250 On the Cultivation of Geraniums and Canary Asters. 



as they may be interesting to many of your readers, particularly 

 those who have not had much practice in their cultivation, I take 

 pleasure in communicating them through the pages of your Magazine. 



Geraniums are a well known beautiful tribe of plants, which will 

 always be admired, either for the agreeable fragrance of their foliage, 

 or the splendor of their flowers ; adding to this the continual number 

 of new varieties which are every season originated, which make them 

 always new, they may be considered as one of the most desirable 

 plants for the parlor or the green-house. When the taste for this 

 group shall become general, new varieties will undoubtedly be 

 raised in our own gardens ; and we shall no longer be dependent 

 upon importations, which, however so carefully transported, are al- 

 ways attended with great risk. A prejudice exists among many 

 amateurs, that because geraniums are common, they do not deserve 

 that attention which is bestowed on many other plants : this, I ap- 

 prehend, must arise from the cause of the finest varieties having 

 never been seen ; for certainly, when the great delicacy of their 

 flowers, the brilliancy and endless variety of their colors, the finely 

 pencilled lines in some, the clouded spots in others, and finally, w hen 

 the great length of time which they continue to display their blos- 

 soms is taken into consideration, they cannot be surpassed but by 

 few flowers. 



The latter part of this month, the plants which have opened the 

 greatest part of tlieir flower buds, should be removed from the green- 

 house to the garden ; placing them in a situation where they will be 

 exposed to the sun part of the day. This is much better, in my opinion, 

 than placing them under the shade of trees, where the sun shines on 

 them but an hour or so in the morning — as this tends to draw them 

 up weak, and when the cuttings are taken from them, they are so 

 succulent that they often damp off; when, however, the plants are 

 placed as first recommended, the wood grows strong, short jointed, and 

 weU ripened. About the middle of July is the time I prefer to take 

 off cuttings ; some cultivators put in sooner, but, the plants generally 

 get large and straggly before spring. The pots to leceive the cut- 

 tings should be filled with a compost of leaf mould and sand, in 

 about the proportion of one third of the latter, to two thirds of the 

 former. Take ofl" the cuttings with a sharp knife, close below a 

 joint, always selecting the top shoots, discarding, however, that part 

 near the old stems of the flowers ; they should be about four inches 

 in length ; then place them in the pots (six or eight in a number 

 three), carefully marking each kind. When all are finished, give a 

 gentle watering, and place them in a shady part of the green-house, 

 or frame, or in want of either of these, in the garden, against a fence 

 or wall, facing the north. They should be carefully watered, but 

 not kept too wet until rooted, which is generally in the course of 

 three weeks. 



In September, preparation should be made to pot oft' the plants. 



