Page:The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory.djvu/140

132 not need elaborate explanations, for to classify and define at length the whole of the garden pelargoniums would consume time and space that both writer and reader would prefer to occupy with matters of a more strictly practical nature.

As to pelargoniums in general, it must be observed that their popularity is due alike to their brilliant and various colours both of leaf and flower, and their wonderful adaptation to the circumstances which influence the selection and cultivation of exotic plants in this country. Our summer sunshine is sufficiently fierce for them; and although our winters are always too wet and usually too cold, the most commonplace means of protection suffice for their preservation. They are most easily multiplied by means of either seeds or cuttings; they grow rapidly and flower freely, and altogether require less care and make more show than any other plants that properly belong to the greenhouse and the garden. The different groups of fancies, zonals, tricolors, and the rest, require different management, but all agree in loving light; all are adapted for pot culture; and the greater part of them thrive in a comparatively poor soil and a dry atmosphere. During winter dryness is quite as important as warmth for their preservation; for, indeed, when kept cool, dry, and well aired, they will suffer but little if the thermometer in the house should descend to 27° Fahr.; in other words, they will endure five degrees of frost, but they should never be intentionally subjected to a temperature below 35°, and an average of 40° is safer for their winter keeping.

.&mdash;These are the aristocracy of the race, and until quite lately, they were the most attractive subjects presented at flower-shows in the months of May and June. They are worthy the best care of the amateur because of their fine decorative properties and variety of colours. The cultivation may be commenced at any season, but the best time is the beginning of the year, and neat young nursery plants are the best to begin with. If when they come to hand, they are nicely rooted, shift them into a larger size, if, however, they are not well rooted, defer the repotting for a month. In either case they should be placed in a light and airy position in the greenhouse, and be watered cautiously. A fortnight or so after they have been repotted pinch out the points of the young shoots to promote the formation of bushy