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White Begonia

Begonia Mont Blanc.

NONE of the newer kinds of garden flowers have higher claims on the attention of amateurs than the tuberous begonias. The hybrid clematis may rank equal in importance, and certainly should not be ranked far below them. The begonias are so nearly hardy, so easily grown, whether as specimens for the conservatory or as useful flowering plants for the summer garden, and are withal so various and beautiful, that the lovers of gardens may be well advised to take them in hand with earnestness, and to add to their number by the systematic raising of seedlings.

It is not necessary to grow these plants from seed, because the named varieties are low-priced and easily obtainable. But there is great interest attaching to the raising of seedlings, and we shall advise as to the procedure. If a collection of the finest kinds are flowered in a light airy conservatory, there will be abundance of seed produced. It will be advisable to fertilise the female flowers--which are easily distinguished by the incipient seed-pod at the base--with pollen taken from male flowers differing from them in colour. The seed-pods should be pinched off before the seeds begin to scatter, and being laid loosely in a clean box or glass dish, will soon ripen, and none of the seed will be lost. The seed is as fine as snuff, and in sowing it care should be taken not to cover it with soil at all. Prepare some shallow boxes or pans, with about three inches of light rich soil--say turfy loam, clean leaf-mould, and very old rotten hotbed manure in equal parts. Having sprinkled some sand over the surface and pressed it flat with a board, sprinkle the seed very thinly, and then cover with a sheet of common glass. The soil ought to be moist enough to need no watering until the plants are up, but should water be needed, the boxes or pans must be immersed nearly to the top edge for an hour or two, and should then be removed. In a warm greenhouse or pit the seed will soon germinate, and the seed-boxes will present the pleasing appearance of hundreds of young begonias. The best time for sowing the seed is during February and March, as the young plants have the whole summer before them to complete their growth. Being carefully pricked out into other pans or boxes, and as soon as large enough separately potted, they will grow rapidly, and the whole of them will flower before the season is past. As they flower those of no merit should be destroyed; the best of them should be named or numbered; and a few plants may be struck from cuttings of any decidedly good ones that flower early. The result of a season's growth will be the formation of tuberous roots, and the best way to keep these is in the pots without disturbing them. If nearly, but not quite, dust-dry, and guarded from frost, they will be perfectly safe through the winter. In the month of February they should be shaken out and planted in shallow boxes filled with a similar soil to that recommended for the seeds. It is a matter of importance never to put them in pots or boxes containing more than two or three inches of soil in the first instance, for in a deep soil they are apt to rot; but in a shallow soil they are sure to grow, the temperature of a warm greenhouse being sufficient for the purpose. A moderate amount of care will insure a fine lot of plants by the end of May, when they should be very carefully "hardened" in frames to prepare them for planting out. About the second week in June is, generally speaking, the best time to put them out in beds; but in the southern and western counties they may be put out at the end of May, and provided they are not punished by frost, it may be said the sooner they are planted the better. They will flower superbly, and in all adverse seasons it will be found that these frail, succulent, and comparatively tender plants endure wind and rain with less harm than any other bedders. In a dry hot season they must have plenty of water, but in an average season they will need but little or none. The following varieties for summer flowering constitute a fine collection:--Mont Blanc, Coral Rose, Countess of Kingston, J. H. Laing, Lady Hume Campbell, Lemoinei, Trocadero, Mrs. Laing, Louis Thibaut, General Roberts, White Queen, Laing's Superba.

To produce fine specimens some strong plants should be dried off and rested as soon as convenient, without imposing any check. At the turn of the year these should be shaken out and re-potted in fresh soil in smallish pots, and put into a temperature of 50 degree to encourage growth. When inclined to move, the heat should be increased to 60 degree, and after a time to 70 degree, but beyond that it will not be safe to increase the temperature. When the plants so treated have filled their pots with roots they should be shifted to the next size, and be again and again shifted as needful, but never until the pots are filled with roots, and never beyond a reasonable size of pot. If the shifting into larger and larger pots is carried too far, there will be immense growth but no flowers, therefore you may reasonably stop when the plants are in 8-inch or 10-inch pots. Then let them flower, and you will be well rewarded. As a matter of course they must be kept neatly staked, and flowers that appear before the plants have attained to a suitable size must be pinched out. A compost consisting of loam, leaf-mould, and very old manure from a hotbed is the best for them; rank or fresh manure is objectionable, and liquid manure should be given occasionally.