598 Cultivation of Plants. 



7. Culture of Tender Perennial Bedding Plants. 



A garden is scarcely considered furnished during the 

 summer months without some Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, 

 Verbenas, Heliotropes, Lobelias, Ageratums, Dahlias, and several 

 other things. To raise and winter these plants a small green- 

 house or warm pit is indispensable. Calceolarias are nearly 

 hardy, and cuttings taken early in the autumn and bedded in 

 thickly together will throw roots and merely require the pro- 

 tection of a frame during winter. Next in point of hardiness 

 are the Pelargoniums : these likewise are propagated from 

 cuttings in the autumn, either out of doors or leveral together 

 in pans. They may be left in the beds or pans with ample 

 protection from frost until the end of February or beginning of 

 March, when they should be potted singly to enable them to 

 form strong plants. The principal point to guard against during 

 the winter, especially if they are stored where the temperature 

 is low, is superabundant moisture. The beds or pans should 

 be well drained, and water almost entirely withheld in severe 

 weather. All dead leaves and decaying matter should be 

 removed as soon as observed, or the young plants will be liable 

 to damp off. Lobelias, as we have already mentioned, are raised 

 by preference from seed, which should be sown early in the year. 

 Verbenas, Heliotropes, etc., being rapid-growing plants, and 

 rather tender, the simplest plan is to store a few old plants 

 to obtain cuttings from in the spring. A little more heat 

 should be applied about the beginning of March to stimulate 

 the old plants into making new growth, and as soon as the 

 shoots are two or three joints long, they may be taken off and put 

 into the cutting pots, a hot-bed having been previously prepared 

 for their reception. If healthy, and the hot-bed quite sweet, 

 they will soon strike, when they should be potted off before the 

 roots become matted together. A great deal depends upon 

 their being kept free from parasitical vermin and mildew. 

 Dahlia tubers should be stowed away in a moderately dry place 

 where no frost can reach them. The beginning of March is 

 the best time to start them into growth, the more gently the 

 better. They are propagated by division of the tubers and 

 from cuttings. Our concluding remark is, Do not turn out bed- 

 ding plants too early, or without being properly hardened off. 



