348 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



lections of plants -vportli (say) £50 kept in pits marie with turf walls and strips of 

 deal for plates, and for lights old window frames, Tlie proper thing is of course the 

 best in the end, hut people with short purses cannot have all they want, and extem- 

 porized pits ought never to be treated with contempt. One thing we may be sure of 

 is that a makeshift contrivance demands skill to manage it ; so those who do well 

 therewith must have the praise that is their due. 



A very important matter in reference to the approaching winter is to get the 

 plants into a fit state to endure low degrees of temperature'without harm. If left out 

 in the ground until they are absolutely in danger of being destroyed by frost, is 

 really to prepare them for destruction under glass ultimately. The late warm rains 

 will have started into new growth such things &s geranium?, verbenas, etc., left in 

 the borders, and the longer they are left out the more gross and sappy will they 

 get, and the more difficult will it be to carry them through tlie winter. What few 

 plants are potted up for the winter here were commenced with while this sheet was 

 in the press. Such mild weather as the pi-esent, with much atmospheric moisture, 

 will, after the check they sustain by the lifting process, help them to fill their pots 

 with roots, and when taken indoors for the winter a few degrees of frost will not 

 harm them ; in fact, their condition through such treatment is eminently favourable 

 to their preservation without the aid of fire-heat till quite the turn of the new year. 

 Supposing any of these to be saved to cut from in spring, their dormant condition 

 during the dull months would be all in favour of their making a nice free growth 

 when put into heat in February ; whereas if much used to fire-heat before the new 

 year, suitable stuff for cuttings would be more hard to get from them. 



Still more important is it to have all plants potted up for winter, in pots well 

 drained, and in a free, open, gritty compost. It is astonishing to note the difference 

 that is observable in the behaviour of plants in sweet soil that allows of quick escape 

 for water, and others in sour, pasty, damp stuff, on the surface of Avhieh there is 

 spi'ead a coat of black confervce, with patches of liverworts. Carelessness in making 

 composts may be unattended with serious consequences in summer time, but when 

 autumn arrives, and the stufi" for plants to winter in is in preparation, there must he 

 a plentiful use of grit, or the labour is in great part thrown away. It is here that 

 thousands of amateurs make a fatal slip. They persist in supposing that this or that 

 wiU do ; they make pasty mixtures ; they content themselves with the common soil 

 of the place, without any mixing at all; they crock the pots carelessly ; they sedu- 

 lously lay the foundation for damp and mildew in the pots, and the consf quence is 

 that about the 1st of February the top shoots of their plants turn black and rot ; 

 about the 1st of ilarch, many plants that have looked well till then suddenly acquire 

 a yellow hue, and look as if suddenly blighted. When examined, they are found to 

 be rotted through at the collar, a process which has been going on slowly and surely 

 ever since the day they were potted the previous October, and so labour, glass, and 

 fuel have all been wasted on them, for rottenness at the collar is an incurable disease. 

 When scarce plants go off in this way, it is possible oftentimes to recover them by 

 the simple process of making cuttings of the freshest of the living shoots — throwing 

 away, of course, the roots and the rotten stem. Geraniums " on the go" may often 

 be saved — that is the varieties — by this process, for they are often quite healthy in 

 the top shoots when quite dead and black at the collar, and if the cuttings are put 

 on bottom-heat, they will soon root and make plants. 



I hope I may be excused making a remark upon the predilections of amateurs 

 for things of no value. It is not often that I indulge in objurgations against the 

 tastes and likings of people ; and if I do so now, it is with a good object, even if I 

 overpass the limits of fair license. I bethink me of the vast quantities of Verbenas, 

 Petunias, Tropreolums, and other such things that occupy greenhouse shelves all 

 winter to the displacement of Camellias, Acacias, Chorozemas, Salvias, Tree Car- 

 nations, Habrothamnus, Epacris, exotic ferns, and other first-class plants which 

 require little else beyond protecting from frost, and which are so much more worthy 

 of manual skill and watchful care, and glass and fuel. A selection of Geraniums 

 ought to be found in every garden, and the most valued kinds must be allowed to 

 acquire age to show their qualities ; but many other subjects that are useful in 

 summer only, and that can be bought by the hundred for a mere trifle, cannot be so 

 well adapted to repay an amateur for his care of a stock all winter as a few of those 

 more noble subjects which at all seasons ore beautiful, and which in the spring 

 months are especially valuable for their glorious flowers. H. 



