ON THE CULTURE OF PELARGONIUMS. 203 



beautiful kinds annually raised from seed, it becomes a subject well 

 worth inquiry, how this plant may be raised in the best and cheapest 

 manner possible. During a period of many years, it never occurred 

 to me that Pelargoniums could be preserved during the winter 

 months, in this northern climate, without the assistance of artificial 

 heat ; but having now discovered a means of conquering this difficulty, 

 I take the liberty to lay before you a statement of the method I have 

 practised for the last three years with complete success. 



It is necessary, in the first place, to be provided with a light garden 

 frame, 'which may vary in size according to circumstances, or the 

 number of plants required. The one I use for this purpose at pre- 

 sent is 4i ft. by 2i, 20 inches deep in the back and IS inches in 

 front ; which will contain seventy or eighty plants in small pots. 

 The most common method of raising the plants is by cuttings. At 

 the end of July or early in August, I take the cuttings off at the third 

 joint, and insert them in rich loam, mixed with about one-third of 

 vegetable mould, in the open border ; I then place the frame over 

 them, shading them with a mat for a few days, and giving little or 

 no air for a week. I afterwards increase the quantity of water gra- 

 dually, giving a little more every time, till they are able to stand the 

 sun without flagging in the leaf. I continue watering them gently 

 until they are well rooted, and then pot them into small pots, in 

 poorish soil, and place them in the open air, to stand during 

 summer, on a good gravel walk or an open space covered with coal 

 ashes, to prevent worms from getting into the pots. When the 

 plants begin to grow freely, I pinch off the top shoots, by which 

 means they send out side shoots ; otherwise each plant will invariably 

 send up only one, which looks naked and unsightly; whereas, a 

 plant low and full of foliage has a handsome appearance and flowers 

 freely. Some of the more tender and delicate kinds of Pelargoniums 

 may be propagated by cuttings of the roots an inch long. Plant 

 these round the side of a pot an inch apart, leaving the eighth of an 

 inch of soil above them. Set them in the frame, and when they have 

 pushed a little, plant them in separate pots, giving air and water regu- 

 larly ; when they have grown a few inches, remove them into the 

 open air, and treat them in the same manner as plants raised from 

 cuttings. Seeds may be ripened well in the open air, from plants 

 kept in pots ; but those transplanted into the borders (growing very 



