170 OBSERVATIONS ON WATERING PLANTS IN POTS. 



months in frames without having fire heat,) to keep them too 

 dry. During that period they will not require water more than 

 once in a fortnight ; and then presuming them to be in pots not 

 exceeding four or six inches in diameter, they will not require 

 more than ahout two tahlespoonsful of water at a time. I am 

 minute as to this family, because it is one of the most beautiful 

 and most generally cultivated by Amateurs ; who, many of them 

 not having the advantage of a greenhouse and fire heat, find their 

 Geraniums damp ofTand become mouldy, and die soon after they 

 are put into frames at the approach of winter. This arises from 

 over watering, and nothing else. If, during the winter, they are 

 watered sparing as above directed, and air is given every day 

 when the atmosphere is above freezing point, (by elevating the 

 lights a few inches so that no rain can touch the plants,) Gera- 

 niums may be preserved very safely in frames during winter, 

 taking care to cover the lights with mats or straw during frost. 

 The material things for Geraniums in winter are plenty of air, 

 light, and sun. Whenever in Geraniums the leaves wither, turn 

 black and mouldy, that proceeds from over watering: the only 

 chance of saving such a plant is to take off all decayed leaves, and 

 put it into a warm room for a week, so that the soil in the pot may 

 dry as speedily as possible. Keeping them short of water (added 

 to the confinement of the frames) will cause many leaves to turn 

 yellow and drop off : but in this class of plants that circumstance 

 is not of material consequence, because in the spring, if the stems 

 and roots are sound, vigorous shoots covered with luxuriant foliage 

 will come forth. But if the plant is over watered, the succulent 

 stem being saturated with moisture, which the cold prevents it 

 from throwing out by evaporation, the fibres of the stem decay 

 and its texture is destroyed. The same observations apply to all 

 succulent Evergreens. 



With respect to the ligneous class of Evergreens, they do not 

 require so large a quantity of water during summer as the succu- 

 lent, (although they also must at that season be liberally sup- 

 plied ;) but during the winter months they require more in pro- 

 portion than the succulents. The great point in ligneous Ever- 

 greens, is to have a good drainage at the bottom of the pot, and 

 to plant them in a sandy soil, so that the water may pass freely 

 through as soon as it is given to the plant. In winter these plants 



