260 THE amateur's geeenhofse 



August. — Pelargoniums that have been pruned back and 

 rested should be repotted as soon as they have broken regu- 

 larly. Put them into the smallest pots into which their roots 

 can be got, so as to allow of a series of shifts till they are once 

 more in their blooming-pots. Young plants and greenhouse 

 shrubs should be well hardened now before going to their 

 quarters for the winter. Let camellias and azaleas have plenty 

 of sun and little water. Summer-struck geraniums, achimenes, 

 and fuchsias, may be got into bloom now, to keep up a display 

 till Christmas. Shift all forward stock required to bloom early. 

 Cinerarias should now be strong and must have no check ; see 

 that they are kept clear of fly, for they are very subject to it. A 

 cold pit is the best place for them. Sow now, for decorating 

 the house in early spring, Clarhia pulchella, Nemophila insignis, 

 Ergsimum PeroffsJcianum, Oenothera roses, CoIUnsia hicolor, 

 Veronica syriaca, and Chinese primroses. Whatever needs 

 potting pot at once. Late shifts result in death during 

 winter. All plants winter best when their pots are full of 

 roots. 



September. — It is most important to have the growth of all 

 hard- wooded plants well ripened when there is plenty of sun- 

 heat. If any subjects requiring to be repotted have been neg- 

 lected, there must be no time lost to give them a shift to 

 enable them to make new roots before winter sets in. A border 

 under a south wall is a good place for plants that require to be 

 well roasted before being housed. Bedding plants should be 

 got into small pots as fast as they make good roots in the 

 borders, or can be spared from the decorative grounds, if worth 

 keeping. Keej) the houses gay with balsams, cockscombs, 

 fuchsias, liliums, gladioli, coleus, amaranthus bicolor, helio- 

 tropes, and plants with fine foliage. Wherever wormcasts are 

 seen in pots, turn out the balls, and the worms can then be 

 picked out with a stick. Sometimes a dose of manure-water 

 will cause the worms to struggle up to the surface. Plants in 

 conservatory borders which are now past their best to be taken 

 up, and, if worth keeping pot them, and place on bottom-heat for 

 eight or ten days, as they will winter better if the pots are full of 

 roots. Winter-flowering begonias to have a good shift in a 

 compost of turfy loam and leaf-mould. Pot oft' a lot of bulbs 

 at once for early bloom, and plunge them in coal ashes, and 

 give very little water. Keep all houses open as much as will 



