Retrospective Criticism. 351 



Art. it. Retrospective Criticism. 



The Cultivation of the Pelargonium, dye. — Sir, — We, several lady- 

 amateurs of Baltimore, Washington and Alexandria, subscribers and 

 attentive readers of your valuable magazine, beg to state a grievance, and 

 prefer a request. We have attempted to cultivate the pelargonium and 

 failed. That you may be enabled to judge why, we will state the treat- 

 ment pursued. In July last, cut down the parent plants, placed them in 

 the sun, and watered plentifully ; in September, removed them to a green- 

 room, temperature generally about sixty, watered sparingly. Nov. Dec. 

 Jan. gave air as far as the season would admit, and removed them to the 

 garden in May. They grew awkward and unsightly, many did not bloom, 

 and others produced only a few small contemptible ilowers, very late in 

 the season. The cuttings planted in leaf mould and sand, in boxes and 

 pots sunk in a tan bed, watered sparingly the first week, and keep the 

 frame closed. But few rooted, those we treated in winter as the parent 

 plants. One tells us, you erred in not changing them often enough, the 

 roots should have been pared off, and the plants repotted in four inch pots 

 in July, again cut down, and repotted in Sept. and Feb., in larger sizes ; 

 another says you should put them in two inch pots in July, water spar- 

 ingly, or none, in Dec. Jan. and Feb., repot in four inch pots in March, 

 and water abundantly. One cries too much heat, another too little air, 

 they should be starved, and another watered abundantly ; pray end this 

 strife of opinions by stating, in your next number, the treatment deemed 

 best to insure a prolific bloom of large, rich-colored flowers early in the 

 spring. Be kind enough to begin with cutting down the parent plant in 

 July, and give the ivhole process, till they bloom again : also, the treatment 

 for cuttings till they bloom. We are aware they are esteemed very easy 

 of cultivation ; we have not found them so ready to bloom. Perhaps Mr. 

 Teschemacher, whose lucid, practical remarks w'e have so often read with 

 pleasure and improvement in former Nos. of your valuable magazine, will 

 favor us with an article in your next number. What would be the effect 

 if they were not pruned in ? what varieties produce the best seed ? how 

 grow them, the seed bearers, in the strongest manner ? state the best manner 

 of producing hybridization. What do you esteem the best work on pelargo- 

 niums? what are esteemed the best two dozen varieties now in this coun- 

 try] Regular cultivators seem to feel any information they may give as 

 injurious to their interests : mistaken idea ! do they not live by cultivating 

 a refined and elegant taste in others ? In flowers, as in all else, if success- 

 lul, we engage more extensively, if not, discouraged, we relinquish the 

 pursuit. If they give any information, it seems to be on the same princi- 

 ple as the old lady who gave a receipt for making cake to a young friend, 

 leaving out the most material item, and when the omission was pointed 

 out to her, replied, " I did it intentionally, first, that she might shew her 

 skill in supplying the deficiency, next, that she might learn the most im- 

 portant part from experience, as it would be remembered, longer. Alas ! 

 she forgot the waste of sugar, eggs, and cloves ! No doubt they intend 

 to be explicit, but forget, to the uninitiated, all is important. Believing 

 you intend your work to awake and improve the general taste, we beg to 

 remind you that the mass of amateurs, though theoretical botanists, are 

 primary scholars in the art of cultivation, and require minute directions. 



