162 
SCARLET GERANIUMS. 
traits of each kind; and, it must be remembered, it is from their 
appearance under such circumstances that I am about to describe 
them, by the names obtained with them from the nurseries ; for, 
though as accurate and faithful as possible, a difference may be 
observable in some when grown under other treatment. In my 
practice with these plants, I have found, to have a display in the 
borders worth admiring, it is essential that well-grown and 
thoroughly established plants are turned out. The spring-cuttings 
of the same year are comparatively worthless ; they do not arrive 
at a size to bloom well till the season is nearly passed ; and, more¬ 
over, taking off the tops of the older plants to make cuttings 
throws the parents out of a blooming condition for a couple of 
months later. Propagation should be done in August, or the 
early part of September, so as to have them well-rooted in small 
pots before they are housed for the winter. On their manage¬ 
ment through the dull weather of the latter period depends in a 
very great measure the appearance they make in the first portion 
of the summer. To have them in good order they should be 
kept as dormant as possible, to induce which the use of water 
must be avoided, or no more given than will keep them from 
drooping. In a very dry, airy pit, my scarlet geraniums 
often stand a month without watering, and, though some of the 
lower leaves are lost by this management, I find the points of the 
shoots are preserved sound, which is certainly the most important 
thing, and mildew is very seldom troublesome. When the older 
plants are taken up from the borders in autumn, some folks cut 
down the stems to reduce them to a manageable size. This is a 
great error, for the wounded parts seldom or ever heal, but, be¬ 
coming rotten, the disease runs down them, till it arrives at the 
root, and then the loss of the plant, or great part of it, frequently 
results. 
Another mistake, occurring far too often, is to place the removed 
plants in some out-of-the-way position, as in the sheds or under 
the stage of the greenhouse, as though they were mere rubbish. 
If it is not worth while to attend them properly, it cannot be 
worth the trouble to take them up at all; and better far would 
it be to dig them into the borders than to cumber the erections 
with a lot of things that must, under this management, ultimately 
come to the rubbish heap. If scarlet geraniums are taken from 
