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CVLTIVATION A\D ANALYSIS OF PLANTS. 





crock gives them sufficient drainage, and the heat it draws from the air furnishes 

 all the warmth required. When raised from seed, the long spur attached should he cut 

 off, as it is likely to work the seed out of the ground. 



Most of the Geraniums have strong-scented foliage, and are quite free from insects. 

 The Rose Geranium, with its lemon-scented leaves, is, however, an exception, as the aphis 

 or green-fly considers its green shoots a dainty bit. The Apple, Nutmeg and Pennyroyal 

 Geraniums are grown for their fragrant leaves, and are well adapted for hanging-baskets, 

 but are better for pot culture. 



Geraniums require a rich, loamy soil. To have them hloom in winter, they must not 

 be allowed to bloom during summer, and should be kept with a scanty supplv of water. 

 In early fall repot and trim back well, give more water, and occasionally liquid manure, 

 and the branches will probably give flowers by December. 



aLj^Dioi, us. 



.ESERVEDLY among the most popular of bulbous plants, the 

 Gladiolus will always repav, bv its abundance of flowers, for the 

 care and attention bestowed upon it. In modem times it has been 

 so extensively hybridized that the varieties now number several hun- 

 dreds, and are in a fair way of being swelled to thousands. By this 

 process, however, they have been made less hardy, and the new speci- 

 mens require more careful handling than the old. All the varieties will grow in 

 almost any soil, the richer earth, however, in every instance producing the better 

 flowers. The spot selected should be enriched with good manure, which should 

 be thoroughly incorporated with the soil. The bulbs should be planted three to 

 six inches deep, according to size (bulblets only one inch), and four to six inches 

 or more apart, and abundantly watered in dry weather. Supports should be furnished 

 each plant, if in a windy situation, to keep the flower-stalks upright. However small 

 the collection, it will be found most agreeable to have a number of varieties, as by this 

 means a pleasing continuity in the times of blooming is most readily insured. Other 

 plants mav be grown in the same beds, provided they are a low-growing kind, as for 

 instance the Mignonette; the shade or protection afforded by the leaves of such seems 

 to be beneficial to the bulbs during the process of growth; and they also help to 

 relieve the scarcity of foliage in the slim, gaunt Gladiolus. As window or house 

 plants they are scarcely desirable, requiring too much root-room, and not possessing 

 any compensating peculiarities of foliage or even of flower. They propagate themsehes 

 by forming new bulbs upon the older ones, and a number of bulblets under the new 

 bulb. These bulblets should be planted in beds by themselves, as they have to be 

 grown from two to four years before flowering. They should not be planted, however, 

 until tliey have been kept eighteen months, as if started sooner very few of tiiem will 

 grow. The bulblets invariably produce the same variety as the parent. When the 

 flower-stalks are dead, or after the first light frost, the bulbs should be lifted, and such as 

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