240 ON THE CULTURE OF PELARGONIUMS. 



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 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. 



About the middle 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 

 upon the bed ; this is especially the case when a considerable quantity 

 is required. 



As soon as the cuttings are rooted, they are carefully removed, so 

 as to retain the new roots, and potted separately into what are termed 

 forty-eight-sized pots, in a compost of equal parts of well-enriched 

 loam and sandy peat. After potting, they are placed in a warm situ- 

 ation 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 in, the facility for readily shading is 

 afforded. Some of the extensive growers have boards a foot or so 

 deep placed along the sides at about five feet apart, and have hoops 

 over, so as to throw mats over for shading, protection from exces- 

 sive wet, or to afford security against a sudden frost in autumn. 



