THE PARLOR GARDENER. 105 



Method of training the Pelargonium Slips. 



A slip of pelargonium, left to itself, shoots at 

 hazard right anpl left, puts forth a quantity of 

 foliage and flowers badly : this is what the French 

 gardeners, adopting a term applied generally to 

 colts, call badly broken.. "When you see it well 

 rooted, and beginning to shoot vigorously, pinch 

 off the top. The two or three shoots next below 

 this will develop in side branches of nearly 

 equal strength ; destroy all that put out below 

 these, retaining them alone to form a regular 

 head. If one of these branches runs up, and 

 is impatient to pass the others, do not hesitate to 

 pinch it off. Below this point two shoots must 

 be left at first one of them to be taken off at 

 the end of eight or ten days. Thus will equality 

 in the vegetation of the pelargonium be main- 

 tained. These attentions will be a true pleasure 

 to you ; you will witness their effect immediately ; 

 and the flowering of your pelargoniums thus man- 

 aged will be as equal and as perfect as is natural 

 to the different species of this beautiful genus. 



