420 General Notices. 



will be ready to plant out, on a piece of ground at least two spits deep, and 

 ■well manured, turning the bottom up, and placing the manure between the 

 top and bottom spit. The manure preferred is that about half rotten, and 

 used from the heap. Manure that has been washed the whole season, in 

 the frame ground, is not good enough. All being in readiness, the plants 

 are put out at about eighteen inches apart, from row to row, so that in the 

 spring every alternate plant may be taken up for a second crop, the moving 

 of which gives the plants a check, and produces a succession. For a later 

 supply he sows about the third week in August ; when the plants are 

 ready they are pricked out into a piece of dry sheltered ground, planting 

 them rather deep, to protect them from frost until April, when they may 

 be planted out at their proper distances. Thus the spring and summer 

 cabbage are provided. About the fifteenth or twentieth of May a few 

 more are sown, to plant as vacancies occur, and again in June. This gives 

 a good supply all the season. Several members spoke of the excellent 

 cabbage grown by Mr. Taylor. — (Gard. Jour., 1848, p. 294.) 



CuUivation of the Pelargonhim. — Those persons who have not had the 

 opportunity of witnessing the superb specimens of the above plants, as ex- 

 hibited this season at the Royal Botanic and Chiswick Shows, can form no 

 idea of their excellence and superiority over what they were a few years 

 since, and which must reflect great credit on the cultivators of this noble 

 flower. The following mode of cultivating the pelargonium, so as to ob- 

 tain fine specimens, may, perhaps, be of interest to some of the readers of 

 your widely-circulated journal :— Early in July, 1 prepare as many cut- 

 tings as required, always selecting the firmest of the shoot for this purpose, 

 and such as are shortest jointed, never allowing a cutting to be more than 

 four inches in length. I then insert them in sixty-sized pots, one in each 

 pot, in a mixture of well decayed leaf mould and silver sand, taking care to 

 place them firmly in the pots, and well watering through a fine rose, then 

 plunging in a cold frame, placing them so that they may be about eight or 

 ten inches from the glass, which is kept close, and shaded from the mid- 

 day sun. In about three weeks, they will be sufllciently rooted, so as to 

 be potted off into forty-eight sized pots, in a compost consisting of turfy 

 loam, leaf mould, and sandy peat. I then place them in a sheltered situa- 

 tion in the open air, or in a cold frame, which is most preferable, as afford- 

 ing facility for shading, or security against excessive rains or sudden frosts 

 in autumn. About the middle of September, T remove the plants into the 

 greenhouse or pits, and place them as near the glass as circumstances will 

 admit, — this being a most essential point in the successful culture of the 

 pelargonium. Should the weather be damp at this period, a little fire may 

 be employed during the day to dry up the damp, taking care to give plenty 

 of air at all favorable opportunities. During the months of December and 

 January, they require the greatest attention, as to watering, &c., removing 

 all decayed leaves, and every thing that is at all likely to create damp : 

 cleanliness, at this season, being of the utmost importance to the future 

 well-being of the plants. In the latter end of January, I re-pot the plants 

 into twenty-foursized pots, giving them a good drainage, and using a compost 



