Prize Pelargonivms. 329 



to form the plant ; three or four will be sufficient ; there- 

 fore all above this number should be carefully taken off. 



It will now be time to remove the plants for the first 

 time into No. 2 pots, being mindful to give them a bounti- 

 ful supply of air, wiiich is indispensably necessary for 

 their well doing ; if this is neglected the plants will be 

 drawn to a weak spindling growth, and the whole of the 

 care and labor will be lost, for a good strong growth can- 

 not well be obtained without cutting the whole back again 

 and commencing anew. Having selected the shoots, which 

 should be trained in a horizontal position, bring them down 

 with hooked pegs, put into the pot at a regular distance 

 from each other ; however, this cannot well be done before 

 the plants are shifted to No. 4 pots. In order to ascertain 

 the proper time to repot the plants, examine the roots; and 

 when you find the spongioles or young roots gathering 

 around the side of the pot, the sooner it is done the better, 

 and the stronger the plant will grow. By keeping the 

 lower shoots regularly trained, as before advised, and by 

 continuing to shift the plants, as required, into larger pots, 

 stopping the lower horizontal shoots at every six hiches of 

 their growth, and arranging the upright ones that issue 

 from them, at regular distances, and stopping them, at the 

 same time, you may have just as large and handsome a 

 plant as you could wish for. If the plants become too 

 much crowded, thin out all superfluous weak shoots. 



For the compost, take the sod from an old pasture field, 

 three or four inches in depth, laying it grass-side down into 

 a square heap, about three weeks before it is wanted; then 

 collect horse manure, free from straw or litter, and add 

 about one third in quantity to the sods, and when the 

 whole is blended together it will be the very best compost 

 for the growth of the plants. At each time of repotting, a 

 little bone dust may be placed on the pot-sherds that are 

 used for drainage ; the drainage, which is composed of 

 broken pots called pot-sherds, or of porous bricks broken in 

 small pieces, is an important item, and must not be over- 

 looked ; the larger the pot, the more drainage is necessary, 

 in order to drain ofl" all superfluous water. Occasionally 

 water the plants with guano water, which is prepared by 

 adding one pound of guano to eight or ten gallons of clean 

 water. Pit or fresh water sand may be mixed with the 

 compost at the time of potting the plants, if the earth is 



VOL. X. NO, IX. 42 



