HISTORY AND CULTIVATION.
Few plants have a greater claim on the American plant grower than the Begonia. It has been too much the habit to sigh after, and bewail the want of “Chiswick Heaths,” and other things which do not do well in America, to the manifest neglect of many beautiful things which do. It is time we had ceased to be the mere copyists of English horticulture. We have so rapidly advanced, that we should aim at an independence that can be achieved; and, as in government so in gardening, take our place as one of the horticultural “nations of the earth.” We have been a “colony of Chiswick and Edinboro,” “Paris and Ghent” hitherto; we have experienced on every occasion slights and neglects; whatever we do is passed over in silence, and whatever we discover remains unnoticed or is scorned. These are some of our grievances. All our horticultural papers have taken up the subject in turn, and pressed our claims on English journalists; but how have they been met? A private letter on the success of one individual plant has been published in one magazine; and two hybrid Peonys have been named in Belgium in honor of Americans. Perhaps once a year a short extract in the Revue horticole on Forsythia viridissima from the Horticulturist; or, a notice in the Gardener’s Chronicle of how to preserve Tomatoes from Hovey’s Magazine. We must have done with whining and complaining about these things. Let us strike out new courses for ourselves. We may never hope to excel them in Heaths, Pansies, Calceolarias, or many other things, as a general rule, nor is it desirable we should. Let them boast of their excellence; we will raise another standard.
The Begonia is peculiarly adapted to become such a plant as I have described. Requiring in England a moist and very artificial atmosphere, it does not make any very great progress in popular estimation. Here it thrives with very common care; all doing in a greenhouse 9 months in the year; and many doing well in the open air, if in a somewhat shaded situation. They are for the most part natives of Brazil or Mexico.
To cultivate them successfully we must divide them into two classes:—the tuberous rooted, and the shrubby. Each of these will require separate treatment. The following kinds are amongst the best in cultivation, either here, or in English gardens, from whence they can be easily procured.
Tuberous Rooted.
1. B. discolor or Evansiana, native of China, with pinkish white flowers, may be had in bloom from May to October.
2. cinnabarina, from Bolivia, deep pink or cinnabar, from June to October.
3. Martiana, from Brazil, deep pinky rose, from July to October.
4. diptera, Cape of Good Hope, whitish, June to August.
5. Barkeri, Mexico, dull white, February to December.
These require to be kept rather dry and cool in the winter season. No. 5. may be had in flower all the year, by having several pots, and keeping them dry at different periods. Early in spring the tubers may be potted in 6 in. pots, in a soil composed of well-decayed leaf mould, loam, and sand. They require little water till the leaves appear, when they will take an abundance. They may be forwarded in a little heat, but will do pretty well if allowed to come along with the season. They are easily propagated from their tubers, by cuttings, or by seeds.
Shrubby or Fibrous Rooted.
1. B. nitida, native of Jamaica, with pinkish white flowers, and large, thick, shining leaves. May be had in bloom all the year, and made into handsome specimens.
2. B. spathulata, another West Indian, with a very erect habit of growth. The leaves are folded in like spoons, and the small white flowers appear at the ends of the young growth. It flowers from August to December, and is but an average kind.
3. B. odorata, a Brazilian kind allied to the last, but has a fine foliage, resembling nitida, the flowers came out like the last from August to December, are much larger and sweet scented.
4. B. hirtella, a Brazilian species, with a rather starved looking habit of growth, but an abundance of small, pinky white flowers, appearing from June to December.
5. B. ulmifolia, a South American, with elm like leaves, but of no great beauty of flower. Only desirable to form a collection.
6. B. argyrostigma, a Brazilian species, with curiously spotted leaves, which is its chief attraction. The flowers appear from June to December. It is a very strong grower—occupies much room.
7. B. hydrocotylifolia, a Brazilian pretty species. It is herbaceous, or has its leaves from a rhizoma creeping on the surface. Its pink flowers, borne on scapes about a foot high, appear from February to May.
8. B. parvifolia, a native of the Cape of Good Hope. It has very small leaves, grows about 2 feet high, and is always in flower. A white flowering and desirable kind.
9. B. albo-coccinea, a West Indian. Its oblique leaves are almost round, are very large and thick, and of a deep red beneath. The flowers appear from February to May; white on the inside, and scarlet on the back. The best of the rhizoma producing kinds.
10. B. nomonyma, a Brazilian species, in the way of B. manicata, with small white flowers, continuing from July to November.
11. B. castaneæfolia. The specimens that I have seen growing are so like B. ulmifolia, that I have either not seen the true species or they are both the same.
12. B. Fischeri, a rather scarce Brazilian species, but one of the most desirable, approaching B. incarnata. In the spring months it is covered with its numerous pink or white flowers.
13. B. incarnata, a South American, that should be No. 1 in all collections. Its pink flowers may be had nearly all the year.
14. B. coccinea, another first rate Brazilian. A strong grower, covered with spikes of scarlet flowers from April to July.
15. B. manicata, from Brazil. A fine species when well grown, though the individual flowers are indifferent. The leaves are distinguished by a production resembling the claws of a mole on their under surface. Flowers in winter and spring.
16. B. fuchsoides, a well known species from New Grenada, with fuchsia like foliage, and scarlet flowers, appearing from June to September, a strong grower and fine kind.
The species of this division are readily propagated from cuttings of the half ripened wood, put in sand, and plunged in a slight bottom heat. They are liable to damp off if kept too close. Indeed if they are in a situation somewhat shaded they will do better without the usual accompaniment of a bell glass. They will grow well in a soil of sandy loam and leaf mould. They should never be grown in very large pots; or, in the language of gardeners, should be always under potted. When growing fast they take a good supply of moisture; love a moist atmosphere and frequent applications of the syringe, and may be placed in the full light. If a moist atmosphere cannot be maintained, they will do better in a shaded part of the green house. The chief thing to guard against, is their damping off; small, well drained pots are the securities. When they are not growing they will live and do better with very little water. They are easily raised from seed, sown on the surface of the soil in pans, and placed in a warm shaded place, with the only attention of never being allowed to get dry. Some fine varieties, I believe, have been lately raised by hybridizing in Europe. It opens a fine field.
I think the remark of the Calendar writer in the last No. worthy of repetition; that the Horticultural Society would do well to encourage the growth of the Begonia by a premium.
A Philadelphia Gardener.