146 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



have been starved cliiring cold vvoather in winter. 

 \>y beifii^" shut up and covered lor days in cold 

 pits. The diminutive character, instead of being 

 accidental . has now become constitutional . The 

 stem JVom being hard, and having its juices so 

 thorouirhly inspissated, is quite incompetent to 

 act as the Vehicle for the transmission of fluids 

 that would be necessary tor a large headed plant. 

 As roots and branches act and re-act, relatively 

 and co-reiatively, upon each other, the stunted 

 head is attended with few and diminutive root 

 ieeders. Of all stunted plants, there is nothing 

 more discouraging than a stunted geraniimi. The 

 cutting oft' the flowers, as our correspondent has 

 done, will only prove a slight palliation of the 

 evil-«-though when persevered in, and other points 

 of good culture are attended to, fine plants ulti- 

 mately may be gained. What would be good cul- 

 ture for free growing plants, however, will not 

 suit these stunted gentlemen i light rich soil is the 

 thing in which they generally delight; but until 

 you set the stanredness adrift, you must use only 

 the light, abjure the rich; employ small pots 

 well drained, and keep the plants in a closer at- 

 mosi)Iiere than usual. Your object would sooner 

 be gained by taking off a cuitinir or two, just in 

 that state when the wood is neither soft nor tho- 

 roughly indurated. Properly treated, it will soon 

 shoot ahead of the old plant. Cutting the plant 

 down to the surface of the soil, if it has got any 

 roots of consequence, will also be attended with 

 more success than doetorinji the stunted head. 

 The plant should be kept close, rather dry than 

 damp, until the fresh shoots appear; then shaken 

 out, and re-potted in the usual M'ay. Foresters 

 are well aware of the benefit of acting upon this 

 principle; they do not stand picking and cutting 

 the miserable twigs of a stunted young oak. that 

 scarcelv gets larger by inches in a twelvemonth ; 

 they cut it off close to the ground, and in a year 

 or two they have a clean luxuriant plant, such as 

 the original would never have been. Cuttings 

 taken off in July or August, stopped when struck, 

 potted into small pots, stojiped and re-potted 

 again in October, and potted again in earl}- 

 spring, will make nice little bushy flowering 

 plants the first summer; but if large fine plants 

 are wanted, growth rather than bloom must be 

 encouraged, by stopping and keeping the plants 

 rather shaded, pinching back the tops, or cutting 

 them down; removing the most of the soil, or only 

 a portion, and repotting in July and August, just 

 as the varieties are slow growing or the rcA^erse, 

 and early fine blooming plants will be obtained for 

 spring and summer. 



As we have said, however, we prefer spring- 

 struck cuttings, as there is comparatively little 

 danger of them getting into a stunted habit, and 

 scarcely a cutting will fail of being made into a 

 plant, while time will be saved. Cuttings may 

 then be obtained from thinnings of the young shoots 

 on established plants; or, better still, an old plant 



stopped in the autumn, should be left on purposp 

 It will stand comj)aratively hard treatment during 

 the winter, but in February or March it should 

 be put gradually into a moist atmosphere, and a 

 temperature of from 45° to 55*, or a few degro'S 

 more. As soon as the young shoots are from one 

 and a half to three inches in length, they should 

 be taken off close to the stem and j)roperlv 

 treated; the stroiijrest would bloom in the open 

 air in summer if desirable ; if potted, stopped, and 

 re-potted in August, they would make nice little 

 flowering plants iliirinii the winter, if a tempera- 

 ture not less than 45° is then given them, with 

 fresh air. Similar plants — having ilieir flower 

 buds removed, the points of the shoots pinched 

 out, the shoots themselves trained into the de- 

 sired shape, and rej)otted in September— will make 

 nice flowering plants in spring and summer. Foi 

 the end of summer and autumn others should b' 

 repotted in March and April. 



Soil, and a ffw matters essential to success in 

 propagating. — The soil should be lit:ht and sandy, 

 free from worms and insects; one part j)eat, one 

 part leaf-mould, one-half part loam, one part pure 

 sand, will answer admirably, with just an addi- 

 tional dusting of silver sand upon the surface ; 

 such a compost will neither be too close nor toc' 

 open. If mere soil, &c., were present, the air 

 would obtain too free an access to the base of the 

 cutting when the compost became dry. and then 

 the opposite evil would ensue from the moisture 

 remaining too long aronnd the cutting after wa- 

 tering, causing it to mould and decay. A similai 

 effect would be produced by inserting cuttings, af- 

 some do, wholly in sand; enough air then would 

 not be admitted, and thus a shanking-off would be 

 liable to ensue, for the circumstances that would 

 ensure the safety of a hard-wooded cutting would 

 ruin a soft-wooded geranium. Then, if the cut- 

 tings are inserted into pots, these pots should be 

 half filled with drainage, and the remaining por- 

 tion with different layers of the prepared com- 

 post, reserving the finest for the surface. Before 

 inserting the cuttings the pots should have been 

 previously well watered, and the moisture allowed 

 to drain away, as most of the waterings after- 

 wards had better consist of sprinklings from the 

 syringe. In early autumn, when the weather i^ 

 still warm, and the sun's rays powerful, little or 

 nothing in the shape of bottom heat will be re- 

 quired; but the cuttings should be placed at such 

 a distance from the glass that they may enjoy the 

 direct, though diffused, rays of light; this will 

 prevent the necessity of shading much to prevent 

 flagging. The more direct though somewhat dif- 

 fused light they will stand, the sooner will roots 

 be protruded, and the more sturdy and healthy 

 will the plants become. Of course they would 

 require to be placed nearer the glass as the power 

 of the sun declines. Every hour's shading, how- 

 ever necessary it be at times, is just so far en- 

 couraging the mere expansion upwards of what 



