ON BLOOMING THE SCARLET GERANIUM. 39 



as I have a sufficient quantity of seed ripe to sow a middling sized 

 pot, I sow it, and do not wait till all my seed is ripe. When I again 

 collect as much, I sow it, and so on until I have sown all I wish. 

 When sown I keep them in the greenhouse, and in a very short time 

 they vegetate and appear. I then keep them very close to the glass. 

 As soon as the plants are fit, I pot them into seventy-two-sized pots. 

 In this potting, I place them from the glass a few days, and keep 

 them close shut up till they have struck fresh roots ; and when I find 

 they are able to hear the sun, I put them close to the glass, and in 

 that situation they grow very rapidly and vigorously. When I find 

 they require shifting, I repot them into sixty-sized pots, not disturb- 

 ing the roots more than I possibly can help, and when potted I still 

 keep them close to the glass. In this potting they make very fine 

 plants in a short time. When I find they begin to root freely., and 

 have grown large enough, I stop the leading shoot, which induces 

 them to throw out five or six strong lateral ones. About the middle 

 of November, when I find they have filled their pots with roots, I 

 pot them into forty-eights. By stopping them when in the sixty- 

 sized pots, and then giving them another shifting, they grow 

 amazingly, and by the beginning of January I have them strong and 

 bushv, at which period I stop them wholly again. I do not stop 

 them any more from this time ; but about the middle of February I 

 shift them into thirty-twos, and I find many of them require twenty- 

 fours by the end of March. Those that have the finest foliage, and 

 seem to be different'from the parent plants, I pot into twenty-fours ; 

 the others I flower in thirty-twos. I am confident, if any person 

 will follow the same mode of treatment, he will not fail to flower 

 ninety out of a hundred the first year. The stopping of them in the 

 infant state most essentially promotes an early flowering, and the 

 attention to repotting and situation renders them vigorous and bushy. 



ARTICLE IX. 



ON BLOOMING THE SCARLET GERANIUM. 



11V A HUNTINGDONSHIRE OAUDF.NKR. 



" An Old Subscriber," in your very excellent number of last month, 

 inquires the best method of blooming the scarlet Geraniums. The 

 method which 1 have adopted for some time past, with great success, 



