JANUAKY. 



A FEW GENERAL RExMARRS FOR THE SEASON. 



When a person sets about teaching us how to do a thing, we natu- 

 rally inquire how he succeeds himself ; and he is well deserving of 

 ridicule who, after contributing a number of instructions through the 

 pages of a gardening periodical, brings to the exhibition-tables, or 

 shews on his own premises, a collection of plants deficient in every 

 point of skilful management. It was my intention to have contri- 

 buted some pajjers upon the cultivation of the Pelargonium ; but find- 

 ing that Mr. Dobson is about to pubhsh a treatise upon the subject, 

 I gladly turn my attention to some general observations, because his 

 uniform success as a grower and exhibitor will assure his readers that 

 they may more safely follow the directions he gives than my own. 

 It remains for me only to wish him success in this undertaking, as 

 well as in his Nursery, where your readers will find a clean, healthy, 

 and well-cultivated stock ; and if they are inclined to extend their 

 walk, they may, with all freedom, as in days gone by, examine my 

 collection both of specimen-plants and seedlings ; and if they find 

 little to admire, I trust they will find less to condemn. I shall ad- 

 dress my monthly observations to those who, like myself, are strictly 

 amateurs ; and let it not be objected to my offerings that they con- 

 tain nothing new. Alas, there is nothing new under the sun. Every 

 season brings an addition to our numbers, and they must, of course, 

 be learners; and whilst of all teachers, practice will be found the best, 

 yet the results of the experience of their elder brethren may save the 

 beginner both time, trouble, and loss. I shall not enlarge on these 

 points, but at once proceed to remark upon the absolute necessity of 

 Cleanliness in Plant-Culture. 



At this season of short days and long nights, every part of a 

 greenhouse should be as clean as a new pin. The glass should be 

 clean, the floor and shelves quite clean, and the pots the same. The 

 plants should be examined every day, and individually, to see that all 

 fogged leaves are removed, that no green-fly is in existence, and that 

 the soil on the surface is in good condition. The eye soon becomes 

 accustomed to this kind of examination, and readily detects in the 

 flimsy leaf that the stalk is decaying, or in the old white jackets of 

 the green-fly, that he is to be found in a new suit somewhere on the 

 plant. These remarks apply to all plants in the greenhouse, but es- 

 pecially to Pelargoniums, both old stock and seedlings. If these are 

 in separate houses, so much the better ; mine are so ; and my plan is 

 to treat the former rather as hardy plants than tender ones, whilst I 

 keep the latter rather closer and warmer ; but with plenty of space 

 between them. By hardy I mean, I avoid fire-heat as much as pos- 

 sible, covering the houses with blinds in the evening, opening the 

 top-lights at daylight, even with several degrees of frost outside ; of 

 course taking care Jack never gets within, and shutting up about 

 noon, or a little after. My specimen-house has one of Dromgole's 

 louvre-board glass ventilators in it ; this is always left open day and 

 night, on the same principle as we keep the chimney open in a bed- 

 room. Hardy treatment in the last month and the present off'ers 



