154 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



plants to be cultivated in the house are such as have been 

 growing in your own flower borders, plants that were set 

 out in spring, and have now the full summer's luxuriant 

 growth still on them, then proper precaution must be 

 taken in lifting them and placing them in pots, or the 

 result is certain to be most unsatisfactory. What may 

 seem to the novice a little singular is, that the more 

 luxuriant the growth of the plant in the open border, 

 the more danger there is that it will wilt or die when 

 lifted in the fall, and placed in a pot. The reason of 

 this is obvious, when it is known that just in proportion 

 to the top growth of a plant is the wide-spread develop- 

 ment of roots, and, therefore, when you lift a finely- 

 grown Geranium or Kose in October, it is next to impos- 

 sible, if it is to be got into a suitable sized flower pot, to 

 do so without such mutilation of the young roots as will 

 certainly kill it, if precaution is not taken to cut off at 

 least two-thirds of its branches. If the plant is thus 

 potted, and kept as dry as it will stand, without actually 

 withering, until it starts into growth, you may hope to 

 have a fairly healthy specimen by December, if the lifting 

 was done in October. But this practice, though often 

 one of necessity, is never satisfactory. If the plants that 

 have done service in the borders in summer are to be 

 used as ornaments for the parlor in fall, winter, and 

 spring, they must have a different treatment. 



All plants that are intended for future culture in 

 rooms should be potted in the usual way, in five or six- 

 inch pots, when set out in May or June. These pots 

 should be set in the flower borders, but planted or 

 "plunged," as it is called, so that the rim of the pot 

 is level with the surface of the ground. The plants will 

 flower in these pots, if so desired, nearly as well as if set 

 directly in the open ground ; but if wanted for flowering 

 in winter, they will bloom much better to have the flower 

 buds picked off as fall approaches. It is also indispensa- 



