414 Notices of Communications to the Society, of which 



received its present appellation, was known to florists as the 

 Bouquet tendre. 



April 18th, 1820. The Rev. William Williamson, 

 in a communication read this day, describes an economical 

 method of preserving, during the winter, Geraniums, which 

 have been planted in the open borders. He observes that 

 it has of late years been a very prevalent practice to adorn 

 courts and shrubberies, during the summer months, with 

 Geraniums planted in the natural ground, many of which 

 are not of sufficient value, and are of too luxuriant growth, 

 to be placed in the conservatory during the winter; he 

 therefore recommends the following means of preserving 

 them : — in the autumn, before there is a possibility of frost, 

 and before the ground is saturated with rain, he takes up 

 the plants, strips off their leaves, prunes both their branches 

 and fibres, leaving only the woody part of the stem and the 

 larger roots. The object in cutting off the top and leaves is 

 to prevent the plant from rotting by the sap which abounds 

 in the more tender shoots, and it is more likely to be kept in 

 a state of rest by taking away the fibrous part of the root; 

 afterwards they are laid in a dry shady place to heal. He 

 then covers the bottom of a box with dry sand, and on this 

 places a layer of Geraniums rather close together, covering 

 them with sand, and so on alternately layers of Geraniums and 

 sand, till the box is filled. It is then removed into a cellar, 

 or any place where the contents are not likely to be affected 

 by frost. When re-planted in the month of May, if they 

 have not been kept in too damp a place, the plants will shoot 

 vigorously, and make a more shewy appearance than newly 

 raised plants. 



