NEW ZEALAND GARDENING. II*] 



Propagation: by Seed. Seeds may be saved from the 

 best blooms and sown in pans as soon as ripe or in August ; 

 place a sheet of glass over the pan. As soon as the plants 

 are sufficiently large to handle they should be planted in a 

 finely-prepared bed. Plant six inches apart ; they may remain 

 in this bed till they bloom ; select the best and discard the 

 rest. Unless the seed is very choice indeed, we need not 

 expect many choice flowers from a moderately sized packet of 

 seed. 



Pelargonium. Propagation \ by Seed. When the seed 

 is ripe gather it carefully and divest it of its featherlike 

 appendages, wrap it up in paper and keep it in a dry cool 

 room till Spring. Sow it early in September, in pots or pans 

 well drained, in a light rich compost, press the seed down 

 gently, and cover it about a quarter of an inch deep. If 

 the seed is good it will quickly germinate, and should then 

 be placed near to the glass. Water very moderately, or the 

 plants will be apt to damp off. As soon as the seedlings 

 have made their second leaf, pot them off singly into two- 

 inch pots, in a compost of loam and well-rotted leaf mould 

 in equal parts, with a liberal addition of sharp sand. Replace 

 them on the shelf, and shade for a time from the hot sun- 

 shine. The seedlings will soon fill these small pots with 

 roots. They must then be repotted into pots a size larger, and 

 may afterwards be treated in the same way as those which 

 have been propagated by cuttings. Keep them close to the 

 glass, and give abundance of air on all favourable occasions. 

 As soon as the weather will permit place them out-of-doors 

 upon a bed of ashes of sufficient thickness to prevent worms 

 from entering the pots. The situation should be an open 

 one, to ripen the wood and induce a stocky or bushy habit, 

 so as to insure their flowering the following season. 

 The size of pots to flower them in need not be more 

 than four inches and a-half. When there is a fear of 

 Autumnal frosts, remove them into the greenhouse and place 

 them on a shelf at such a distance from the glass as will 

 serve to keep them dwarf and bushy. There is no need to 

 top them in the manner recommended hereafter for plants 

 raised from cuttings, the object being not to make fine speci- 

 mens, but to get them to flower as quickly as possible the 

 Spring following. This brings us to consider what are the 

 characteristics of a first-rate Pelargonium. 



