THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 151 
CULTIVATING GAUNTLET GERANIUM. 
BY ROBERT OUBRIDGE, 
Church-Walk Nursery, Stoke Newington, N. 
BHIS fine old geranium is a great favourite in Covent 
Garden, for the flowers—which may be had in profusion 
throughout the winter and spring months—are of a 
very pleasing shade of soft rosy red, and are exceedingly 
well adapted for bouquets. Nicely flowered plants are 
also well suited for indoor decorations ; and, as they are very effective 
in the conservatory, amateurs may grow a stock with advantage. 
The flowers are not of so fine a quality as those of the best of the 
show pelargoniums, that may be had in perfection in May, but they 
are of fairly good shape, effective in colour, and produced in succes- 
sion throughout the winter, when the florists’ varieties are not to be 
had in bloom. For very many years I have grown Gauntlet in 
large numbers for market purposes, and I have long been persuaded 
that it is one of the most useful geraniums we have for winter 
decorations. The present moment is most suitable for commencing 
to work up a stock for next season; and I have thought that a few 
hints on its cultivation might be of service to many amateurs. I 
have accordingly prepared a brief outline of the system by which 
we have obtained very satisfactory results. 
As I am desirous of affording all the information I can upon the 
cultivation of this valuable geranium, I will first of all give a few 
directions for propagating a stock. Nice firm-growing shoots are 
the best for making cuttings. These should be taken off early in 
March, and inserted singly in thumbs or small sixties, and be placed 
in a warm pit or house till nicely rooted, and then be removed to 
the ordinary greenhouse until the end of May. At this stage the 
plants must be removed to the cold frame ; but before doing so, it 
will be well to give them a shift into large sixties, and then, with a 
fortnight’s shelter in the frame, they will be in good order for going 
out-of-doors. 
Much of the common practice in dealing with pelargoniums when 
out-of-doors must be unlearned at this stage. Itis a matter of sheer 
impossibility to obtain good flowering specimens by autumn, if the 
plants are now brought out-of-doors and placed under the shelter of 
hedges, walls, or along side of walks, without the slightest protection 
afforded them against worms. Iam very particular upon this point, 
and have a bed of coal-ashes—not less than a foot in thickness— 
made up out in the open for standing the plants upon. 
Supposing the plants to have been brought out-of-doors about 
the middle of June, stop the young shoots the first week in July, 
and shift into forty-eights or thirty-twos a fortnight afterward. 
Return the plants to the bed of ashes after they are repotted, and 
stand them far enough apart to allow the young growth to develop 
itself in a natural manner. 
In the early part of September the stock should be brought into 
May. 
