60 
CULTURE OF PELARGONIUMS. 
{Continued from page 36.) 
Besides attending promptly to the elevation of this tribe to the light, and the 
transparent texture of the covering which intervenes between them and the air, 
their sufficient distance from each other, so as not to have any of their branches or 
leaves brought in contact, must not be forgotten. Their verdure is deepened, 
their elongations matured, and their ensuing as well as more remote fertility 
promoted, by standing in a free current of air ; which cannot act upon them 
beneficially if cumbered by the too great proximity of their neighbours. They 
will even derive advantage from being totally exposed at those times during which 
the atmosphere is calm, and the sun not excessively bright. 
"Water, liberally applied, is, as a companion of solar influence, next in value 
throughout the progressive state. If the desired dwarfness, so necessary to beauty 
in these objects, is properly obtained, the supply of liquid to the roots may be 
much lessened, the shade of the leaves and shoots admitting this diminution. But, 
presuming this happy consummation unrealized, the best way of watering Pelargonia 
is with a syringe. They should be nightly drenched through the medium of that 
instrument, to any amount that the season may warrant. The method inculcated 
is far more congenial than the ordinary practice ; not only abstractedly, on account 
of its nearer assimilation to the rains and dew which Nature provides for their sus- 
tenance, but likewise because it washes from the leaves — those recognised channels 
of respiration, and media of concoction — all the dust and other matters which 
are apt to accumulate thereupon, and enables them rightly to fulfil the functions 
for which they are destined. Still, whenever such an application would be 
injudicious or injurious, or where syringing alone does not satisfy the plants' 
wants, it will be both prudent and necessary to pour water at once on the soil. 
The foregoing hints may serve to govern and direct the daily tendance 
required for the subjects of this article, till their blossoms are partially disclosed. 
On their arrival at that condition, they may be transported to a greenhouse, where, 
if not mingled with other plants, a slight shading should be furnished to them as 
soon as the first flowers are fairly opened. They will not, it is true, be materially 
defaced, or their blooms destroyed much earlier, by the neglect of this precaution ; 
but those who wish them preserved in perfection till their innate loveliness is quite 
exhausted, will not despise or disregard such a measure. 
After flowering, they have to undergo a total transformation. Their branches 
are to be shortened, their roots trimmed, and every specimen planted in a much 
smaller pot, to be placed in a warm moist atmosphere for several weeks. To 
many of our readers, this practice may seem not a little singular. Let us then 
state its occasion and consequences. 
