November 20, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



381 



CULTURE OF VARIEGATED ZONALE 

 PELARGONIUMS. 





AVIXG been rather success- 

 ful in growing the varie- 

 gated Zonale Pelargoniums, 



and inquiries still being 

 made as to the culture of 

 these, it may be useful to 

 state myexperienc :, which differs somewhat from that of 

 Mr. Pearson. 



I prepare my soil in the same wa}- as he does, but add to 

 the horse-droppings a lot of the parings from horses' hoofs, 

 obtained from the blacksmith. I mix these and the horse- 

 droppings, place a layer of turf at the bottom of the in- 

 tended heap, and over the turf horse-droppings to the depth 

 of 1 foot, then another layer of turf, next a layer of drop- 

 pings, and so on, decreasing the thickness of the drop- 

 pings as the heap Lit-, higher, and finishing with two or 

 three layers of turf. I then cover the whole with a lot of 

 slniw or litter to keep out the rain, and assist in retaining 

 the heat generated by the decomposition of the ingre- 

 dients. In the parings from horses' hoofs I have a cl 

 source of ammonia, for of this they contain a large amount, 

 and they give it off when in a state of fermentation in tin 

 heap, and the layers of turf will completely absorb the 

 ammonia which is set free. When the heat has declined, 

 the heap should be chopped up, and mixed together, and 

 again laid up in the same way. In all probability a second 

 rise in temperature will occur, and then the compost is lit 

 for use. 



Such is the way in which I prepare the soil for the pot 

 culture of all plants which require a clayey loam, in what- 

 ever proportions, to grow in. I prefer a clayey loam to 

 what is termed a sandy loam : the latter, when looked at 

 through a microscope, has just the appearance of gravel 

 with a lot of fine threads run through it in all directions, 

 the remains of the roots of former plants. When these 

 roots are decomposed they leave but a small quantity of 

 matter for the use of other plants, and such soils are soon 

 exhausted, and they are also generally deficient in some of 

 the most essential ingredients of the food of plants. It 

 is different with soils of a clayey nature ; they generally 

 abound in potash — an essential ingredient in the compo- 

 sition of nearly all plants, although it may be in chemical 

 combination with other matters : and though plants may- 

 be unable to obtain it in that form, the preparation of the 

 soil, described above, sets it free, as it also does the silicates 

 and other inorganic compounds. 



I have entered thus far into the nature of soils, as it is in 



on this point that my experience differs from Mr. Pearson's. 



In pot culture I use less than a third of the above prepared 



soil ; the other two-thirds being made up of leaf mould, 



No. 295.— Vol. XI., New Series. 



white sand, and sphagnum roughly chopped up : hu! I 

 make no preparation for them in the beds in th 

 gaTden, as they grow as we'll as Tom Thumbs and ■ 

 Pelargoniums in the natural soil, which is what I 

 term ;i sandy loam — in fact, it is just sand with :■ 

 proportion of organic matter, and LI lia : bad ao a 



er, with the exception of a little Leafmou] 

 two or three years. The beds are trenched from I 

 dm |i , : ' ml ii.> siru.nl ye;ir. and forked ovei 

 twice during the winter and spring when the w 

 suitable. 



Mr. Pearson seems not to use any leaf mould in 

 culture, and were I as convinced as he is that it on! 

 "mechanically" I would not use it either; bill I 

 have no soil (or manure If you like so to call it), in 

 we have the inorganic food of plants so well and o rea 

 prepared for the use of plants as when leaves arc decom- 

 posed or undergoing decomposition. Take, for exa I 

 silica in any of its combinations. How difficult it mu 

 for plants to obtain it in some soils ! but we have it in 

 dance in some of its forms in leaf mould, it having been 

 formed or abstracted from the soil by the tree j, and - 

 j retained by the leaves, and ready prepared for the n 

 other plants requiring that or any of the other constituents 

 of the food of plants. 



Mr. Pearson's soil, it is true, may do without leaf m 

 having all the elements fit for the food of plan: j aire i I 

 j it : but the ease ma}- not be the same with every one. I 

 ! I say in leaf mould we have a ready source of many o 

 1 inorganic elements which plants require, and it is : 

 fore useful in certain proportions. 



I have just measured a Mrs. Pollock, growing now in 

 a 10-inch pot, it is 2 feet high, and 2 feet 6 inch 

 diameter, and I see it has made shoots 2 feet in length tlrj ; 

 season. It was a cutting in March, 1865, anfl had I de- 

 | sired I do not think it would have been difficult to have. 

 I grown it as large again in the same time. Some of the 

 ! old leaves I find are now fi inches across, and then 

 plenty in the beds in the flower garden even larger. 



I am strongly of the opinion that in a short time almi B< 

 ' every one will find Mrs. Pollock, at least, as easily gr « 



as Tom Thumb, when once the plants are in a he: 

 ' stork : but I see in gardens many plants of it which will 

 defy the best of culture, they are constitutionally unheal*: 

 and until they have rest from the cutting and consei 

 weakening to which they are subjected, no healthy pi: 

 will be seen. With precisely the same treatment mine 

 now grow as fast again as when I first had Mrs. Poll 

 and Sunset. I make it a rule never to take off a en 

 until another shoot has shown itself on the same stern 

 doing so I obtain a strong healthy cutting which ma 

 strong plant, while its removal docs not weaken the 

 plant so much as taking off the ends of the shoots win I 

 these are long enough to make cuttings. 



I lift all the plants from the flower garden in Oct. ' 

 or before frost, shaking every particle of the soil from i 

 cut the roots well back, anil place them in pots jusl ' 

 enough to allow them to hold the roots with i 

 mostly leaf mould, sand, and only a small quantity bf th - 

 No. 917.— Vol. XXXVI., Old Seriss. 



