98 



THE GERANIUM HOUSE. 



appearance by the application of tobacco smoke from the fumigating 

 bellows. They are not subject to any other diseases. We are aware 

 that this is not the practice followed by the most eminent growers 

 of this splendid tribe, but we recommend it to such as, fi'om a variety of 

 circumstances, have neither the convenience nor skill to bring on an annual 

 supply. 



The plants originated from cuttings planted in August, and treated as 

 directed above, may, when potted into thirty-two sized pots, be placed in the 

 Geranium house, or if they be kept in a cool, air}- pit or frame, they need 

 not be removed till the beginning of November : at all events, at whatever 

 period they are brought in, it is essential that they be placed as near to 

 the glass as possible, and abundantly supplied with air, and not set too 

 closely together. All rambUng shoots, and such as appear to grow too fast, 

 should be pinched off, for the future habit of the plant depends on its 

 treatment at this period. ^lost young plants have a tendency to send 

 up one leading shoot, which often attains a considerable height before 

 sending out lateral branches. A plant allowed to run so, can never after- 

 wards be brought into a handsome form, and if the formation of the plant 

 be not set about when young, it cannot be done afterT\ ai'ds without sacri- 

 ficing the flowers, wliich he in embryo in the points of the shoots that 

 would in that case be cut off. One of the greatest faults in the ordinary 

 mode of cultivating Geraniums is, allowing them to run up tall and naked 

 at the bottom ; when such a course is followed, the plants will neither 

 flower well nor look so handsome. 



The greenhouse kinds of Geraniaceae, though nearly all natives of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, are much less hardy than the family of Erica from 

 the same countiy ; this may be accounted for in various ways ; — soft- 

 wooded or succulent plants are more hable to be injured by frost, than 

 hard- wooded plants from the same latitudes, their exterior skin or outer 

 bark being very thin, and then- juices extremely abundant. Again, most 

 of the family Erica are indigenous to the mountains, while most of the 

 Geraniums are inhabitants of the plains, thus proving that altitude is as 

 much to be studied in calculating the comparative degree of hardiness in 

 plants, as latitude. 



We know," says Mr. ]\I^Nab, from undoubted authority, that certain 

 species of Cape Geraniacefe, and certain species of Erica, grow together in 

 the same kind of soil and in the same situation, intermixed one vrith the 

 other in theu' native country- ; but we know that in this country the 

 same species of heaths will bear a degree of cold with impunity, which 



