NOTES, CULTURAL, CRITICAL, AND SUGGESTIVE. 67 W} 
pleasure ; and having made all our standards as nearly as we could beyond the reach of florists, it has 
established one of the best tests that could be made, for every one can see -which approaches the nearest- 
NOTES, CULTrjBAX, CRITICAL, AND SUGGESTIVE. 
fANCY Pelargoniums (A. H.) — The disease you complain about is one that these high-bred 
varieties are very subject to. It is called spot and sometimes gangrene, and originates from 
various causes, such as unsuitable soil, a stagnant or humid and cold atmosphere, injudicious watering, 
and the use of impure and highly enriched soils ; sudden changes of any kind will also induce 
it ; and some varieties are constitutionally subject to it. "When it presents itself in its most malignant 
form it is almost impossible to eradicate it or stay its progress ; but if the plants are attended to directly 
it shows, it may be cured. In addition to the marks or spots upon the leaves, the plants will show 
brown marks upon the stem and foot-stalks of the leaves, and be exceedingly brittle and present a 
glossy, nay almost a glassy, appearance upon the surface of the leaves. This is its worst form, and 
the remedy to be taken is to shake the plants out of the soil, wash the roots if necessary, and repot in 
fresh turfy loam and leaf-mould, liberally intermixed with sand, and charcoal in small pieces. Place 
the plants in a warm and airy place, and water with great caution, until they get into good growth. 
Large plants, after they get into free growth, cannot so safely be shaken out, therefore remove as much 
soil as you can with safety and repot into the same compost, not forgetting the charcoal, as it is to its 
universally purifying influence that you must mainly look for success. AYken the plants are first 
affected, if taken in time, an occasional watering with lime-water and free ventilation will check the 
progress of disease ; but it is almost impossible to eradicate it when fairly established. It is more than 
probable that the high breeding, or breeding "in and in," as is the case in the animal kingdom, has 
tended much to induce the disease, for it is quite certain nearly the same effects proceed from the same 
causes in the vegetable as in the animal creation ; and so long as raisers of Pelargoniums continue to 
breed from the most delicate kinds, so long will this disease, which under such circumstances is consti- 
tutional, continue to increase. High breeding and high feeding among plants produce disease in the end, 
and if we are to " deserve success " more attention must be paid to the selection of parents, more espe- 
cially the female parent. A short time ago we had plants of Field Marshal and Salamander much affected : 
they were potted and introduced into a temperature of 4o' to 60 = , in which they have grown some inches 
in length, and arc now quite healthy. The same experiment we intend to try with some other kinds. 
Pimelea spectabilis (Querist). — The plant which you have just received from the nursery, if it is 
healthy and well-rooted, may be shifted at once into a larger pot, using a compost of two-thirds rich 
fibrous peat and one-third Epping loam, or if that cannot be procured any nice rich sandy hazel 
loam that can bo met with, breaking both very fine, and mixing them liberally with sand and charcoal, 
and potsherds broken small. At the time of potting loosen the matted roots around the ball carefully, 
and shade the plant for a few days until it is established in the new soil. If the plant is in a five-inch, 
it is not, unless very thickly rooted, advisable to do more than to sliift it into a large six-inch pot, 
but when it has filled that with roots, it may be removed into a nine or eleven-inch pot, being guided, 
of course, by the strength of the plant. At this time it will possibly be showing bloom, and if so do 
not stop it until it has expanded, as, if you do, it is almost certain to produce flower-shoots again ; 
but if you allow it to bloom, and then cut it back, it will produce wood-shoots. Stopping must be 
systematically attended to: that is, stop all the shoots at the same time, but allow them to grow four or 
six inches long before doing so. The best situations for a Pimelea from this time until May is a house 
or pit a few degrees warmer than the greenhouse, and with a rather moist atmosphere, for most of the 
Swan River and New Holland plants like an atmosphere a little warmer, at all times, than the 
ordinary greenhouse, and cannot be successfully grown except in a warm house. Alter April give the 
plants plenty of air, syringe daily, water occasionally with weak liquid manure, shade slightly from 
the most scorching rays of the sun, and success is almost certain. To bloom 1'. spectabilis it is not 
safe to stop it later than the end of June, and then, to make sure, it should be exposed to all but the 
full mid-day sun throughout the autumn. Established plants, when they have done blooming, musl 
be cut boldly back to within a few inches of the current year's shoots, and they should be kept in a 
shaded situation until the young shoots are an inch long. August is the be8( time to shift luge plants. 
as, if re-potted in the spring, the flowers axe liable to become deformed. Apply the usual remedies 
should the plants be attacked by red spider, thrip, or aphis. If you have not got them, you may add 
the following to your collection with safety : 1'. minibilis. a dark variety of decussata : llenditsonii : 
4, hispida; Neippergiana ; Verschaffeltianaj maerocephala all of which are verj beautiful, and will 
succeed under the same treatment, if you persist in removing tin- flower-buds as tiny are produced. — A. 
n plW j 
