September 11.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
369 
sunny days. When the young shoots are about half-an- 
inch in length, the plants should be re-shifted, divesting 
the roots of most of the soil, shortening the very weak 
and straggling roots a little, and placing them in a clean 
pot, either of the same size, or, better still, a size smaller 
than the old pot, and in nice mellow, light, rich soil, 
watered and placed again inside the window, and the 
curtain brought into operation again on very sunny 
days, until loot-action has proceeded so far as to enable 
the plant to stand full exposure to sun and air. If you 
put the plant in a smaller pot, and have no pit, it 
will be advisable to refrain giving more pot-room until 
| March or April. Now, by merely stopping the points 
! of a young plant raised this summer, you would have a 
nice-looking plant all the winter, at less trouble than 
you would experience from all this ripening, cutting 
down, and repeated re-pottings, and, very likely, better 
foliage all the season too ; but the quantity and quality 
of the flowers produced by the young and the old plant, 
would bear no comparison, it being a universal law, 
that the extreme of luxuriance and the extreme of pro¬ 
ductiveness are produced by causes the opposite to each 
other. But what has all this to do with preventing 
the annoyance of having the window filled with snagged 
plants ? Just this: your cutting down must not be done 
at any regular season, but one plant at a time, choosing 
the most exhausted in flowering first, and then making 
a cutting or two from every plant thus cut down, keeping 
them' in small space, as respects soil and pots, until, 
when a large plant is thus lessened, room can be given to 
one or more smaller ones to supply its place. By fol¬ 
lowing up this plan, there will always be growing and 
interesting plants in the window, and the only regret 
will be, that every season you will be under the neces¬ 
sity of parting with some for want of winter room; but 
this, if you have neighbours, may be easily exchanged 
from regret into a pleasing satisfaction. During autumn 
and winter, a few inches space between the larger plants 
will contain young struck cuttings sufficient to fill as many 
feet in summer. And here, again, the drying or ripening 
of the shoots before cutting down at once will be apparent, 
as such cuttings will bear an amount of hard treatment, 
that more spongy, soft, better, and more vigorous-look - 
I ing ones would at once sink under. I once, like many 
of our inexperienced friends, held a different opinion. 
Everything is simple when known,—not before. The 
following fact convinced me,—any one may test it by 
practice :—A great many years ago, just when potting 
in geranium cuttings, a packet of fine ones (cuttings, I 
mean) was sent to my employer, wrapped in brown 
paper. Dire was my dismay in unwrapping them,— 
the shoots were like heart of oak, but slightly shri¬ 
velled, and the leaves would have made snuff if rubbed 
between the hands, only they were not tobacco. Well, 
these cuttings not only struck with a tithe of the 
trouble of my own favourites, but, do what I could to 
help my own cuttings on, the others made incomparably 
the finest plants during the season. The above is the 
best treatment I can think of for the established florist’s 
favourite pelargoniums, which generally bloom freely 
only for a month or two. But 
Thirdly. A few of these of the older kinds will keep 
| throwing up a succession of bloom nearly all the season, 
I if the points of the shoots are now and then picked out 
before the bloom buds, the leaves kept well-washed, 
the decaying flowers and leaves removed, and the roots 
well-supplied with weak manure water. The old Admiral 
Napier, Alexandrina Victoria, and Alba multiflora, may 
be taken as a type of this class. These I have seen in 
48-pots, in admirable condition, in London, from the 
end of May to the end of October; and it would be 
difficult to say when they were fullest of bloom; but they 
were attended to. The last-named used to sell by the 
thousand in Covent Garden. Then, again, 
Fourthly. There is a group of long-jointed geraniums 
which continue to produce masses of flower-heads as 
they continue to grow. There is nothing taking in the 
habit of the plants, which is clumsy and straggling, but 
the flowers are generally produced continuously, so long 
as there is heat given for their due expansion. So far 
as I recollect, the old Daveyanum may be considered a 
type of this group; and so may the old Jenhinsonii, 
with its scarlet flowers, which blooms continually, either 
in pot, bed or basket; and who would not at once think 
of the beautiful crimson, Rollisons Unique, that will 
carry several fine heads of bloom in a 4-inch pot, with 
double the quantity opening and showing, flower-buds 
ever appearing as growth is proceeding. 
Fifthly. I may instance a half-fancy group with 
Diadematum, and Diadematum rubescens, and the beau¬ 
tiful light rose, Sidonia, included among them. The 
latter, even in a bed, producing fresh flower-buds for 
every lialf-inch of growth, whether in a lateral or an 
upright direction, and, unlike Unique and its allies, 
maintaining a compact, firm, dwarf habit of growth.' 
Sixthly. Fancy Geraniums. —The greater portion of 
these, from blooming so freely, will be rendered almost 
continuous bloomers in windows, if they obtain the 
privilege of almost continuous pruning, removing first 
the decaying flowers, and then the flower-stems down 
close to the stem from which they issue as soon as they 
become exhausted,—and giving rich waterings. Even in 
their case, a few young plants will be useful, and success 
will depend upon the treatment given, and the removing 
of every part of exhausted extraneous matter. Under 
roughish treatment, even these plants will bloom more 
than double the time in windows that the finest florists’ 
varieties will do; and in almost the whole of them, old 
and new, the habit is compact and the foliage small— 
smallest of course in the oldest plants. The beautiful, 
scented, small-leaved kinds—such as Citriodora, and 
Prince of Orange —will continue to yield their flowers 
and their perfume, and the soil for this group should 
be lighter than for the others. I have not had great 
experience in trying to prolong the bloom of fancy 
kinds in pots, and especially of the newer kinds, but 
from the success with some in boxes and beds of small j 
size, I could recommend Yatemanianum grandiflorum 
and Statuisld as dark ones, and Queen Victoria and 
Bride of Abydos as light ones, for our inexperienced j 
friends to commence with in their windows. The I 
general management has been given in several papers. | 
Lastly, for continuous blooming, the scarlets arc 
invaluable. Those from the Frogmore breed are the 
best for this purpose, the leaves being small, and the 
trusses of bloom comparatively large—such as Ingramii, 
Improved Frogmore, the Old Frogmore, and Tom Thumb. 
The latter is a fine fellow in a pot, and to have him in 
bloom all the summer requires merely the picking out 
the point before a bud, now and then, and giving him 
plenty of water. A little rich top-dressing will often be 
of less trouble than keeping a barrel of manure water. 
He finds no fault either with guano or superphosphate 
of lime, but you must not drug him; one ounce ot 
good guano is sufficient for two gallons of water. Judy 
is also a very free-flowering variety, with pinkish-red 
instead of scarlet flowers—very pretty, though the indi¬ 
vidual trusses are not large. This and Punch are great 
pets, and deservedly so; I cannot speak so highly ot 
Punch for a window plant as of Tom Thumb, as ho 
grows stronger, and does not in a pot bloom so con¬ 
tinuously, even though you may contrive to hunger him 
in his feeding propensities. But if you can afford to 
give him the best part of a window to himself, aud want 
to astonish yourself and delight your friends with some 
magnificent trusses of the most beautiful scarlet, then 
by all means have a nice little plant as soon as you can. 
I will not tantalize, alarm, or render you incredulous, i 
