OF PELARGONIUMS. 47 



not quite the same as that which is practised in the neighbourhood 

 that I live in (which is about three miles from London). 



The following detail contains the mode of treatment practised : — 

 The cuttings are put in, in the month of August, into a mixture of 

 sand and leaf mould well decomposed. When struck, they are potted 

 off into small sixties, in a mixture composed as follows : — One barrow 

 load of maiden mould (i.e. the top spit well chopped with the spade) 

 Jaken from a sheep pasture the year previous, one barrow load of 

 leaf mould, one barrow load of bog soil, (well chopped with the spade,) 

 one barrow load of well rotted frame dung, and about three parts of 

 a barrow load of sharp sand, all well mixed together, but must not be 

 sifted. When potted off, they must be kept in a close frame for a 

 short time, and when started to grow, take off the tops, so that it will 

 induce side shoots, and they will make good bushy plants. By the 

 third or fourth week in September shift them into large sixties, in a 

 composit, the same as when potted off into the small sixties, except 

 not quite so much sand, say half a barrow load instead of three parts 

 as before. Such as take the lead, and grow stronger than the others, 

 are shifted into forty-eights about the third or fourth week in October, 

 in a compost something similar as when potted into the large sixties, 

 except using two barrow loads of maiden mould instead of one; as 

 this will be the last shifting until the third or fourth week in February, 

 for it is not advisable to have them in such rich compost during winter : 

 for when it is so, it remains longer damp after watering, especially if it 

 sets in damp and cloudy w r eather after watering, which causes the 

 production of something similar to mildew upon the stalks of the leaves : 

 when this occurs, it is destroyed by giving plenty of air, and applying 

 a little gentle fire ; if the weather does not allow top air to be given, 

 as much front air is admitted as possible. 



By the third or fourth week in February they are again shifted ; 

 some into forty-eights, and the largest into thirty-two, in a mixture 

 composed as follows : — One barrow-load of maiden mould, the same 

 sort as recommended before, well chopped with the spade ; two bar- 

 row-loads of leaf-mould ; two barrow-loads of well-rotted frame- 

 dung ; one barrow-load of bog-soil, well chopped with the spade ; 

 and half a barrow-load of sharp sand; all well mixed together, but 

 by no means is sifted. In using, a little of the roughest is put at 

 the bottum of the pot. By the first of April they arc usually 



