20 



CULTURE OF GERANIUMS. 



living-room, store-room under the hall, and 

 cellars under the parlor. 



The second story contains four bed-rooms. 

 This cottage would haA'^e the best effect if 

 built of brick and cement. It may also be 

 constructed verj'^ cheaply, and with very ex- 

 cellent effect, of the large unburnt brick 

 now coming into use in many parts of the 



country, as its wide projecting roof is well 

 calculated to protect walls of the latter kind 

 against damage by the weather. 



The roof itself is to be covered with 

 shingles of nearly uniform size, and cut 

 lozenge form, so as to form diamond figures 

 when laid, an easy and striking mode of giv- 

 ing an ornamental character to a wooden roof. 



HINTS ON THE CULTURE OF GERANIUMS.' 



BY PELARGONIUM, OF PHILADELPHIA. 



I HAVE thought that a few popular hints on 

 the cultivation of ihe Pelargonium, at this 

 season of the year, will be acceptable to 

 some of the numerous readers of the Horti- 

 culturist, from one who has long cultivated 

 it as his favorite flower, with good success. 

 The Pelargonium is not only the gayest or- 

 nament of the conservatories of the wealthy, 

 at the same time, but it is no less a favorite 

 flower in the cottage window, and Avhere 

 carefully grown, is scarcely surpassed in its 

 masses of green verdure and clusters of 

 flowers of the richest colors. 



I have repeatedly felt regret, when called 

 upon by ladies, to look at their " gerani- 

 ums," at seeing plants with three or four 

 long shoots, at the top a few leaves and or- 

 dinary' flowers ; and this has been the re- 

 ward perhaps of one or two years of care 

 and patience ; when at the same time those 

 who have the convenience, might have, with 

 very trifling care and expense, from the 

 first of April to July, plenty of flowers for 

 bouquets, and at the same time display par- 

 lor windows decorated with the finest plants. 



One of the first points for the beginner 

 to settle is the choice of sorts : the twen- 



* Strictly Pelargoniums— the division of this class of plants 

 popularly kiiuwa us Geraniums. 



ty-five named varieties below are distinct 

 ones, of excellent colors, reasonable in 

 price, and can be obtained of any respecta- 

 ble nurser}Tnan : Grand Duke, Lenoxii, A- 

 rabella, Coronation, Jewess, Bridesmaid, 

 Climax, Jubilee, Matilda, Conservative, 

 Comte de Paris, Hebe, Nymph, Beauty of 

 Ware, Flash, Lord Aucland, Miss Percival, 

 Eliza, King, Rising Sun, Shrubland Scar- 

 let, Sylph, Witch, Sidonia, Louis Quatorze, 

 The amateur will of course require a small 

 greenhouse to grow the plants in. The 

 best place for it will be under a wall or 

 building that has a full exposure to the 

 south and east, so that the plants may have 

 the light and sun as early as possible in the 

 morning. A green-house of the small di- 

 mensions necessary' to grow an excellent 

 private collection of these plants may, in 

 such a place, be put up, if A'ery plainly 

 built, at a trifling cost. I will suppose it to 

 be twenty feet long, twelve broad, at the 

 back part ten feet high, at the front five 

 feet, inside measure. In a house of these 

 dimensions, there would be room for a stage 

 having six steps, each step fourteen inches 

 broad, the highest being four feet from the 

 glass, and the rest descending so that each 



