Good drainage is indispensable. Keep the plants cool till the leaves are well grown, always keeping them near the glass. When the flower buds begin to rise on the foot stalks, remove to a sunny shelf, where they will soon show bloom. By shading, the duration of the flowers is prolonged. When the bloom is past, gradually withhold water; the leaves will turn yellow, and the plants should be kept dry, in a state of rest, all summer. Do not allow the plants to ripen seed (which they do freely) unless you desire seedlings, to increase your stock. The seed germinates easily, sown in rich loam, and seedlings bloom the third year. Some find difficulty in preventing the shrivelling of the bulbs during the summer. Our best cultivators, to prevent this, bury the bulbs during the summer in the open border; take them up about the middle of September, when they are found fresh, plump, and in good condition for a start. There is one risk, however, in this method: mice are very fond of the bulbs, and sometimes commit great havoc. There is shown in this plant a curious provision of Nature: no sooner has the flower faded, than the stem begins to curl up, and buries the seed capsule in the ground, at the root of the plant; this is designed to protect the seed from birds, and to sow it in a congenial soil.

Good-sized, blooming bulbs may be obtained at any green-house, for from fifty cents to one dollar each for the more common varieties. This bulb is particularly adapted for window culture, and will give more flowers, with less trouble, and occupying less space, than any flower we are acquainted with. The more common varieties are C. Persicum, white, tipped with rich, rosy purple; C. Persicum album, pure white; C. punctatum, resembling Persicum. All these flower from January to March. C. Europæum, pinkish purple; C. Europæum album, pure white; C. hederafolium, very large, rosy purple, a splendid variety. All these bloom from October to January.

THE GERANIUM. THE PELARGONIUM: History.-Culture. - Soil. Potting. Winter Treatment. Varieties. THE VERBENA: History. Culture. Cuttings. Summer Culture. Potting for Winter. Watering. Soil. - Seedlings. - Properties of a good Verbena. — Window Culture. Varieties. THE HELIOTROPE: History.-Culture. Pruning. Varieties. THE SALVIA, OR MEXICAN SAGE: Summer Culture.

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Winter Culture. Varieties.

Varieties. Soil.

THE TROPÆOLUM, OR NASTURTIUM : Culture. Varieties of the small Nasturtium.- Win

dow Culture.

THE GERANIUM.

NDER this head, we propose to treat

of the plants usually known, in common parlance, as Geraniums, including both those horticulturally and botanically known as such, and Pelargoniums. Between these there are many minute and fanciful distinctions, which are only interesting to botanists, and need not concern the

amateur. The true geraniums are

herbaceous. For window gardening, their treatment must be the same.

For the pelargoniums, we are chiefly indebted to the Cape of Good Hope; the geranium is found, in some of its varieties, in Asia, Europe, and America; two of the family, our "wild geraniums," being familiar to us all as among the wild flowers of spring.

The scarlet, or horse-shoe geranium, so called from the color of its flowers, and the dark marking of its leaves, is

a very common and popular window plant. The rose, oak, 8 se

and nutmeg geraniums are commonly grown for their fragrant leaves, and for their hardiness, as they can endure more hard usage than most plants.

The general fault in geranium culture is, crowding. The plants need light and air on all sides, and unless this is afforded they soon become one-sided, long-drawn, and straggling, with but few leaves, and these in a tuft at the end. The blossoms are small and few, and the whole plant presents a picture of vegetation under difficulties.

The fine varieties of pelargonium, called "Fancies" by florists, it is useless to attempt to grow to any perfection in the house. They need constant care; and the rules for growing them as specimens, laid down by English florists, are sufficiently confusing and contradictory to involve the amateur in a maze of difficulty.

Light, air, and cleanliness are the three primary rules for growing geraniums. The horse-shoe and high-scented varieties are not troubled by insects. The pelargoniums (largeflowered geraniums), require constant attention to keep them free from the green fly, which increases upon them with wonderful rapidity. If the weather is warm, warm, and the plants at all affected by the fly, they should be smoked once in ten days, and frequently syringed. Surely the beauty of