Begonia

“ Peat, or a compost of two parts loam, two parts leaf-mould, and one part each of sand and old, well-rotted manure suits all varieties of Begonias. In setting out the tuberous Begonia it is well to mulch the bed with lawn clippings. Water thoroughly once a day, and, if very dry, or at all exposed to the sun, twice a day. So really wonderful are their blossoms, and so long and freely do they bloom, that they well repay a little extra care and protection. When frosty nights come the tuberous Begonias must be lifted, potted and kept indoors until they have completed their season of growth. ”

“ Many of the glaring blues, purples, crimsons, and magentas of the Cinerarias, and some of the agonizing reds of the Chinese primrose are equally to be avoided as so much rubbish for which the greenhouse has no room. The common pink begonia, which every one grows because every one else grows it, should likewise be left out in favor of many other better varieties of its class. Of roses there can not well be too many; and of these a well-grown Maréchal Niel or a Gloire de Dijon can scarcely be excelled for luxuriance, fragrance, and beauty of bloom. ”

“ This specimen was 12 inches high when we placed it in the Begonia bed the 22nd, of May. There it grew and grew, until the first of September when it was placed in a pail, and since then it has grown and blossomed almost like the famous gourd. The soil is old swamp dirt, with one-fourth wood soot. No insects have ever bothered it. We spray the leaves with warm water to cleanse the lovely foliage and water the plant with very warm water. Try this Begonia, it is a fine one.—E. Clearwaters.
KANSAS
Editor Mayflower:
Seldom you see anything written about the good old fashioned Zinnias. ”

“ A fragment of a Begonia-leaf imbedded in fit soil and kept at an appropriate temperature, will develop a young Begonia; and so small is the fragment which is thus capable of originating a complete plant, that something like a hundred plants may be produced from a single leaf. ”

“ The begonia rex makes a beautiful parlor plant. Five or seven leaves make a nice-sized plant: Select five or seven healthy begonia leaves of different sizes, as no two leaves of the rex are of one size on the same plant. Cut the leaves closely off the stem and immerse them in a solution of cold water and castile soap. Leave them in this twelve hours before using. Melt the wax to the consistency of cream, in chrome green, permanent green, dark olive-green, and verdigris-green. Now take a leaf out of the soapsuds and lay it on a marble slab, keeping the under surface or veined side uppermost ”

“ A word is necessary as to soil. The Begonia is a gross feeder, and to develop its fine qualities there must be a liberal employment of manure. As a matter of fact, it is scarcely possible to make the soil too rich for this flower. ”

“ The only genus in this tribe is Begonia, the plants belonging to which have pretty flowers, and strongly-veined leaves, which are crimson on the lower side, with one half smaller423 than the other, and each furnished with a pair of large stipules. The flowers are male and female; the first consist of four sepals, two of which are much longer than the others, and a beard of anthers, with the filaments united into one common stalk, and each anther containing two cells for pollen. The female flowers have five sepals ”

“ It must be carefully housed before the lightest frost appears. Its vigor and beauty are increased by the addition of wood soot to the soil.
All the begonias thrive well as house plants. My experience with the new and choice varieties has not been sufficient to enable me to give valuable advice in regard to their culture. I had formerly supposed that a north window might suit a begonia. It was a mistaken impression. The plant, I find, needs sunlight and a warm atmosphere. ”

“ Near the summit and all down the slopes is found a species of Begonia, a genus, as I [289] am informed by Baron von Mueller, not before recorded from islands east of New Guinea. [428] A dense growth of the trailing stems of a Freycinetia and of ferns clothes the rocky sides of the highest peak, which is almost bare of trees. Here however I found a new genus of the Pandanaceæ, which, like some other pandanus trees, is known to the natives as “sararang.” It grows to a height of fifty feet, and was only observed by me on the highest peak of the island and for two or three hundred feet below. ”

“ B. racemosa (racemed) . fl. purple, disposed in racemose terminal panicles. July. l. ovate-lanceolate, glabrous; branchlets smooth or hispid. h. 3ft. to 5ft. Georgia, 1810.
BEGONIA (named after M. Begon, a French patron of botany) . ORD. Begoniaceæ. A large genus of succulent herbs or undershrubs (a few climbers) , in many of which the stem is reduced to a tuberous rhizome, whilst some are distinctly tuberous. Flowers usually showy and large, white, rose, scarlet, or yellow, unisexual; perianth segments petaloid, four to five divisions, rarely two. ”

“ While the rough or hairy leaved varieties will not stand hot sunshine they will do much better and be more sure to bloom if they stand where the early morning or late afternoon sun can shine upon them. B. Vernon and two or three other varieties will stand as much hot sunshine as Portulaca if given plenty of water at the roots and an overhead showering every day after the sun is gone, in dry weather. No Begonia will do well here on the prairie if bedded out, and plunging in pot is worse. I don't like earthen pots for them any way—the plants do better in wood or tin. ”

“ Our interior summers are more trying, and so far, few in the west have succeeded so well with the Tuberous Begonia as a bedding plant. It makes a fine summer-blooming pot-plant, however, for the greenhouse or window, and with due attention to its requirements, it may be used as a bedding plant. It properly falls under greenhouse plants in its requirements. ”

“ The garden is very sheltered, and never seems to suffer from the strong, rough winds which those in a more exposed and open situation feel so keenly. Here there comes no rude blast from the east to strip the leaves off the great begonia plants, and their brittle foliage and heavy flower-heads remain unbruised and untorn, while many a neighbouring garden has suffered severely at the hands of a winter storm. Each plant is a perfect specimen in itself, and is the result of many years’ care and attention. ”

“ Begonias used to be little grown in the outdoor garden, but of late years you see them everywhere. We advise you to buy the inexpensive unnamed tubers in April from any good nurseryman. When your Begonias arrive you will find that they look rather like flattened, badly-grown potatoes, and if you see no little pink shoots on [87] them, you must put them in a shallow box of sand or sandy soil or cocoanut-fibre, and set the box on a dry light shelf till growth begins. If you can put your box in a cool greenhouse, so much the better. ”

“ On isolated leaves of the well-known begonia, a whole plant, containing all the essential parts, may arise from any single cell125 of the epidermis, at least along the veins, and in some liverworts it has been shown by Vöchting, that almost every cell of the whole is able to reproduce the plant, as is also the case in many algae. ”

“ The same condition has been met with as a teratological occurrence in the leaves of Cardamine pratensis, Hyacinthus Pouzolzii, Drosera intermedia, [161] Arabis pumila, Chelidonium majus, Chirita sinensis, [162] Episcia bicolor, [163] Zamia, &c. [164] Many species of Begonia possess the power of emitting buds from the petioles and veins of the leaf; the little ramenta or scales which so plentifully beset the surface of some of these plants likewise, in some instances, pass gradually into leaves. ”

“ Some growers keep their tubers exposed in a light, airy greenhouse until the stalks and stems are so shrivelled that they will drop off with a touch. As long as they are not shrivelled, they constitute a danger to the tuber during its time of rest. Begonias must be stored in sand or cocoanut-fibre in shallow boxes, and kept in a frost-free place through the winter. They can be grown from seed or from cuttings under glass, but we think both operations are a little beyond the juvenile gardener. ”

“ The characters of all true species are, however, reproduced in their seedlings. For the successful raising of Begonia seeds it is necessary to sow them on pans or pots of well-drained, light, sandy soil, which should be well watered before the seeds are sown. ”

“ As a double flower it is remarkably fine, the petals being well formed, pretty smoothly laid and imbricated."—James Vick.
The soil best adapted for Begonias is turfy loam, leaf-mold, sand, and old well-rotted manure in equal parts. When growing, they require a liberal supply of water, applied directly to the soil. ”

“ It is one of the most easily cultivated of house-plants. The seed is fine like the Begonia, is handled in the same way, and germinates in eight or ten days. Shift as often as the pot fills with roots, using a size larger each time and disturbing the roots as little as possible. Rather more loam than leaf-mould is used in potting them. Keep in an east window in winter, where there is good morning sunlight and a temperature of at least 60 degrees. The air should be kept moist, either from blossoming bulbs or dishes of water on the stove. ”

“ Other plants, such as gloxinia and begonia, are known to have the power of bringing forth a new, complete plant from each of their leaves. From a small cut applied to a vein in a leaf, which is then embedded in earth, a root will soon be seen springing downward, and a stalk with leaves rising upward. ”

“ Plants like the Begonia, which bear single-sex flowers, often grow in somewhat isolated positions and so must intermarry a great deal among themselves. Staminate flowers at the top of a stalk can shower pollen over many female flowers growing below them. ”

“ Begonias are familiar tender bedding and house plants. Next to the geranium, begonias are probably the most popular for house culture of the entire plant list. The ease of culture, great variety of kinds, profusion of bloom or richness of foliage, together with their adaptability to shade, make them very desirable. ”

“ At 11,560 feet elevation, I arrived at an immense rock of gneiss, buried in the forest. Here currant-bushes were plentiful, generally growing on the pine-trunks, in strange association with a small species of Begonia, a hothouse tribe of plants in England. Emerging from the forest, vast old moraines are crossed, in a shallow mountain valley, several miles long and broad, 12,000 feet above the sea, choked with rhododendron shrubs, and nearly encircled by snowy mountains. Magnificent gentians grew here, also Senecio, Corydalis, and the Aconitum luridum (n. sp.) ”

“ Within the last twenty years a new race, characterised by a tuberous root-stock, annual herbaceous stem, and large handsome flowers, has been introduced from the Andes of South America, from which, by means of careful cross-fertilisation and selection, a large number of beautiful and almost hardy kinds have been raised. The size, substance, and rich colours of the flowers of the majority of the plants of this race of Begonias are witness to what may be done by skilful cultivation and careful cross-breeding among plants. ”

“ It is only in the more open spots that a botanist is able to make close acquaintance with the smaller trees and shrubs. Near to the stream I was able to hook down a branch and secure flowering specimens of a Begonia that grew to a height of over twenty feet. In such situations Melastomaceæ were everywhere abundant, but for variety of forms the ferns surpassed any of the families of flowering plants. ”

“ As yet they have not flowered, but as they agree in all details with phyllomaniaca there can be little doubt that the original plant bearing that name was a hybrid similarly produced. The production of "phyllomania" on a hybrid Begonia has also been previously recorded by Duchartre. ”

“ When an especially dainty and out-of-the-common decoration is wanted for the table, nothing superior to it can be found. This begonia can be obtained from most florists in fall. If care is taken to remove it from the table to the window after it has done decorative duty, it will remain in bloom during the greater part of winter. But it must not be left on the table long at a time. Neither should any of the other plants named, for they will suffer if kept away from good light very long. ”

“ For example, I gave my pet carnations just as much water, and as often, as my geraniums. They began to look sick and I lost three before I found out they did not require much wetting.
I’m thinking seriously of trying the different varieties of some one plant, begonias, perhaps. According to catalogue description they are admirably adapted to house culture. They do not require much sun and are free from insects. Most varieties blossom freely, and even if they did not the foliage is very attractive. ”

“ Begonias, in great variety, tall and short, with blossoms large and small, shading from white through every gradation of pink to deep scarlet, form a most important foundation for every Portuguese garden; as, from their prolonged season of blooming, some varieties seeming to be in perpetual bloom, they always provide a note of colour. Pelargoniums, allowed to grow into tall bushes, in due season make bright masses of colour, the velvety texture of their petals seeming to enhance the brilliancy of their colouring. ”

“ Thus, the cases which you mention obviously go to support the theory, inasmuch as they conform to the expectation above mentioned. What I want to do is to find as many genera as possible like binchona and begonia, where the constituent species are separated geographically or topographically, and (? in consequence) easily hybridise with one another. ”