So 



THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



sized pots they were in before, potting firmly. If grown in a light position in a warm 

 greenhouse, and the growths duly regulated, topping those requiring it, they will 

 develop into extra fine specimens, from which flower buds should be removed till 

 within six weeks of the shows. The plants require ample room, and during warm 

 weather abundance of air. Those turned out into the open are apt to lose many of their 

 best leaves, and neither the trusses nor individual flowers are so fine as those produced 

 by plants under glass. 



Ivy-leaf Pelargoniums. 

 Of these there are many excellent novelties annually introduced, including single, 

 semi-double, and double flowering varieties, the two first sections proving the most 

 generally serviceable. They are all very effective in hanging baskets, and form neat 

 margins to the fronts of stages, while the stronger growers are admirably adapted 

 either for clothing pillars in conservatories or for training over trellises. Cuttings 

 of firm, yet not hard and dry, shoots may be rooted much as advised in the case of 

 zonal pelargoniums. They should be kept growing in a temperature of about 50°, 

 and be given more pot room as they require it. If dwarf trailing plants are 

 needed, top them twice, and these will flower all the summer. In the case of plants 

 that are to be trained over trellises, top these often enough to lay a good foundation, 

 and gradually shift them into 9 -inch or larger pots before commencing to train, 

 then let them run, distributing the growths evenly and neatly over the trellises. 

 They may be wintered with the trained zonal varieties, and be similarly treated early 

 in the spring for producing fine specimens during the following summer. 



Diseases and Insect Pests. 

 Show and fancy pelargoniums are most liable to be infested by green fly, which, 

 however, may easily be kept in subjection by means of occasional fumigations with 

 tobacco, or the nicotine preparations introduced of late years. Unless the plants are 

 kept free from this pest they speedily become unsightly. Pew or no insects trouble the 

 zonal and ivy-leaf sections, but the leaves of winter-flowering plants are liable to 

 become spotted, then turning yellow, the points of the shoots and eventually the whole 

 of the plant succumbing to this disease. It is of a fungoid nature and there is no known 

 remedy for it. Most instances of it occur among plants growing in comparatively low 

 temperatures accompanied by a moist atmosphere, and the maintenance of a good circula- 

 tion of warm dry air, also carefully avoiding over-watering, are the best preventive 

 measures. 



