202 



THE FLORAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



close over, and were not in bloom till 

 nearly the end of July, so that for pots 

 and borders we were obliged to have in 

 picked plants with the nursery stock. 



You have, perhaps, already anticipated 

 one of the consequences of this preserving 

 and propagating — what was to become of 

 the large stock of plants from April to 

 the end of May with so little pit and frame 

 room ? In April, too, I lost the top room — 

 notice to quit wa3 speedily followed by 

 ejection, and the pots strewed about the 

 house on shelves and window-sills, were 

 voted a bore — how a touch of spring sun- 

 shine wakens up the female sex to a per- 

 ception of the dirt, and trampling, and 

 spLishings of water occasioned by in-door 

 gardening ! In front of the house, in a 

 warm corner facing the south, and quite 

 sheltered from wind, we made a hyberna- 

 oulum, that was as good as a three-light 

 frame. Some stakes were driven in rows 

 in front, and some hooks put in the wall ; 

 from the wall to the stakes, a breadth of 

 Hawthorn's hexagon net of very close 

 mesh, was stretched, and under that fuch- 

 sias that had started, geraniums making 

 vigorous growth, and the most hardened 

 of the young spring-struck cuttings, were 

 kept till frosts were over. The net was 

 only used in cold weather, the plants had 

 the full sunshine and as much water as 

 they wanted, and at night it was only one 

 minute's work to hook the net over them, 

 and if the night was frosty the net was 

 doubled. From the plants so kept, our 

 ribbons, beds, and mixed borders, have 

 been abundantly stocked, and when the 

 planting was completed, the refuse was 

 used for rustic baskets, which could be 

 kept out of sight till they became respec- 

 table, so that we did not nourish in rus- 

 tic work till the middle of July, when we 

 brought them forward on the lawn, and 

 were thenceforth as gay as other people. 



By this time, everybody who troubles 

 to make cuttings at all, is pretty well 

 stocked with geraniums. I have a large 

 bank of young plants, struck in June, 

 July, and August, now in sixty-sized pots, 

 all in full bloom. The crimson-flowered 

 ivy leaf makes a fine plant for rustic bas- 

 kets, and flowers at once long before it 

 has filled its pots with roots in summer- 

 time ; so does Reidii, Little David, Tom 

 Thumb, Kingsbmy Pet, and the Bride, 

 but Commanders, Cerise, and Queens 

 seldom bloom till they have thrown up a 

 number of green shoots, and therefore, 

 ai*e not to be depended on for blooming 

 so quickly. But these large growing 

 sorts, the Queen, and Oriflame, and Mrs. 



Maylin, especially if potted into thumbs 

 in June and July, plunged in coal-ashes 

 in the full sun and kept moderately moist, 

 may have a shift into sixties three weeks 

 after, and into forty-eights in August or 

 September. If any bloom-buds appear, 

 they are at once nipped out, and the plants, 

 kept growing in full sunshine, make 

 beautiful specimens for winter blooming 

 in the greenhouse, and so I purpose to 

 have plenty of scarlet, to mix with the 

 citysiises, camellias, primulas, and cinera- 

 rias under glass this winter and next 

 spring. 



Now, the above narrative of events may 

 not be sufficiently precise to meet the case 

 as to suggestions for management of many 

 who are now anxious about increasing and 

 keeping bedding-stock for next year ; let 

 me, therefore, offer a few hints derived 

 from the experience of the past fifteen 

 years, as to propagation and preservation 

 in general. The scarlet geraniums are the 

 easiest of all things to manage — so easy, 

 that when I see how people run mad 

 about Tom Thumbs, and plant them every- 

 where, in place and out of place, I often 

 wish they were as difficult to keep as he- 

 liotropes, then they would be used in mo- 

 deration, and we should not be in danger 

 of losing the sense of the appreciation of 

 softer and quieter colours, which we are now, 

 from the immoderate use of scarlet in 

 gardens everywhere. The whole race of 

 the scarlets are best struck in August and 

 September. They require no shading, no 

 artificial heat, and may be put in by the 

 hundred from either soft or hard wood, 

 young sprouts, or ripe branches. Thin 

 out the beds, as cuttings can be got without 

 spoiling the beauty of the plants ; cut every 

 shoot close under the last joint, remove 

 the two lowest leaves, or remove only the 

 bottom leaf, according to the length of 

 the ratting, and either strike them in pots 

 or in the open ground, but in either case, 

 full in the sun. The smallest and green- 

 est ai'e best dealt with in the old style — 

 that is, fill small pots with one- third 

 drainage, and the remainder equal parts 

 of loam and sand, and put the cuttings 

 in all round to touch the inside of the pot ; 

 press the soil firm, so as to sqeeze them 

 hard against the pot, plunge the pots in 

 coal-ashes, where the sun shines all day 

 long, water every evening, and every one 

 will make a good plant to shift into thumb 

 pots three weeks afterwards. The stouter 

 shoots dibble into a border anywhere in a 

 sunny place, and they will only want one 

 watering when first put in, and need have no 

 further attention till taken up and potted, 



