5G ON PELARGONIUMS. 



for those plants to flower in'; 'I have found the following to answer 

 admirable : fresh loam from a pasture, cow dung and rotten leave.-* 

 in equal parts, well mixed and turned over for twelve months. If 

 heath mould is plentiful, I use about one-eighth in addition, which 

 improves the colour of the flowers . in potting, I take care to drain 

 them well, and do not fill the pots quite full, which enables ine to 

 water them more effectually in the warm drying days of May and 

 June. 



In the spring months too much air cannot be given, and in conse- 

 quence more water is required, which I bestow very liberally, fre- 

 quently syringing over the whole plants, which refreshes them and 

 prevents insects injuring them, though no kind of insects particularly 

 affects the Geranium, if I except the green fly, which is easily de- 

 stroyed by tobacco smoke. When the flowering season is over, and I 

 do not want the plants for the flower garden, I cut them down, and 

 as the sap will flow out of the wounds no water is given until the 

 bleeding stops. If they are in too large pots I shake them out, cut 

 off part of the roots, and pot them into less pots which is a sort of 

 renewal of the plants. I take them out of doors as soon as I think 

 the frosts are over to some place sheltered from the sun and west 

 winds, setting them thinly upon a bed of coarse coal ashes two or 

 three inches thick, which prevent worms getting into the pots. 

 During summer I give water when it is required, and keep them 

 clear of weeds, and when I observe they make roots through the 

 holes at the bottom of the pots, I shift them into a fresh place, which 

 is all the care they require until the autumn arrives, when they are 

 sheltered from the frost in the greenhouse or in ptis. 



3. Flower Garden Management. — Part of the operations of this 

 section has necessarily been described in the two former sections, 

 the propagation and management through the winter being much the 

 same, but as more plants are wanted of particular kinds for the 

 flower garden than for the greenhouse, I find it necessary to preserve 

 a quantity through the cold season in pits ; we have here some pits 

 covered with wooden shutters without any glass, which answers very 

 well. On fine mild days the covers are quite removed, but little 

 water is given, and all decayed leaves are removed as they occur, 

 though they do not look quite so fresh and green as those in the 

 greenhouse, yet sufficiently so to be fit to plant out when the proper 

 season arrives. Some are preserved in ashes in the sheds and others 

 hung up in a cool cellar. All these soon recover their verdure when 

 planted out in summer, and those methods may be made use off by 

 such amateurs as may not have the convenience of a greenhouse 

 or pit. 



The best season to plant out is about the first week in June, the 

 frost generally being quite over by that time. In planting them out 

 no preparation of the soil is necessary, as they grow quite fast 



