Page:The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory.djvu/150

140 if well put on, and by judicious management handsome standard tricolors may by this practice be obtained.

It is often a matter of importance to propagate tricolors in winter as well as in summer, and this may be accomplished easily by the aid of a bed of moist sand, or a mixture of sand and cocoa-nut fibre refuse, over a tank of hot water, at the warmest end of the greenhouse. The bed should have a constant temperature of 70° to 80°, and be in the fullest daylight obtainable. If the cuttings are inserted in the usual way many of them will rot, and therefore Dr. Denny’s plan should be resorted to. This consists in first tying the cutting to a short stick, and then inserting between stick and stem another stick placed horizontally to keep the upright stick and stem apart. The upright stick is thrust down into the soil so deep that the base of the cutting barely touches the surface, as shown in the figure. The roots are thrown out from the base, and the cutting begins to make new leaves, and must then be carefully potted in sandy soil in the smallest sized thumb-pots, and the pot plunged in the bed or put on a warm shelf to encourage it to become a healthy plant. The figure (p. 139) will explain the matter if the description of the process is not quite clear.

.&mdash;To raise seed is easy enough, but systematic cross-breeding is an art to be acquired by patient observation, persevering practice, and the stimulus of unfaltering hope. If there are no bad geraniums in the garden, a few seeds may be allowed to ripen on the most distinct varieties in the collection, and from these something new and good may be expected. If you have a house kept at a temperature of 50° to 60° all the winter, sow the seed in August and get the plants into small pots in time to winter them in comfortable quarters. If you have only cold pits and other rough contrivances for wintering the plants, defer sowing until February and then start the seed in a nice heat. As soon as the plants are large enough pot them in thumbs, next in 60’s and finally in 48’s. In the last-named size they should be allowed to flower, as it is waste of labour to grow specimens of plants that may prove to be worthless. As the flowers open destroy those that are manifestly bad and take cuttings of all that promise to be worthy of a second trial. By good management seedling pelargoniums will begin to flower in 100 days from the date the seed was sown.