174 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE 
vate, and very pleasing when grown. As to brillianey of colour, 
variety, aud freshness, there is nothing to surpass them. Moreover, 
they are so accommodating, that you may grow and flower them, 
either as small plants for the drawing-room, or as monster specimens 
for the conservatory stage. 
Those whom these persuasions may induce to cultivate them are 
advised to begin at once with the very best sorts they can obtain ; 
fine sturdy plants for autumn-flowering may be insured if the cuttings 
are put in not later than the middle of June. The pots must be well 
drained and the soil light and sandy ; they should have a sunny airy 
shelf in the greenhouse, and be shaded for two or three hours in the 
middle of the day. If the cuttings are not soft and sappy, they 
would do better without shading ; but as they are likely to be young 
and soft at this time of year, shading may be resorted to as a pre- 
caution against their being burnt up. If put into very small single 
pots so much the better, as then they will not want shifting until 
they have filled the pots full of roots. Many of the zonal geraniums 
are constitutioually weak, that is to say, they cannot endure sudden 
excitements of temperature or strong stimulants. A high tempera- 
ture will create weakness, and strong stimulants will generate all 
sorts of deformity and spots in the leaves, and sometimes spoil the 
beauty of the flowers. It is, therefore, best to work out a medium 
system of culture, as the one most likely to produce the earliest: 
results. Such, however, is the course I should advise those who 
handle them for the first time to pursue; those who understand 
them well, of course, do not require such advice, for one of the best. 
lessons learnt by practice is the power of discriminating the limits 
of possibility. 
Those who have to buy plants should secure them at once; and, 
as probably they will be in three-iuch pots, it will be well to shift 
them into a size larger, and so continue shifting whenever the pots 
are full of roots until six weeks before they are wanted to flower. 
They should have a soil composed of loam and leaf-soil equal parts, 
with a pint of sharp silver-sand to every peck of soil. Be sure and 
drain well, and pot firm, and do not allow any flowers to expand 
upon the plants until after the last shift is given. 
A light airy greenhouse stage is the best place to grow them, 
especially if plenty of water can be strewn about in hot weather. 
There must be no syringing of the leaves, for that is injurious. If 
a good form of plant is desired, the leading shoot must be topped 
to insure the production of side-shoots. These side-shoots must be: 
again stopped after they have grown out eight inches, if a specimen 
plant is desired. In such a case the form only of the plant should 
be studied the first season, as it will be good work if a perfect 
ground-work for the future plant can be formed the first year. The 
easiest and quickest way to form specimen plants is to plant them 
out the first season in good rich soil, and pot up again in autumn. 
I do not advocate that plan myself, because the roots, having an un- 
limited space when planted out, are likely to get out of bounds, so 
that to put them into a reasonable-sized pot is impossible afterwards, 
except by considerable mutilation. The same objection is to be 
