REGAL AND SHOW PELARGONIUMS 59 



we need in a Viola, only much smaller. At the end of September 

 and early in October these plants should be lifted and the 

 cuttings taken off or it may be, if the weather has been moist, 

 a large proportion of them will already be rooted so that it 

 becomes partly a matter of division and partly of cuttings. 

 It is, of course, an advantage to take cuttings ready rooted, 

 but we cannot always have that, and when cuttings have to be 

 made every growth upward of J inch long may become a cutting. 

 It needs little making, probably only the removal of a leaf 

 or two, and when made should be dibbled into sandy soil at less 

 than an inch apart. We generally use round or square pans or, 

 failing those, 6-inch pots. Kept close and moist, they root in 

 a week and at once begin to grow until they completely cover 

 the pots or pans. About Christmas time we go over these with 

 a knife and take off probably half of each plant, which we treat 

 as we treated their parents, and so on through the early spring 

 months, till from every thousand of the original cuttings we have 

 supplied ourselves with ten thousand. The soil used is calcu- 

 lated to hold moisture, so is neither very fine nor sandy, but a 

 surface of silver sand is provided partly to induce the surface 

 roots and partly to guard against " damping off." In early 

 spring they are boxed, and so marketed. 



REGAL AND SHOW PELARGONIUMS 



This class of Pelargonium furnishes typical market plants, 

 and though they are not so popular as they were a generation 

 ago they still command a considerable following. There are 

 few villages throughout England where cottage windows are 

 not ablaze with their bloom till the early autumn, and fewer 

 conservatories that do not owe a portion of their summer beauty 

 to their many-shaded and abundant blossoms. 



The growing of the show Pelargonium used to be a regular 

 cult, much as that of the Chrysanthemum became, but it was a 

 generation old when the 'mum first appeared upon the scene. 

 Several of the leading nurseries specialised in it and built up 

 huge specimens that were marvels of skill and great masses of 

 colour. But it was most popular as a market plant in a 5-inch 



