less likely to damp off, strike sooner, stand the winter better, and require less coaxing to grow them into good plants in spring; and they bloom earlier than plants raised from the mere points of the shoots. Unless it be some of the very dwarf varieties, the cuttings should be about 9 inches long-some of the strongest growers even more than that. In selecting and making them, every care should be taken not to bruise them; for if the stems are bruised, they are more subject to damp off. In making them, cut the bottom end off, close to the first leaf, with a sharp, thin-bladed knife; remove the leaves close to the stem up to the third joint. They are then ready for insertion, which should be attended to before the cutting becomes flaccid. They should be dibbled in with a dibble considerably thicker than the cuttings, so that the hole is sufficiently large to allow of them being inserted without abrasion.

Boxes 2 feet long, 14 foot wide, and 4 inches deep, are excellent for striking in. In each box there should be nine auger holes for drainage, and over each hole a single crock. Then prepare a compost, consisting of one part loam, one part leaf-mould, with a fourth of the whole of sand. This should be passed through a half-inch sieve, to separate the roughest part, and thoroughly mix the whole. A thin layer of the siftings should be placed over the bottom of the box, and then fill up to the rim, and press firmly, especially round the sides of the box.

Sixty cuttings of the stronger, and seventy of the smaller, growing in each box are quite sufficient. If inserted thicker, they become drawn, and do not stand the winter so well, nor make such fine plants. As soon as the cuttings are put in, the boxes should be removed

at once to the most warm and airy place at command -such as the bottom of a south wall, or any position where they can have the full blaze of the sun: a cool, shaded place is the worst possible for them. The boxes should be placed on bricks, rails of wood, or anything that will raise them off the ground, so that worms do not get access, and to keep the boxes from rotting. They should have as much water given to them through a fine rose as will wet the whole of the soil, and settle it well about the cuttings, and afterwards be kept in a medium state of moisture. If they can be placed in cold pits or frames, so that, in the event of heavy rains, they can be covered with glass, all the better; but glass is not necessary for any other purpose in striking them.

In about three weeks they will be well rooted, and commencing to grow. All the blooms, and the very point of each cutting, should be picked off for the present, and no more water must be given than is sufficient to keep the soil in a moderately moist condition. The great object for successful wintering is to get hardy stocky growth; and if kept liberally supplied with water, or shaded, this is not attainable. When they begin to grow, any of the cuttings that overtop their fellows should have their points pinched out again; and when the leaves become crowded, some of them should be removed, to allow a circulation of air about the young plants.

They may stand outdoors till danger from frost or drenching rains be apprehended, which time depends considerably on the climate of the locality. A good place to winter them is a dry pit, with sufficient amount of fire-heat to keep them safe from frost, and expel damp when necessary. They will winter perfectly well in any

cool, airy, light house, where they can be kept dry, and have a free circulation of air. If they are thick of foliage at housing - time, it should be thinned. It is much better to remove it while in a healthy state, than first to allow it to become unhealthy and decaying, which is generally the case if they are housed without a little thinning. After being housed, they should be carefully preserved from damp overhead; and after the end of October they should not have more water than is sufficient to keep them from drooping; and during damp weather in winter, they sometimes do not require water for weeks at a time. All through winter decaying leaves should be removed as they appear, and occasional fires be made to dry up damp. In this way I usually winter twelve thousand of these Zonale Pelargoniums with scarcely any loss of plants; and in boxes, such as I have described, they occupy little space, and are easily moved when this is required.

In large establishments, where there is plenty of glass, it is a good plan to put the cuttings at once into pits where there are hot-water pipes, to preserve from frost. In this way neither boxes nor pots need be used, the body of the pit being prepared with 5 or 6 inches of light soil, and the cuttings dibbled in according to their sorts; they may remain undisturbed till spring. In this way less trouble and labour are needed than by any other: few places, however, can so accommodate them, and the next best way is that which I have described, and which is more generally applicable both to small and large quantities.

Some gardeners strike them in the open ground in light sandy soil, and as soon as they are rooted, lift them and pot them, either singly in small pots, or a few together in larger ones. This is a very good method,

but it has the disadvantage of requiring more labour, in the first instance, and more room and attention in watering through the winter, than the box method, which is equally as suitable for the amateur, who only requires to strike and winter a few scores in a shelf in his greenhouse; for the boxes can be of any dimensions to suit the position in which they are to be wintered.

Late Autumn Propagation.-When circumstances occur that prevent the propagation of the required number of Pelargoniums at so early a period as I have recommended as the best time, and when the propagation cannot be completed till later in autumn, different treatment is required to be successful. When later than the middle of September, it is best, in most localities, to put them under glass as soon as they are put in the cuttingboxes. A light, airy, dry house or pit, avoiding a cold, damp bottom, is the best for them at that date. When propagation is delayed till October, they do not root with certainty or success without artificial heat. At this season the cuttings should be selected even larger than I have recommended for early propagation; and 8-inch pots are preferable to boxes for striking in, inasmuch as their depth gives more room for thorough drainage, which is indispensable. Moreover, the air and light play more freely about the cuttings in small round detachments than in larger squares in boxes. This is of importance, because damp is the greatest evil to contend with in late striking. No more water should be given than is just sufficient to keep them from shrivelling; and a close, damp, cold atmosphere must be prevented by fire-heat and air-giving during dull weather, with a temperature of about 60° at night. Cuttings put in up till the end of October do very well. It is necessary to

winter these in a temperature a little warmer than is sufficient for early-struck stock, for striking by fireheat at a duller season renders late ones more tender, and liable to suffer in a cold, damp atmosphere; and, besides this, they require to be kept somewhat more moist at the root than plants with firmer tissues, and on that account more warmth is necessary to guard against damping-off.

Spring Treatment.-The middle of February is early enough to begin potting off Zonale Pelargoniums; and the spring treatment required to make fine plants by the middle of May, of such a stock of young plants as is produced by the practice I have described, is very simple, and different from that which is rendered necessary by selecting small cuttings at a later season, and afterwards treating them tenderly. Unless in the case of scarce sorts that I wish to increase by spring propagation, they are never put into heat after being potted off. Not that a little fire-heat, for a fortnight or so after they are potted, would be anything else than favourable to their wellbeing, but that all available space in heat is reserved for the variegated and more tender sorts; and those of which I am now treating grow into fine sturdy plants without it.

About the second week of February preparation for potting should be made by having the necessary number of 3-inch pots clean and in readiness. For such strong healthy cuttings, drainage of any description is not necessary in the case of this size of pots. The soil should consist of two parts loam, one part of wellrotted dung-dry, and sifted through a half-inch sieve

-or leaf-mould, and about an eighth part of the whole of sand. The young plants should be removed from the