196 THE FLORAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



their culture ; or if we fail in that, we shall at least help a few 

 hundreds out of the many thousands that read the Floral Woeld 

 to grow them better than they have hitherto done. I will not 

 occupy a single line in speaking of the comparative value of the 

 various sections of this great family. Every one has its use without 

 clashing or interfering with any other, therefore no good purpose 

 could possibly be served were I to enter into a long dissertation on 

 the failings and shortcomings of all the others, and unduly praise 

 the two sections I have taken under my charge on the present 

 occasion. But, before commencing the cultural part of this paper, I 

 will just observe, that if they all bloomed at one and the same time, 

 I should unhesitatingly give my adherence to these, and discard, with 

 but few exceptions, all the others ; but as they do not all bloom 

 together, they are all wanted, and there is an end to it. 



By way of beginning, I will say, that not in one case out of 

 twenty do we see pelargoniums properly grown at our provincial 

 shows ; and even when we do, they very often come from people 

 who show at our metropolitan exhibitions. I am not saying this to 

 make it appear that the whole business of geranium-growing will 

 come to a stand-still if my advice is not followed. I don't want to 

 prove anything of the kind, and I am doing no more than simply 

 recording the fact that pelargoniums are not grown by amateurs so 

 well as they should be. This does not happen because they are not 

 fond of them, or dead to their merits ; or, on the other hand, because 

 the plants are difficult to grow. I attribute it wholly and solely to 

 their attempting too much, perhaps trying to grow twice the quan- 

 tity of plants in a certain space than there is room for. I don't 

 want to persuade any one to confine himself to such a few plants as 

 to be able only to have flowers for a couple of months throughout 

 the \shole year; but I do want to induce our friends to grow no 

 more than they can do well, for a few plants grown well must give 

 more pleasure to the proprietor than a host of things huddled 

 together, with no room to grow properly. I don't expect or want 

 them to grow immense plants, from four to six feet across, such as 

 we have been delighted with this season at our metropolitan exhibi- 

 tions, by Mr. C. Turner, Mr. Eraser, Mr. Nye, and others ; but I 

 want to see nice plants, dwarf and compact, and with solid heads of 

 bloom about a foot or eighteen inches through, instead of plants 

 with thin, lanky shoots a couple of feet long, with a few weak flowers 

 at the top. 



By the time the Eloeal "Woeld for July makes its appearance, 

 the greater part of these plants will have done flowering, and the- 

 question arises, "What's to be done with them ? The best way, as a 

 rule, when writing about the cultural treatment of any particular 

 plant, is to begin at the beginning, and start with a young plant ; 

 but in this case I will take another course, and begin with the old 

 plants after they have done their best for the season, for upon their 

 treatment just now depends in a great measure the success which 

 w6 expect hereafter. If we have no ripened wood, we shall have 

 but few young plants, and without young plants it will be impos- 

 sible for us to 2:row old ones. 



