200 



THE FLORAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



one appears and puts them all hors 

 de combat. 



It is an easy transition enough 

 from scarlet to crimson, but we must 

 go once more among the Nosegays 

 for the richest colours possible among 

 bedding geraniums. My old plants 

 of Inq^erial Crimson in 48-sized pots, 

 the plants not at all pruned back last 

 season, but simply shaken out and 

 repotted in very sound and rather 

 rich compost in April, have been a 

 marvellous sight all the season. The 

 gardeners would have begged cut- 

 tings of me till the very stumps and 

 roots would have been chopped up, 

 hut I do not give cuttings, and so all 

 they could do was to book it, and get 

 it how and where they please. ]3ut 

 I only told a few of those with whom 

 I exchange notes confidentially, that 

 in the clump of pot plants where Im- 

 perial Crimson made such a deep 

 rich glow, that there were plants of 

 Merrimac, Spread Eagle, and Lord 

 Falmerston intermixed, and that they 

 lighted up one another so that, at a 

 moderate distance, you could not de- 

 tect that more than one variety was 

 used. But it amused me when I 

 went over the Kensington Gardens 

 ■with Mr. Eyles, to find that he had 

 been doing something similar. Lord 

 Palmerston was used there this season 

 as last, and with remarkable efiiect, 

 and at the head of each of the beds 

 he had put clumps of Stella Nosegay, 

 the intense scarlet flowers of which 

 simply added to the imperial richness 

 of his Lordship's state costume, and, 

 what is more, blended with it, so 

 that, in a general survey of the 

 ground, the mixture was not dis- 

 cernible. As I have expressed my 

 doubts of Lord Palmerstoyi^s wear'- 

 ing qualities, I must say here that 

 this season it has proved itself in 

 every sense the finest of all the Nose- 

 gays, and that should be praise 

 enough, for the world does not now 

 need to be told that for colour the 

 Nosegay geraniums have no parallel 

 among all the varieties of bedding 

 plants, not even verbenas excepted. 



It puzzles me that amateurs have 

 to buy so much every spring, seeing 

 how easy it is to get up and keep a 

 stock of any of the bedding gera- 



niums. It is very certain they do 

 not follow the advice of the Floeal 

 WoBLD to the letter, else, where 

 there are bargains going on for hun- 

 dreds and thousands of Tom Thumbs 

 and such like common things, there 

 would be money to spare to buy in a 

 few of the novelties ; for, after all, 

 when a good display has been secured 

 by the use of varieties well known, 

 there is an immense amount of amuse- 

 ment to be had out of novelties, in 

 flowering them, judging them, pro- 

 pagating, exchanging, and making 

 comparative notes ; and, even if a ievf 

 disappointments happen, being able 

 nevertheless to determine the exact 

 point gained in the march of im- 

 provement and obtaining some insight 

 into the probabilities of the future. 

 Experience tells me that, where only 

 moderate quantities of any one variety 

 is required, it is best to pot all cut- 

 tings into thumbs in the first instance, 

 using a good compost for the purpose, 

 and placing the pots in a frame 

 on a bed of cocoa-nut dust, and giving 

 a little shade during mid-day hours. 

 If large quantities are required, then 

 the good old method of inserting the 

 cuttings in the open border and in 

 the full sun is unequalled for quick- 

 ness and certainty, but it increases 

 the work at the potting bench at a 

 time when there is a terrible amount 

 of potting to do ; whereas by putting 

 cuttings in pots at once, they may 

 remain in those pots till spring if 

 needful, or may have one shift to 

 60's to winter in, and a time of 

 leisure may be chosen for the ope- 

 ration. Another advantage of the 

 potting system is, that in the case of 

 scarce kinds, one joint and its accom- 

 panying leaf suffices to make a yjlant, 

 but when the cuttings are put in the 

 border there must be something more 

 substantial, three or four joints at 

 least, or a little extra drought or sun- 

 shine may reduce them to dust. The 

 way I root little mites of cuttings 

 where there is positively nothing of 

 stem to fix in the soil, is to take a 

 short piece of stick or one of the 

 thin chips that occur in cutting flower 

 sticks ; this I snap gently so as to 

 bend it into the form of the letter 

 V. If the delicate mite of a 



