256 ON THE GBRANIUM HOUSE. 



Propagation and treatment while young . 



" Geraniums or, more properly, Pelargoniums, are very readily 

 propagated by cuttings and seed, and the tuberous-rooted sorts 

 by cuttings or pieces of the roots. To have a succession of 

 flowering plants all the year, some attention should be paid to the 

 period of flowering of different sorts, which a reference to Lou- 

 don's Hortus Britannicus, and also the period at which the cutt- 

 ings are planted, will sufficiently indicate. The following routine 

 we have been satisfied with following, viz., in August, at which 

 period the earlier flowering kinds will have done flowering, the 

 plants are cut down to within one or two eyes, if we may so 

 speak ; but which will be more intelligible if we say to within 

 from an inch to half an inch of where the shoot sprung from. 

 The shoots so taken off, are made into cuttings about six inches 

 long, and cut close off below a joint, but the leaves should re- 

 main on, and not reduced in size, as is too often done. Each 

 cutting is then planted in a pot of the size called large thumbs, 

 and which are about two inches in diameter. They are then well 

 watered, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed, kept close and 

 well shaded, till they have begun to take root, when air is gradu- 

 ally admitted to them. The only care necessary during this part 

 of their culture is to pick off all decayed leaves, to prevent the 

 cuttings from rotting, to keep the temperature steady, but not 

 too high, and above all to keep them shaded. In four or five weeks 

 cuttings so treated will require to be shifted into larger pots of 

 the size known as thirty-twos', after which the plants may be 

 placed in a cool, airy pit, or frame, but kept close to the glass to 

 prevent their being drawn up weak and tall ; or they may at once 

 be arranged in the Geranium house. Plants so treated will flower 

 in March if they are removed to the Geranium house before the 

 setting in of severe frost. 



" In September, another set of cuttings should be put in, of 

 the sorts that go out of flower at that period ; these will flower in 

 May, and ^a third set of cuttings should be put in, in January, 

 which will flower from May to July ; and a fourth and last set in 

 March, which will produce plants that, if kept cool during sum- 

 mer, and brought into the Geranium house in September, will 

 bloom during October, November, and part of December. 



(To be continued.) 



