292 On the Cultivation and Treatment 



We have stated (page 210,) that a great lover of the tribe in- 

 tended to commence, this season, with sowing seeds, and we 

 hope others will follow. How infinite a variety might be pro- 

 duced, and how brilliant would be our gardens, in June, with the 

 gorgeous colors of their blossoms! 



Art. III. On the Cultivation and Treatment of Pelargoniums. 

 By Thomas Hogg, Nurseryman, New York. 



As I believe it would be acceptable to many of your readers 

 to know the mode of treatment necessary to grow, and bloom in 

 perfection, that most beautiful tribe of plants, the pelargoniums, 

 which are now so universally and deservedly admired, J would 

 beg leave, through the medium of your valuable Magazine, to 

 lay before them the mode which I have adopted, and which I 

 find from experience to be the best way of having a succession 

 of bloom from February to July. 



In your March number you have an excellent paper on the 

 propagation of this tribe, by IMr. Russell, which I would recom- 

 mend to the attentive perusal of your readers; as, however, he 

 has not entered fully into the details of their cultivation, but 

 confined his remarks principally to their propagation, my remarks 

 will be limited on the latter, and more extended on the former.* 



I would remark, however, with all deference to Mr. Russell's 

 choice, that I shall use the name pelargonium, because it is the 

 proper name of this tribe of plants, geranium being the name of 

 another genus, and no more applicable to that under considera- 

 tion than the name .ySrtemesia is applicable to the genus Chrysan- 

 themum. 



The necessary compost, and which I find to be the best, is 

 composed of one half good sandy loam, from old pastures, 

 which has been laid in a heap for four or six months previous to 

 using; one quarter two-year-old, well rotted, horse manure, and 

 one quarter vegetable mould; to this, for some of the more deli- 

 cate varieties, a little sand may be added. The turf should be 

 well broken up and well mixed with the manure and vegetable 



* They will also be limited to the cultivation of the shrubby species — 

 the tuberous rooted, and, indeed, a few of the shrubby species, as P. 

 tricolor, requiring rather different management, upon which, perhaps, I 

 may at some future time send you a few lines. — T. H. 



