only a few 
hybrids of the tuberous swecies of Begonia 
had been raised, few would have ventured 
to prophesy the degree of perfection to 
which they have been brought in these 
times. One of the first hybrids was named 
B. Sedenii, and although it was distinctly 
a hvbrid, we can only look upon it as a 
trial to see what could be raised from 
the species employed. For many years 
much attention was given to the crossing 
of B. boliviensis, with its long, narrow 
petals, and some fine varieties, both single 
and double, were raised from that. Hy¬ 
bridists advanced much more rapidly when 
over the heads, thus hiding them from the 
effects of strong sunshine, and keeping the 
curd of a pure white. It is one of the 
first early varieties, being ready to cut 
ten days earlier than many other varieties 
raised under the same conditions. It has 
Been tried at Wisley and reported to be 
very early, dwarf, compact, and sturdy, 
with solid, pure white heads. 
they used the broad-petalled form known 
as B. Veitchii, in order to get circular 
flowers. Outside of old-fashioned and 
neglected gardens the original types would 
not now be cultivated, because they re¬ 
quire just as much attention and space 
as flowers of the first class. 
The accompanying illustration may give 
readers an idea of the form of perfection 
to be looked for in a tuberous Begonia. 
Round flowers are desired in order to get 
size and massive appearance and regu¬ 
larity. A starry flower would be of no 
value whatever for decorative or bedding 
purposes. The flower stems of many 
varieties have a tendency to hang down, 
so that the flowers are more or less hidden 
amongst the foliage and, in the case of 
a bed, one plant would hide the flowers of 
another. For beddimr purposes it is, 
therefore, essential to raise varieties which 
will hold their flowers well above the 
foliage, so as to produce an effective dis¬ 
play when planted out in the flower gar¬ 
den. In this case it will be seen that the 
flowers are all carried well above the 
foliage on stout stalks of moderate length, 
while the foliage hangs downwards over 
the pot. 
We are indebted to Messrs. T. S. Ware, 
Ltd., Feltham, Middlesex, for this oppor¬ 
tunity of showing the type to be aimed at 
in a Begonia, whether for bedding or pot 
culture in the greenhouse. The firm grow 
their Begonias on a field at Bexley, where 
many thousands of seedlings are raised 
annually and planted out in this field with 
the object of securing good, useful tubers 
for bedding purposes and for singling out 
the very best to bear seeds, and thus con¬ 
tinue the improvement of the race. An 
immense amount of work is entailed in 
the annual raising of these seedlings and, 
as may be imagined, it is very difficult to 
get anything really finer than already ex¬ 
ists. This large number of seedlings, 
however, makes it possible, and gives the 
grower an opportunity, as well as an ad¬ 
vantage over those who can only afford 
space to raise a dozen or two, or even a 
hundred seedlings. 
The various colours can be raised true 
to type, because they have been fixed ow¬ 
ing to continued selection over a number 
of years. A dozen or hundred, or any 
larger number of tubers can therefore be 
ordered with the object of planting a bed 
or beds entirely of anv desired colour. 
The illustration represents a white variety, 
but they run through various shades of 
pink, rose, carmine, scarlet, crimson and 
vellow. 
--- 
Sutton’s Farmers’ Year-Book. 
A book on farming does not appeal to 
all gardeners, but some of our readers are 
gardeners and farmers as well. Like the 
catalogue of flowers and seeds for the gar¬ 
den. this one is filled with all sorts of use¬ 
ful subjects for the farm. Messrs. Sutton 
are well-known for their pedigree stocks 
of Mangels, Swedes and Turnips. Grasses 
and Clovers for quite a variety of purposes 
also receive ample attention. Many of 
the Cabbage tribe are also used on the 
farm, such as Thousand-headed Kale, 
Drumhead Cabbages, Savoys. Carrots, 
Kohl Rabi and other subjects which prove 
useful to the farmer. 
A Hybrid Walking Fern. 
Some time ago we recorded a hybrid 
mentioned by "The Fern Bulletin,” and 
now it has been found again at another 
station in the state of New York. The 
fronds vary from 12 in. to 20 in', long, and 
five of them are forked at the apex. In 
these forks a small plant is produced 
which roots into the surrounding soil so 
that the Fern has roots at both ends of 
the frond, that at the tips being a new 
plant, such as occurs in the Walking Fern 
(Camptosorus rhizophyllus) in whose com¬ 
pany it was found. The last named has 
been in cultivation in this country for 
many years, but is not so common as it 
used to be. 
[.Thomas S. Ware, Ltd. 
Type of Ware's Single Begonias. 
Type of Ware's Sipgle Begopias 
