October 18, I860. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



317 



soil for the outtings, affording them littlo moro than an inch 

 a-piece, anil Bet the puts (say (i inches in diameter), in a cool 

 room, where they can have light, and just he shaded from tho 

 brightest sunshine and kept from frost ; they will then often 

 far surpass old plants however carefully kept. Two years ago 

 we saw a dozen pots of such Calceolarias on a rough table 

 against a north window in a small room, and these filled half a 

 dozen small bids in summer. 



Such strong old Scarlet Geraniums as those above alluded to, 

 are the easiest and best kept from year to year in tho same sized 

 pot, and even in the same pot, and they are best in every way 

 for those who have no conveniences but their rooms and a very 

 small garden. All young-raised Geraniums must have light in 

 winter to keep them healthy. These old-established plants 

 require the veriest minimum of light in the dark winter months, 

 and no better place for them can be found than a dry, cool, 

 spare room, a hayloft, or a dry shed, which can be opened in 

 line days. The best mode is just to let the plants stand in the 

 pots, and give hardly any water after the middle of September ; 

 the leaves will gradually' fade and drop, but let them, so that by 

 December the stems may be like skeletons. In drying weather 

 it may be advisable to damp the shoots whilst the soil is left 

 somewhat dry. In severe weather shut the place close up, 

 doors and windows ; if very severe lay the plants down, cover 

 all over with a cloth, and then cover that with rough, dry hay 

 until the frost is gone. A spare dry room will do better for 

 preserving lots of such plants than any pit sunk beneath the 

 ground, or even raised above it out of doors, because in pro- 

 portion to the beneficial access of light, will there be danger 

 from changes in the weather. In spring, as the buds begin to 

 push on the stems, a little pruning should be given where re- 

 quired, the surface soil removed, water with the chill taken off 

 given a little at a time, rich compost applied at the surface, and 

 all the light possible afforded in fine days. Such old Geranium 

 plants looking pretty well like a small faggot in winter, and 

 which will not have a leaf larger than a shilling before the 

 middle of March, will become dense masses of bloom, and have 

 healthy, though not over-luxuriant foliage from June to Oc- 

 tober. Such cool, dryish treatment in winter suits these plants 

 better', by enabling thern forest, than keeping them growingall 

 the winter through in rooms where a fire is constantly kept up. 

 The generality of plants suffer from too much heat and too 

 much dryness in the air in such places, just as they are apt to 

 suffer from too much moisture and confined air in pits of any 

 kind, and especially if these be sunk. Much more safely and 

 easily than in any pit, the great proportion of our bedding 

 plants may he kept in a moderately lighted spare room, as 

 those needing most light could be moved nearest the windows; 

 covering could also he applied more comfortably than amid 

 the changes of weather out of doors, and then in the greatest 

 necessity of extreme frost an opening in the closed chimney 

 could be made, and a little lire used. 



We revert to what may be well done in a spare room pro- 

 vided with a window or two, because many amateurs, we are 

 convinced, would be more successful and more pleased in carry- 

 ing on their operations there than in attending to a sunk 

 unheated pit out of doors. There has been an idea prevailing 

 lately that, provided a pit be sunk low enough beneath the 

 ground-level", very little covering will suffice to keep it warm 

 enough for all common bedding plants ; but the fact is lost 

 sight of, that unless expensive cementing processes are resorted 

 to, it is next to impossible to keep the atmosphere of such a 

 pit dry in damp weather ; and it should never be forgotten, that 

 in proportion to the moisture of the atmosphere round the 

 plants in winter will be their liability to suffer from frost, which 

 they would escape unscathed if the stems and the atmosphere 

 around them had been drier. Some of the plants that suffered 

 out of doors here on Monday morning would have been little 

 touched but for the drizzling rain on Sunday night. The dry 

 air on Tuesday night caused the frost of Wednesday morning 

 to be innocuous, and such matters will show more in the con- 

 fined atmosphere of a sunk pit. Of course the gardener 

 manages such contrivances merely as a matter of routine, but 

 the least slip, or the forgetfulness of a night or a few hours, 

 in the case of the tradesman owner, soon settles the whole 

 affair, and renders all further care useless. The covering out 

 of doors, too, soon becomes wet, frozen, and not the most 

 pleasant to handle, whilst if under cover it is always the 

 same. A good bag of short dry grass, or of rough hay, would 

 answer all through the winter, if employed in loft, shed, or 

 close room. It is amazing what numbers of plants can be 

 brought to the flower garden from a single unused room. 



3, The cellar, too, if there is one, comes in for tho best of 

 all places for bulbs ; tubers, as Dahlias ; and fleshy roots, as 

 those of the larger-growing Lobelias ; and for Fuchsias no 

 place can beat it, after their wood is ripened until tho buds 

 begin to break in tho spring, v.ltii: the plants should be gradu- 

 ally exposed to light, be pruned a little, and he fresh potted, 

 by parting with a good deal of the old soil. If the soil in the 

 pots of Fuchsias is just moist when tho pots are set on the 

 floor of the cellar, and the floor itself is somewhat moist, then 

 no water will be wanted all the winter. 



4, Such rules will not hold good in the case of any plants 

 that are either kept or grown for their beauty in living-rooms. 

 Even those at vest will want a little water if ever they show 

 signs of shrivelling and of distress, owing to the dry air from 

 the fire in the room ; but all those in a state of rest, as 

 the Geraniums established in pots, may be kept in the coolest 

 places and where less light may reach them than would bo 

 needed for young plants, and growing and flowering plants, 

 as Violets, Primulas, Cinerarias, Geraniums, bulbs, &c. The 

 great point to aim at in their case is to keep the leaves clean, 

 turn and shift so as to admit to the light by turns, water care- 

 fully, using water as warm at least as the temperature of the 

 room, neutralise the dry atmosphere by cleaning and damping 

 the foliage, and to secure against frost by removing the plants 

 to the middle of the room at night, and in extreme cases 

 covering them with a cloth. Many years ago we described a 

 little stage on castors that could be easily moved with its com- 

 plement of plants, and having iron rods fitted to sockets, so 

 that it could be covered with a thick cloth in a few minutes, 

 and the plants secured from cold. 



5, Although the fine days are enticing us to take the most 

 pleasure possible out of our flower-borders, we must remember 

 that winter is at hand, and that what we mean to save from 

 the frost had better be taken up before long ; and if a single 

 sharp frost should threaten, it would be best to take up all 

 that are to be preserved, and set them in a place of safety, 

 until you have time to look them over and pot them. 



Some of our readers have had plants from gardens offered 

 them, and request advice as to the taking and management. 

 We would only say, — 



First, If you so take up or receive, do it quickly, as many 

 plants if at all affected by frost, though they do not show it 

 much, will never recover, but will merely maintain a sickly, 

 puling existence. We have seen Geraniums that seemed merely 

 touched at the points, but they went downwards and down- 

 wards until nothing worth keeping was left. We have heard of 

 the stumps breaking well after the tops were frozen, but we 

 never found them worth tho labour. 



Secondly, Every kind of bedding plant may be kept in a 

 living-room, if it he moved about to obtain fresh air, be saved 

 from the arid atmosphere, and kept from the frost ; but for 

 those with limited means, and, perhaps, only a spare closet or 

 spare room with a window, whilst disregarding none, we would 

 chiefly recommend Scarlet Geraniums and Fuchsias. 



Shrubby Calceolarias will do very well if kept moist, cool, and 

 free from frost, and though such plants are liable to go off in 

 spring, still if they stand they will produce great heads of 

 bloom early ; but even now for general purposes, we would prefer 

 good-sized pots filled with cuttings, the pots being set on the 

 window-sill, and protected with thin paper funnels in sunny 

 days. 



Verbenas. — We have been asked about receiving old plants 

 out of the ground, but though they thrive occasionally, they go 

 off so often as not to be recommended. A pot of cuttings in- 

 serted in August or the beginning of September, and protected 

 by paper or a square of glass laid over a larger pot, whilst your 

 cutting-pot stood inside of it, would answer your purpose much 

 better, and take less room than any mode that could be adopted 

 with old plants taken out of the ground. 



On the whole, nothing answers so well as Scarlet Geraniums 

 when taken up at this time, and even they are not so sure and 

 successful as those that have stood in pots in summer. Even 

 if planted out in their pots, the stems will be more firm than 

 those planted out fully in the ground. In either case success will 

 be more certain if the plants have not been touched by frost. 

 There are two modes in which, judging from our own experience, 

 we would recommend this to be done. In the first place, when 

 large, tall plants are desired, we save the top of the plant to its 

 full length, take up the roots carefully, shortening only the 

 longest, and squeeze them into the smallest pot that will hold 

 them, using light sandy soil firmly pressed ; the top will most 

 likely need a stake to sustain its shoots loosely. After watering 



