MAY. 
95 
The strictly herbaceous kinds are easily increased by dividing the roots ; but 
the shrubby kinds are best propagated by cuttings, taken off" yearly in sum¬ 
mer and put into sandy soil under hand-glasses in a shady situation. When 
rooted they should be potted off singly into small pots, and should be well es¬ 
tablished and hardened before winter. As soon as they begin to grow after 
having been potted off, they should be set out in some open place where they 
will have free exposure ; they should be watered when necessary, and the shoots 
should be kept regularly stopped. By this treatment they will be good plants 
before the autumn. On the approach of frost they should be placed in a cold 
frame or pit, where they must be kept tolerably dry and free from damp. They 
should be fully exposed all day in fine weather. The lights should always be 
kept on during the night, and these in ordinary weather will be sufficient pro¬ 
tection to the plants ; but in severe frosts the additional shelter of mats 
should be afforded. The plants may be either shifted in March into larger 
pots, by which means they will be very strong for planting-out in the beginning 
of May, or they may remain in the same pots until the end of April or begin¬ 
ning of May, when they should be planted-out in the open border. They will, 
in general, begin to come into flower about the end of June. 
Pentstemons seed very freely, and plants are easily raised from seed. Many 
fine varieties have been thus obtained of late years. The seeds should be sown 
in pans in March and put into a little heat. As soon as the seedlings are large 
enough to handle, they should be pricked out into pans about an inch apart; 
they should be kept rather close until they begin to grow afresh, when air 
should be admitted freely. About the middle of May they should be planted- 
out into beds at about a foot or 15 inches apart. When they flower the best 
should be marked for propagating by cuttings, and at the end of the season the 
inferior ones, if not wanted for shrubbery borders, should be thrown away. 
Most of the varieties are so good that it is difficult to give a selection with¬ 
out omitting some equally good. The following may be depended on :— 
Adolphe Weick, bright coloured; the best of 
its class. 
Adrienne Boppi, very pale pink. 
Alphonse Karr, maroon ; white throat. 
Charles Klein, carmine red; white throat, 
striped. 
Compactum nanum, deep crimson; dwarf, for 
bedding. 
Dr. Hogg, scarlet; white throat; fine. 
George Bruant, pure white, margined lilac. 
Ida, bright rose. 
John Salter, white tube ; lilac sepal, pencilled. 
Joan of Arc, fine deep carmine ; throat veined 
purple. 
Jules Thierry, very deep scarlet; fine. 
Lord Clyde, bright crimson red. 
Louis Van Houtte, deep carmine; white throat. 
M adame Thibaut, best crimson; dwarf and free. 
Marie Marguerite, white, tipped with rose. 
Modele, bright lilac. 
Raphael, dark violet. 
Scarlet Gem, scarlet; fine. 
Victor Hugo, bright carmine. 
William Bull, violet. 
M. S. 
BEDDING PELARGONIUMS. 
The busy season for “ bedding-out ” has again come round. Ere the close 
of the present month (May), the greater part of the many thousands of bedding 
plants, that were during the winter months crammed into every available nook 
and corner of our glass structures, will have been transferred to the flower 
garden. A few years ago, if the beds were tolerably well filled up by the early 
part of July it was thought to be pretty good management even in favourable 
seasons ; but in bad and unfavourable years it was often a difficult matter to 
get good masses of bloom before the end of July, owing to the uncertainty 
attending the growth of the kind of plants then used for bedding-purposes. 
Now, however, the case is very different. The great number of varieties of 
bedding Pelargoniums make us independent of seasons, and furnish materials 
