242 ON THE CULTURE OF PELARGONIUMS. 



To assist persons not already acquainted with the method of culture 

 now practised by the London growers, we give the particulars fur- 

 nished us by the most celebrated of them. 



Pelargoniums are usually denominated Geraniums, although they 

 constitute a very different family. The following mode of culture 

 applies to the shrubby class of Pelargoniums, usually exhibited at the 

 floral meetings for competition. 



They always succeed best when grown in a house apart from other 

 plants, and to be placed upon a stage as near to the glass as circum- 

 stances will admit: thus placed is a most essential point in their 

 culture. Where a greenhouse is of necessity appropriated to other 

 classes of plants, then it is best to have pit-frames to grow the 

 Pelargoniums in till blooming season ; and when the flower-stems 

 have pushed about half their length, to introduce the plants into the 

 greenhouse for blooming. When they are in the greenhouse, and 

 the petals are bursting the calyx, the temperature must be kept high, 

 and be kept so till the blooming is over. If it is desired to have large 

 and bold flowers, this attention is very necessary ; and, though at a 

 hot season of the year, the house should be kept closed in a great 

 degree, using a canvass shade when mid-day sun is intense. This 

 mode of treatment with blooming plants is the principal reason of the 

 flowers exhibited by the London growers being generally so superior 

 in size to any I ever saw in the country. 



Having thus premised as to situation, &c, I shall commence with 

 observations on culture at the period of propagation. 



In the first week of July the cuttings are taken off, and inserted 

 in loam and leaf mould ; then placed in a cool frame, plunged to the 

 rim, which is kept pretty close, and shaded from the sun. Some- 

 times, instead of being inserted in pots, the cuttings are inserted in 

 an open border, fully exposed to the mid-day sun. This is especially 

 the case when a considerable quantity is required. 



In about six weeks the cuttings are rooted : they are then 

 carefully removed, so as to retain the new roots, and potted sepa- 

 rately into what are termed sixty-sized pots, in a compost of equal 

 parts of well-enriched loam and sandy peat. After potting, they are 

 placed on boaids or slates, in a warm situation in the open air, where 

 they can be shaded for a short time till they can bear the sun, after 

 which they are fully exposed. Where there are frames to place them 



