402 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ June 4, 



who amongst them does not grow Pelargoniums, which are to be 

 fonnd in the cottages of the most humble and in the gardens 

 of the most wealthy 7 Those who are fond of plants possess- 

 ing finely-marked foliage can have ample choice in the Golden 

 Zonal and Tricolor-leaved sections ; and then for beauty of 

 foliage and richness of colouring in the flower, the stage Pelar- 

 gonium is not easily surpassed ; to this must be added easy 

 cultivation. I do not wish to occupy space with any lengthened 

 details, but only to offer a few hints on the propagation and 

 after-management. 



When I resided in Scotland I always preferred to propagate 

 Pelargoniums in May, as they made much finer plants before 

 winter ; in the neighbourhood of Loudon July and August are 

 as suitable, but any time between the first and the last-named 

 months will do. I am well aware at the same time that they 

 may be propagated in any month in the year. For this purpose 

 I prepare a number of clean 60-sized pots, by carefully crock- 

 ing them, and placing a little moss over the crocks. I theu 

 fill them with a compost of fine loam and leaf mould, with the 

 addition of a little silver sand, pressing it in so as to be mode- 

 rately firm, place a thin layer of silver sand over the surface, 

 and with a small dibber insert one cutting in the centre of 

 'each pot. In pressing the soil round the cutting care must be 



■ taken not to injure the part which is under ground. The best 

 I position for the cuttings is a shelf near the glass, and they 



■ ought to be placed there at once, and receive a good watering 

 I through a fine rose. They require no shading, except it be for 



■ a day or two if the sun's rays are particularly scorching. I 

 propagate all the finer Zonal and Tricolor-leaved varieties in 

 this way, as they have then a great advantage over plants 

 rooted in boxes, or a number of cuttings placed together in 

 larger pots ; for separating the plants afterwards always gives 

 them a serious cheek. 



As soon as the small pots are full of roots the plants ought 

 to be shifted into pots one size larger, and in growing Pelar- 

 goniums of whatever variety care must be taken not to over- 

 pot. Under proper management the plants will be as fine, 

 and the flowers will be more perfect in small pots than they 

 will be in larger ones. I continue to shift the plants as they 

 require it until they receive their last shift, and I rarely plant 

 a Pelargonium of any variety in a pot of a greater inside dia- 

 meter than 8 inches. 



The compost I use when I plant them in the pots in which 

 they are intended to flower consists of pure turfy loam and one- 

 eighth part of manure, composed of equal parts of cow dung 

 and horse droppings, with enough silver sand to keep it open, 

 and I add a little leaf mould when I can obtain it, but this 

 last, I think, is immaterial. 



The plants in every stage of their growth ought to be kept 

 near the glass, and should on no account be crowded together ; 

 it is better in every way to have three good plants than six in 

 the same space, if they have not enough of room to allow the 

 foliage to expand properly. 



Watering is most important, and especially so in the winter; 

 at that time they require looking over about once a-week, 

 and those that are quite dry may be watered. Of course, 

 as the season advances, and the pots become full of roots, 

 more water will be required. As soon as the trusses of 

 Sowers begin to appear, give liquid manure twice a-week, 

 and the quantity used may be increased or the application 

 withheld according to the strength of the plants. Too much 

 manure water is a fertile cause of spot, as it affects the 

 young and tender tips of the roots so that they cannot per- 

 form their functions. At this stage of growth none of the 

 , plants must be allowed to become very dry. When in flower 

 they ought to be looked over twice a-day. There is oue 

 thing I ought not to omit to state, and that is to have the 

 plants thoroughly cleansed from green fly before the blooms 

 expand, as the tobacco smoke causes all the expanded flowers 

 to drop off. 



The best form of glass structure for growing Pelargoniums 

 is a subject on which I would like to see some discussion in 

 your columns, as well as which is the best form of glass struc- 

 ture for growing other sorts of plants. I believe that a half- 

 span roof facing the south is the best for growing the stage 

 Pelargoniums, and a span-roofed house with its end to the 

 south the best for all the Zonal and variegated-leaved varieties. 

 Of course they can be moved to any position in the green- 

 honse or conservatory when they are intended to keep that 



gay- 



I offer these few remarks at the present time, as I know 

 they will be useful to numerous growers of this class of plants 



who are also readers of yonr Journal, and to whom a few plain 

 hints are valuable. — J. Douglas. 



STONES AND THEIR UTILITY IN A SOIL. 



Aberckomdie and other old garden writers gave directions 

 for the various soils used in potting to be very carefully sifted 

 through a fine sieve, removing everything that was lumpy, 

 whether of stone or earthy matter. This doctrine held good 

 in many instances up to the period when gardening periodical 

 publications made their appearance ; but at last some innovator 

 boldly attacked the practice, and a less finely-sifted potting 

 material became the order of the day ; even turfy bits of half- 

 decomposed vegetable matter were allowed to take their place 

 in the mixture, and soon, as if innovation could not be carried 

 too far, these turfy pieces of material were thought to be better 

 if taken direct from the place where grown and used the same 

 day. This extreme, however, is but seldom adopted ; neverthe- 

 less, fresh turfy soil, of which the grass may have been in a 

 growing state from three to six months before, is thought to 

 be the nearest approach to perfection that can be made in a 

 potting soil, or ono adapted for a fruit or conservatory border, 

 assuming it not to be too stiff, and its qualities for a good 

 pasture to have been established before. Now, I am not sure 

 ibut we have often run into error on this score, and it is an 

 attack on this practice in certain cases that the present article 

 is intended to make, for there are often instances in which the 

 carrying-out of the recommendation to use only decayed turf 

 has not been satisfactory. 



If we take a survey of the natural products of the earth in 

 the shape of fine specimen trees, good agricultural crops, or 

 other things on a large scale, we shall see that in very many 

 cases one of the ingredients of the soil in which they are grow- 

 ing is very often left out in our composts — I mean stones. 

 Perhaps the reader will be inclined to say, " And very properly 

 left out, too,'\but I am not sure of that ; on the contrary, the 

 reverse of successful cultivation is the case when they are too 

 extensively removed from some places, and this has been 

 proved in many cases in the time of our grandfathers, or per- 

 haps before, and they gained their experience no doubt in the 

 first instance in that way which imparts conviction most truly 

 — namely, by paying for it ; bad crops following the gathering 

 of stones from their land, and succeeding generations have 

 found this practice wrong, as it is prohibited to some extent in 

 many places. Now, if stones form such a necessary ingredient 

 in the composition of a soil required to grow a crop of com, a 

 hedge, or a tree, why are they not equally so in the growth of 

 plants of other kinds ? We cannot say that stones are un- 

 necessary, and that the soil is as well without them, for the 

 fact of farming crops being diminished by the too-extensive 

 gathering of the stones proves their presence in the soil to be 

 necessary. This being admitted, why do we deny them a place 

 in our potting-bench mixtures ? Of late years it is true they 

 have been admitted, and extensively, too, into oar Vine borders, 

 but cannot they be allowed for plants in pots that are large 

 enough ? It may, perhaps, be urged that the liiaited quantity 

 of soil enclosed in a pot will not afford room far stones ; but 

 when we see the manner in which most of the plants grown in 

 pots cling to the drainage, we are led to inquire why they 

 would not relish more or less of stones as well as the broken 

 pots. The latter is a less-natural product, and it is question- 

 able whether it is better than stones or not. I imagine the 

 utility of both consists in their retaining a certaia quantity of 

 moisture, which they part with when it is wanted to the roots 

 that embrace them, and in this respect stone would seem as 

 suitable a substance as the crocks, or perhaps lEore so, pro- 

 vided the stone used is in accordaiwe with the so3 it is mixed 

 with, which is not always the case when artificial soils are 

 formed, as will be shown hereafter. 



I have been led into the foregoiag notice of tbe utility of 

 stones in the soil from the occurrenee of a case in which they 

 were wanting. Sorse alterations were being carried out on an 

 elevated tract of thin stony land that was in pasture ;. a large 

 quantity of turf was taken sff to the usual thickness > it was cut 

 to lay down again, and most people envied the gardener who 

 hud the good fortune to obtain so vahtable an addition to his 

 compost yard. The ground was very stony, but it would ap- 

 pear that the stongs had been carefully picked oS the top 

 when it was laid dcwn in grass, so that the sward could be 

 pared off without maay stones being i» it, while below that the 

 stones could not furaa less than thrse-fourths of Sjs whole. 



