258 THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. [Jan'y 



^shoots will speedily appear all over the plant, and when these are 

 about a couple of inches in length the plant should be taken out and 

 the roots pruned, shaking away most of the old soil and repotting in \ 

 as small sized pot as the roots will admit of. By this practice the 

 plant will form a fresh set of roots, and allow of an additional supply 

 of fresh soil, without using a pot dispropc-rtionally large as compared 

 with the size of the plant, which would otherwise be the case were 

 the plant constantly shifted into larger pots without any reduction of 

 roots. They will not require much water for a time after this opera- 

 tion, and should be kept in the shade, bringing them into a more ex- 

 posed situation as the roots strengthen. When brought into the house 

 about the middle of October, they should be placed near the glass 

 where fresh air can be admitted to them daily ; they should receive a 

 minimum supply of water during winter; indeed, they should merely 

 be kept from wilting until February, when they may be removed into 

 flowering pots. They should now be encouraged to grow by keeping 

 them moist at root and occasionally syringed over the leaves; if the 

 points are pinched out of the shoots, they will assume a compact bushy 

 habit. They require a plentiful supply of water when in flower. — 

 When the bloom fades, set them out of doors to harden and ripen the 

 wood before cutting them down; if intended to flower another season, 

 the same routine as above now commences. I never bloom the same 

 plant oftenei than two years, preferring young plants to old ones. 



Propagation. — Cuttings made and planted at the annual cutting 

 down, will root readily at the back of a fence or other shaded place, 

 and make fine flowering- plants for next summer, if potted and kept 

 growing gently all winter. 



Seed, saved from the most approved sorts,, should be sown as soon 

 as ripe, not later than the first of August, to flower the plants the fol- 

 lowing summer; put them in five inch pots for flowering; keeping the 

 roots somewhat contracted will induce them to flower sooner; both 

 these and other plants will be much improved by applications of ma- 

 nure water after the flower buds are formed*; if applied before, an in- 

 creased wood growth and a diminished crop of flowers would result. 



The Geranium does not force into bloom very well, but by cutting 

 them down early and getting a good growth before winter, and keep- 

 ing them m small sized pots the ordinary flowering period may be an- 

 ticipated a few weeks. Some varieties naturally flower early; Alba 

 multiflora and Washington I have had to flower fine in February, 

 without much care; the former especially forms a fine truss, and flow- 

 ers profusely ait an early season. 



y 1 grow them in pure turfy loam, with the pots well drained, using 



9o no manure, except an occasional application m & liquid state when the 



(^flower buds are expanding. 



*39bv ^FQSM 



