230 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 
Jaxcauy 1. 
be, or not be, tbe case in tills instance; but I was very 
earnest on tliese e.xperiments whicb gave me tbe Christ¬ 
mas nosegays. Those upon the Pompones you know 
already, the result is helore you; to-clay you will hear 
about the Scarlet Geraniums, or, rather, the one from 
which I cut those beautiful flowers on the Saturday 
before Chrislmas-day ; and, first of all, I am perfectly 
satisfied that the secret turns on how you winter the 
plants, and how you rest them the following summer; 
and being sure of that, I fixed this mixed communica¬ 
tion on these two hinges, in order to settle the subject 
better in the memory. ^Ye have never yet heard of a 
regular systematic plan for resting Scarlet Geraniums 
during the summer, or any part of it, with a view to 
future results. Such resting is not new in gardening, 
however. The difference between winter rest and sum¬ 
mer rest is as well-known to many practical gai’deners, 
as the difference which is essential to be maintained 
between the day-temperature and the night-heat in a 
plant-house. The only difference is, tlnat few gardeners 
have yet turned their attention to the usefulness of rest- 
! ing the Scarlet Geraniums in the summer. Hence, our 
' want of knowledge about which kind or kinds are best 
suited for that purpose, or whether one kind is as good 
as another for that particular purpose. This we have 
to learn from actual trials. 
For the last year or two, I think I have urged enough 
I to show the stress and value I put on a regular system 
' for having old plants of the different breeds of the Horse¬ 
shoe or Scarlet Geraniums, for the different purposes for 
which they are now used, or might be used; and all the 
time I had an eye to this particular purpose of getting 
cut-flowers during the winter, and plants in bloom for 
the conservatory; but until I could prove my long- 
hoped-for experiment, either way, 1 did not mention it 
among the subjects for which old Scarlet Geraniums 
should be kept in store; hut as it is not always the 
safest plan to take the proof of the pudding from the 
assertions of the man-cook himself, my Christmas nose¬ 
gays were scut into a fashionable drawing-room, to 
stand the proof of tlie experiment from more disin¬ 
terested parties, so that the experiment is complete 
enough as far as it goes. 
; My own linn opinion is, and has been for some years, 
I that a greenhouse treatment, in winter, is not a sufficient 
; rest for an old plant of Scarlet Gcianium, in order to 
get more than the common use out of it—a good show 
of bloom during the summer months;—and that when 
more is aimed at, a more perfect repose is essential for 
it during a long period—say from the end of November 
. to some time in March, or later still, if the plant could 
I be kept from pushing naturally. Harry Moore’s system 
confirmed me more than ever in that belief; therefore, 
as far back as last November twelvemonths, I cut off 
' all the leaves of certain old Geraniums without touching 
I the young wood, and put them down into a dry cellar, 
in their pots, there they stood, with only two good 
waterings, till the middle of last March, when all the 
young wood was as plump and sound as it was last 
autumn. 
If a Geranium, at rest in a cellar or any room which 
is quite dark, gets any damp to hurt the young wood, or 
as much drying as will shrivel the young shoots, I con¬ 
sider it not rested properly. It may bo preserved with 
but little damage; still, it is not rested, as it ought to 
be for this experiment, if a single bud on it is lost. 
Again, without perfect darkness 1 do not think it pos¬ 
sible to rest these Geraniums properly; and if the heat 
ever rises above 40*^, the rest is not so complete as it 
should be ; or if it falls below 30" it may cause injury; 
but of that I am not so sure. However, I should not 
like to find more frost in the cellar, as the soil in the 
pots is never quite dry, except the first inch on the 
surface. 
As soon as the plants begin to grow naturally in the 
spring, whether early or late, they should neither be 
checked nor encouraged; but they must have light 
every day from that time. Growing in the dark is a 
severe check to the system, no matter who says to the 
contrary; and to be watered and placed in the sun is an 
encouragement to legitimate growth, so to speak: there¬ 
fore, neither water them at first, nor place them in the 
sun. The slower they get on in the spring, the better 
they will be for what we want—a full bloom next 
winter. After a while they must have water and sun, 
heat and light, and they will come into bloom. It was 
about the 2Uth of last May that my ])lnnts came gene¬ 
rally into bloom, and for the next six weeks I allowed 
them to bloom uninterruptedly; but all appearance of 
seed and seed-pods was avoided. By the end of June 
they had thrown off the pride of their first bloom, and 
now they must go to rest for full two months. There is 
no difficulty or grand secret iu this: the plants are on 
Elarry Moore’s system, and, of course, have been in 
the same pots for years. Under that system, old plants 
make very little growth all the time they are in bloom. 
Every joint brings its truss of bloom with it, and that 
has to be sujiported at the expense of growth; therefore, 
all that was necessary to rest them was to secure a slow 
root action, and to cut off every bloom-bud ns fast as 
they appeared. The blooms were so cut till the end of 
August—;just two months’ rest. The plants were in the 
full sun, and much sheltered; but the pots plunged to 
the rim in the common soil, but not touching the soil, 
for that would stimulate the plants to unprofitable 
growth, which would be no rest at all. The pots were 
first ])ut into larger pots, and thus the roots were cut 
off from the moisture of the earth. If the double jiots ' 
were not plunged, the plants would need more water; 
and that would also be needless excitement instead of 
repose. How often they had water would be no guide 
to you. It frequently “went hard” with them, and 
twice I had to pick off lots of yellow leaves from a stint 
of the necessary supply of water; but the shoots or 
young leaves never flagged but once, and that not by 
design—it was a mere accident. 'These plants were in 
full bloom by the middle of September, and one of them 
produced for my Christmas nosegay. D. Bkaton. 
(7'o he continued,) 
SHORT NOTES OF CULTURE. 
APIIELANDIIA. 
A Constant Subsckibek requests the culture of the 
Aphelandrd tribe, so as to get them nice, branchy spe¬ 
cimens. He says, “I have the J. LeopohVd, Cristata, 
Aurantiaca, Squarrosa, Citrina, and Fosteana, which 
grow well in single stems, but I cannot get them to 
branch out.” 
Some of the latter mentioned I do not know. The 
old beautiful Cristata is as fine as any of them, and 
grows rather the strongest, though most of them will 
grow strong enough when treated to rich food. Auran¬ 
tiaca will generally bloom when the shoots are shorter 
and nearer home. Qlahrata tandifuhjens, the first having 
yellow and the second orange flowers, are also inclined 
to be stubby and dwarf, and the beautiful Leopoldii, 
with its white bars, like the stripes of a zebra, on the 
green foliage, does not seem quite so strong-growing as 
Cristata. I have not grown Leoiwldii, but, judging 
from its appearance in other places, I should say that 
the leaves are impatient of sudden changes when 
growing, and of meeting the sun’s rays when there is 
any condensed moisture upon them. When the plant 
is therefore growing fast in a hotbed, air should be 
given early, to disperse all and anything like steam 
