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RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF WINTER-BLOOMING PLANTS. 
In the gaiety of summer, when all the plants around are blooming in the most 
splendid manner, we are liable to forget that duller days will come, and hence too 
frequently neglect to prepare to cheat the " Ice King " of some of his terrors, by 
assembling under glass such an array of floral beauty as in the dull months of 
winter would almost lead one to exclaim " 'tis spring ! 'tis spring 1" The operations 
of gardening are all based upon forethought, and the gardener who, in his every-day 
occupations, cannot see from twelve to eighteen months in prospective, does not 
deserve to be considered a gardener at all. Hence, then, the importance of fore- 
thought, and hence, also, the indispensability of following up the thought by action, 
so as to keep the machine regularly and systematically moving, and also to have a 
supply of whatever may be required at all seasons. 
Now nothing is more easy than to have a conservatory gay with flowers through- 
out the winter, provided due preparation be made;' but it is of no use to begin to 
prepare in October, as by that time the plants should be grown and set with bloom, 
so as to be ready to unfold their charms almost at a day's notice. To effect this, 
then, with some of the most showy, but at the same time common and easily 
managed plants, is the object of the following remarks, which are addressed more to 
amateurs than practical men, but which at the same time many of the latter may 
profit by if they feel so disposed. 
Scarlet Pelargoniums. — Although most people are partial to this gaudy tribe of 
plants, it is strange that few think of growing them for winter flowering ; and yet, 
when properly prepared, I know no tribe which will more amply repay the attention 
bestowed upon it. The proper method of procedure is this ; in spring, before the 
flower-garden plants are bedded out, make choice of three or four plants of each of 
the following kinds : — Frogmore and Frogmore Improved, Cooper's, General Tom 
Thumb, Prizefighter, Shrublands, Count, Compactum, and others of the free- 
blooming kinds, and pot them into rather light porous soil, giving them a liberal 
shift, and place them in a free, open situation, where they will be fully exposed to 
the sun. Supply them liberally with water, applying liquid manure twice or thrice 
a week, and endeavour, by proper exposure to light and air, to induce them to make 
strong, short, stubby growth, in which, by the timely removal of the flower-stems 
wherever they appear, a quantity of fruitful or flower-producing sap may be 
deposited, which can be brought into action at any time when flowers may be 
required. To facilitate the maturing process, take the plants about the first week in 
August, and place them under a south or west wall, and let them remain there until 
the middle of September, taking care to prevent their rooting through the pots into 
the border, and at the same time using every endeavour to get the young growth 
thoroughly ripened. This treatment will probably make some of the leaves look 
rather yellow ; but that is of little consequence, as a removal into larger pots, with 
