22 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



WINTERING GERANIUMS. 



A correspondent wishes to know the 

 best way to keep geraniums in a cellar 

 during winter. The treatment must 

 vary according to the condition of the 

 cellar. The practice which is frequently 

 recommended, of hanging the plants up 

 by the roots, exposed to the air, can 

 succeed only in a cellar uniformly cool 

 and but few degrees above the freezing 

 point ; and the degree of moisture in 

 the air must be just such as to retain 

 the natural amount in the plants, with- 

 out being so dry as to shrivel them on 

 one hand or so moist as to cause decay. 

 The plants must be kept as nearly in a 

 dormant state as possible by maintain- 

 ing a low temperature. There are but 

 few cellars which possess all these re- 

 quisites, and this treatment is not likely 

 to succeed in most cases. 



We have adopted the following mode, 

 which requires little care and answers 

 well. A rather large and well lighted 

 window is double glazed, and a stand 

 is provided on which the plants are 

 placed so as to I'eceive plenty of light. 

 When they are taken up in autumn, 

 nearly all the tops are pruned off, but 

 enough is left for the base of a compact 

 form, with a small portion of the young 

 foliage, say about one-tenth or one- 

 twentieth of the leaves of each plant. 

 They are then planted in moss, in a 

 shallow box, placing the box in an in- 

 clined position or with a slope of about 

 forty-five degrees, putting a layer of 

 moss on the lower side, then a row of 

 the trimmed plants and another layer 

 of moss and row of plants till the box 

 is filled. It is then placed in its posi- 

 tion on the stand in front of the window. 

 The moss may be kept sufficiently moist 

 by showering it with a watering-pot 

 once a month or a fortnight, as it may 

 require, a warm and dry cellar needing 

 more frequent watering than a damp 



or cool one. In a warm cellar the 

 plants will make some growth during 

 winter, and as the leaves increase in 

 number they will consume more mois- 

 ture than at first. If the cellar is quite 

 cool they will remain nearly dormant, 

 and the slight moisture from the moss 

 will preserve them from drying up. 

 Moss is much better than damp saw- 

 dust, which in its turn is better than 

 soil. In moss, there is no danger of 

 their becoming water-soaked after water- 

 ing, the natural supply being given off 

 partly in the form of vapor. 



The most convenient size for the 

 boxes is about two feet square and six 

 or eight inches deep, but they may be 

 larger or smaller. An early growth is 

 made the next spring by puttmg them 

 in a hot-bed for a few weeks before 

 planting in open ground. A small por- 

 tion of a hot-bed will hold a large num- 

 ber placed compactly together. 



It is now too late to adopt this treat- 

 ment, except for plants which have been 

 already placed in cellar for wintering 

 by a more imperfect mode. — Country 

 Gentleman. 



THE DEACON LETTUCE. 



Mr. Joseph Harris writes to the 

 American Garden concerning this Let- 

 tuce as follows : — 



I have just been to see Mrs. Miiller. 

 I found her and her daughter digging 

 Potatoes. I told her that the New 

 York Experiment Station had tried her 

 Lettuce, and out of 150 varieties with 

 700 different names, her Lettuce proved 

 to be the best, and I wanted her to tell 

 me all about it. 



Ques. — How long have you grown \il 



Ans. — Over forty years. I am an 

 old woman, I shall soon be seventy. I 

 want to make a good deal of money out 

 of this Lettuce, but I cannot get about 

 as I used to. 



Ques. — Where did you get it from % 



