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T1IE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



their place. Then, those first pots now in 

 a cooler temperature, and with a little air 

 under the left-hand light, soon get suffi- 

 ciently forward to come out altogether, and as 

 soon as the first half-dozen are strong enough 

 to leave the warm sand that gives them 

 bottom heat, they are lifted out and jammed 

 in between the glass and the side of the 

 case, so that the warm air that is always 

 escaping there, passes over them, and pre- 

 vents too great a check, and they get the 

 full light to prevent spindling. Thus, in- 

 stead of going ia and coming out in batches, 

 after the first filling of the case, the cuttings 

 progress according to their strength and con- 

 dition from that half of the case which is 

 hottest and closest, to that which is cooler 

 and partially ventilated, till they come out 

 altogether, and still, for a while enjoy a warm 

 current, which, coming from below them, 

 strikes first on the bottoms of the pots. Pans 

 of sand and water are served in precisely the 

 same way. The pans are filled within half an 

 inch of the rim, and then filled to the rim 

 with clear water; the cuttings are stuck all 

 over the surface, as if they were aquatics, and 

 the sand is just firm enough to enable them 

 to hold up in the wet. By the time they 

 have travelled from the hot to the cool side 

 of the case the surplus water has evaporated, 

 the cuttings have rooted into the sand, and 

 they are at once potted into thumbs, with 

 sand at top to promote further rooting, and 

 prevent damping off. 



It is at this juncture that a hot-bed does 

 good service, if made up a few weeks after the 

 first lighting of the lamp of the Waltonian 

 case. By the time the first of the cuttings 

 have made root, the dung is sweetened, and 

 the heat moderate and constant. Instead of 

 coal-ashes — with which I never cover any 

 material that is afterwards to be dug into the 

 ground, on account of their injurious proper- 

 ties — I cover the dung with either moss or 

 spent tan, and before the pots are plunged, I 

 water the surface with boiling water, into 

 which has been thrown a lump of salt. This 

 effectually "settles" the little slugs and 

 woodlice that harbour all the winter in such 

 loose materials, and the moisture promotes 

 the equable diffusion of the bottom heat. In 

 this way we get towards cold frames again, 

 May-day brings its customary blasts from 

 the north-east, but sun-heat is abundant, 

 and we take care to shut it in, for, in spring, 

 shutting up sun-heat is just as good as it 

 is hurtful in autumn. 



But what about the geraniums ? Last sum- 

 mer, being "on the move," and not knowing 

 how I might fare in the succeeding winter, 

 I got rid of every pelargonium as soon as 

 the blooming was fairly over. I cut down, 

 and struck lots of Guardsman, Admirable, 



Gauntlet, Arethusa, Alba multiflora, and 

 French spotted sorts, and got rid of old 

 plants and young ones, when they were in 

 their highest health and vigour of new 

 growth, keeping every one of the horseshoe 

 breed, and a few uniques I never before 

 tried to keep scarlet geraniums cottager's 

 fashion — in fact, I never thoroughly believed 

 the stories I had heard about hanging them 

 up by the heels in cellars, burying them in 

 peat, and wintering them by hundreds in 

 pots in attics, and so forth ; and though 

 everybody knows that scarlet geraniums will 

 bear drought, darkness, and two or three de- 

 grees of frost, one can't help wondering what 

 sort of appearance plants present in May, 

 that have been preserved by makeshift. 

 Well, in my difficulty last winter, I kept 

 a large number of old and young plants 

 of all the leading sorts of Scarlets, Com- 

 manders, Queens, Reidiis, Tom Thumbs, 

 Tom Thumb's Bride, Cerise, Kingsbury Pet, 

 Oriflame, Miles's Seedling, Baron Hugel, 

 Little David, Punch, and Flower of the Day, 

 some in a top room, on a temporary stage, 

 put up before the window', and against the 

 wall opposite the window, on the true cot- 

 tager's plan, of hanging them up like 

 bunches of herbs. The Tom Thumbs were 

 taken up on the 28th of September, full of 

 bloom, and loosely packed in wicker baskets, 

 with the mould about their roots, and with 

 lots of flowers on them. The others were 

 either taken up and potted, to go on bloom- 

 ing, or were already in pots, and fit for storing 

 as they were. A number of . Tom Thumbs, 

 that had bloomed themselves almost to death 

 all the summer in forty-eights, were left un- 

 touched, without cutting, and without shift- 

 ing, and all the pot plants were kept out 

 of doors till very near Christmas, and the 

 wonderfully mild season we had till then 

 kept them blooming as well as in September. 

 The lot that had been stowed in baskets 

 were, by pressure of circumstances, kept un- 

 touched for a week ; they were then turned 

 out, every leaf stripped off, but not a shoot 

 cut. They were then tied in bundles, by 

 passing a cord round the stems, close to the 

 roots, and the mould allowed to fall from the 

 roots, but none of it forcibly shaken off. They 

 were at once hung up on nails, in the light, 

 the window open in fine weather, and they 

 remained untouched till February, when each 

 bundle was thrust, roots downwards, into a 

 large flower-pot, and just sprinkled with 

 water. They were then safe from frost, and 

 though the roots were dry as chips when 

 taken from the nails, the branches were 

 breaking all over beautifully. To have 

 potted them, and plunged them in heat, 

 ■would, I believe, have killed every one, so 

 they were, after a fortnight, during which 



