MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS 79 



deficient in atmospheric moisture. If allowed to become 

 infested with insects, they can never flower well or be 

 in any way attractive. 



Hydrangeas. — A few of the Hydrangeas make excellent 

 pot plants. They like a good, loamy soil, enriched with 

 about one-third of decayed manure, and during the grow- 

 ing season they enjoy plenty of water. Old plants should 

 have all small shoots cut out entirely, during the winter 

 or spring, leaving the stronger ones intact, as these will 

 flower from the tips. Any strong new shoots showing 

 at the base should be encouraged. On the number of 

 strong well ripened shoots will depend the quantity of 

 flowers produced. The "white flowered H. paniculata 

 bears hard pruning, as it flowers well from growths 

 of the current year. H. hortensis, the common sort, 

 may be grown in a small form with one big head 

 of flower to a plant under the following treatment, 

 and this will indicate sufficiently the general treatment 

 required by either old or young plants. In spring, 

 cuttings should be made of strong young growths, 

 that are not showing flower, and struck in a close 

 frame putting only one cutting in a pot. When rooted, 

 pot into five-inch pots and grow on freely, giving full 

 exposure to the young plants towards the autumn. 

 When the leaves drop, put the plants in a cool green- 

 house and keep them dry at the roots all winter, 

 resuming watering when growth commences in spring. 

 After flowering, these plants may be kept to form 

 bushy specimens ; and, to encourage a good habit, they 

 should be cut down almost close to the ground and 

 allowed to break into growth from the bottoms. 

 Such plants should be potted into larger pots early 

 in spring. 



Pelargoniums (Show). — Pelargoniums may be roughly 

 divided into two sections, viz. Show and Zonal, each 

 of distinct value for the greenhouse. They each con- 



