AND consehvatotit. 135 



available ; but tbe atmosphere must not be moist with Bteam 

 arising from fermenting materials. Otherwise the fancies require 

 the same treatment as the show varieties, and mav, with advan- 

 tage, be located at the warmest end of the geranium-house. 



Forcing Pelaegonium;s are grown in great quantities for 

 Covent Garden Market, but are generally considered by 

 amateurs too troublesome to be worth a place in the private 

 greenhouse. It requires some skill to do them well, but when 

 well done they charm away the gloom of winter, and proclaim 

 the cultivator a master of the art. As regards quality the flowers 

 are not so fine as those of varieties flowering later in the season, 

 but they are produced in greater abundance, and the habit 

 is rather better. It would not be fair to compare the flowers of 

 the two classes, for the early flowering varieties bloom so early 

 with a proper system of management, that they should be out 

 of bloom and removed from the conservatory by the time the 

 later blooming kinds are ready to take their place. 



It is best to begin in July with plants a year old. If you 

 must begin with cuttings, secure them early in March, and 

 strike them on bottom-heat, and have the young plants in 

 separate pots in the greenhouse at the begianing of May, when 

 they should be potted into large 60'3 and removed to a cold 

 frame. If this plan is not suitable to your case, secure cut- 

 tings in June, and strike them under a hand-glass without 

 heat, and make the most of the short season of growing 

 weather that remains. 



About the middle of June, or earlier, if the season is for- 

 ward, those in the cold frames should be removed to a bed of 

 coal ashes a foot in thickness, in an open sunny spot. A mere 

 sprinkle of ashes will not sutiice, for wherever a worm finds 

 entrance, the plant will suffer by it. In the first week of July- 

 stop all the young shoots, and before the month is out shift 

 into 48's or "32's, and return them to the bed of ashes. In the 

 first week of September the stock should be brought into the 

 greenhouse, be placed close to the glass, and have an abun- 

 dance of air. Ventilate the greenhouse freely when the plants 

 are first brought indoors in September, to lessen the change as 

 much as possible. In a fortnight afterwards they will begin 

 to feel at home, and, as the weather will be getting colder, less 

 air will be necessary. Air-giving must at all times be re- 

 gulated by the state of the weather outside. In dull, damp 



