boxes with as little breakage to their roots as possible. To this end the soil should be rather dry, so that, after the box gets a sudden shake or two, the plants can be pulled out of it with their roots almost entire. In potting, the soil should be pressed firmly into the pots.

In disposing of them after they are potted, my own practice is to remove them to a large cool peach-house, where there is command of heat just sufficient to keep the frost out. It is a very light house, and the floor of it holds 9000 plants in 3-inch pots. Should the weather be dull and damp, watering should be delayed till a few days after they are potted-off. When watered they should get sufficient, through a rather fine rose, to moisten the whole soil. The night temperature, when fire-heat is required in case of frost, ranges about 40°. For the first fortnight or three weeks, the front sashes are kept shut, but abundance of air is admitted at the top. In such a house they get as much light as is possible under glass, and after they begin to root, as much air as can be admitted on all favourable occasions as the opening of the whole top and front sashes allows. By the middle of May the plants under this hardy treatment are strong and stocky, bristling with bloom and bloom-buds, and receive no serious check when removed to the open air.

This treatment cannot, of course, be pursued where such house-room does not exist: if, instead, there be light dry pits, from which frost can be excluded by hot-water pipes, they answer the same end. In the case of those who have only pits or frames to which artificial heat cannot be applied, and where, unfortunately, as is too often the case, the only accommodation for flower-garden plants consists of vineries and peach

houses, the best course to pursue is to pot-off in March, when the advantage can be had of a short time of heat in such houses, after which the plants can be removed to cold pits and frames, where late spring frosts can be excluded by coverings, and where they can be properly hardened off.

Such is the treatment by which fine plants are raised, when early autumn propagation is practised as I have described. But there are many so circumstanced that, though they can find room to winter them in cutting pots or boxes, they cannot, at so important a season as spring, command convenience to enable them to pot each plant singly. Such cases demand special rules. What I would recommend as a good course under such circumstances is, that the cuttings be put in somewhat thinner than I have recommended for those to be pottedoff, and early in February to pinch the points out of each cutting, to cause it to make lateral growth, and to let them remain in their boxes till planting-out time. For treating them in this way, I prefer 8-inch pots to boxes, as a greater proportion of the plants are at the outside of the small round detachments, and they are therefore not so liable to suffer from crowding. Moreover, the extra depth of soil afforded by the pots, as compared with boxes, affords the plants more nourishment, and at planting time they can be shaken out with better roots. Managed thus, they do not flower so early; and in damp cold soils they have a greater tendency to grow to leaf at the expense of flower than when potted off. But in dry soils I have planted them out from the cutting-pots, and, though later in blooming, they ultimately do exceedingly well.

Spring Propagation.-Deficiency of stock, arising from

с

whatever cause, has frequently to be remedied by spring propagation. This can be carried out with success only where there is a command of artificial heat all through the spring. The method I have adopted is to place the stock of autumn-struck and of older plants in a temperature of 60° to 65° early in February. As soon as they make a fresh growth of a few inches, and have pretty well filled their pots with roots, they are topped for cuttings. A few leaves should always be left on the parent plants; and all the cuttings should not be taken from old-lifted plants at once, because, if cut too close, they receive a sudden check. The best way is to go over them several times, taking the strongest cuttings.

The best time to strike these is in March and early in April, after the plants have been excited into fresh growth. Cuttings always strike more freely after than before the growth, and it is also much better for the parent plants. Well-drained pots, pans, or boxes, filled with equal parts loam, leaf-mould, and sand, sifted through a quarterinch sieve, form an excellent medium for striking in. After the cuttings are put in, a watering of lukewarm water should be given, to settle the soil about the cuttings. They should be placed in a temperature of 65°, near the glass, and where they can have full sun, from which it is not desirable to shade them, unless it be a short time in the middle of the day-more to prevent drying the soil than anything else. Keep the soil moderately moist, and in three weeks they will be ready to pot off. In potting them, care is required in turning them out of the pots, so as not to injure the young roots. I very frequently pot off as soon as the roots are just formed; and when room can be commanded, put the cuttings at once into the pots in which they are to

remain, to obviate the check from breakage of roots at potting-off time. After being potted, return them to the same heat in which they have been rooted, till the roots reach the bottom and sides of the pots, when they can be removed to colder quarters to make room for others. Of course, if increase of stock be urgent, they can be kept in heat till they in their turn yield their tops for cuttings. By thus keeping old and young plants in heat for three months, it is astonishing how stock can be increased.

The principal evils to be avoided in spring-striking, are a damp stagnant atmosphere, and keeping the cuttings too damp on the one hand, and on the other allowing them at any time to become so dry as to cause them to droop and shrivel. Bottom heat is not necessary, although, when the other necessary conditions can be applied along with it, there is no objection to it.

Soil most suitable for Beds of Zonale Pelargoniums.—A light sandy loam, moderately enriched with either wellrotted dung or leaf-mould, and resting upon a dry gravelly bottom, is the best for producing a moderately strong growth and profusion of bloom. The stronger varieties, especially of this section, grow too much to leaf when planted in rich, damp, heavy soils, more particularly in wet localities. In such localities, the beds, if possible, should be made up of soil more light and porous than is desirable for dry situations. The depth of soil should be less, and the beds more elevated, and thoroughly drained, with the view of promoting a growth more productive of bloom. In some parts of the country, such as the wetter parts of the west a d south-west of Scotland and north of England, it i a good plan to plunge the plants in the beds, in pots varying from 4-inch to 6-inch sizes, which has a greater tendency than any

thing to throw the plants into bloom. When this practice is adopted, as it is in many instances, it is desirable to save and use as large a proportion of the plants for several years in succession as possible. Old plants flower more freely, and by being kept in their pots the blooming disposition is increased. It is generally found that, when kept thus a few years, and it is decided to keep them no longer, they acquire such a short-jointed habit that they may be turned out of their pots the last season with advantage. Some sorts are more suitable for certain soils and localities than others, and these peculiarities can only be thoroughly decided by experience in various localities. When practising in a damp locality, I have seen the flowering qualities of some of the strong-growing ones wonderfully improved by making the beds shallow, and mixing burnt clay, sand, and cinders with the heavy soil, to make it dry and porous. It is a good plan to go over Pelargonium beds, which have a tendency to strong growth, about the beginning of August, and pinch just the terminal bud out of each shoot. This checks the wood or stem growth, and the trusses grow more strongly, and are thrown up more prominently than when stopping is not practised.

Select List of Zonale and Plain-leaved Pelargoniums most suitable for Beds and Lines.-Those marked * are best where a small collection only is grown, and those marked are nosegay varieties.