HAVE been quite successful in the cultivation of the pelargoniums, and think if their needs were better understood, that they would be more often seen in the window-garden. Many err in giving them too much pot-room, and also in keeping them in too high a temperature.

A four-inch pot is sufficiently large for almost any pelargonium, though I occasionally put a large two-year old plant into a five-inch pot.

Another mistake is to give too much water during the fall months. A room having a temperature of 400 to 50° suits them and in such a room I keep them till the ends of the branches look thick and stout and buds become visible. Then I remove them to the warm temperature of the sitting-room, where they are placed in the broad sunny bay-window to be forced into bloom Some stimulate with liquid manure when buds first appear, but this is wrong, as it induces growth at the expense of blossoms.

Now I have learned to wait until the plants are well in bloom before stimulating and obtain much better results.

A good, well-behaved pelargonium should remain in bloom and be a " thing of beauty " for six weeks, and some have remained beautiful for two months. With me the early varieties commence to flower in December, and then others follow till in April and May they are making a fine showing. I have had some of the dwarf varieties literally covered with flowers, and have counted nearly forty clusters of buds and blossoms on one plant, at one time.

I am convinced that one can raise pelargoniums successfully without a greenhouse. Indeed the best and finest ones I ever saw were raised by a friend, from cuttings, kept through the fall and early winter in a cool room ; and when buds appeared they were forced forward in a warm and sunny bay-window.

She started them in July in small pots, and when the pots were full of roots, pinched back the top, to induce side growth, and then re-potted in pots a size larger, say three, or three and a-half-inch ; then again into four-inch pots when they needed it, pinching off the ends of refractory branches to make the plants symmetrical. This last re-potting was usually done in November. The dwarf varieties are always of good shape, but it is more difficult to get the large varieties to grow symmetrically. During the blooming time my friend's bay-window was a bower of beauty. It was always pretty with its trailing vines, lovely ferns, bright blossoms and foliage plants, but while the pelargoniums were in flower, it was the delight of all beholders. All stopped to admire it in passing.

I had a strange experience with a plant of Freddie Heinl last spring. I raised it the year before from a cutting, and its first season's blooming was quite correct; but last spring, when about two years old, it behaved strangely. It had six main branches - three of which bloomed like the parent - pure white, with rose-colored blotches, but the other three had much darker flowers, resembling Freddie Dorner in color. The same plant I kept for another season's blooming, though I do not generally keep them more than two years - this is three years old. The plant is now budded and I await the result with interest.

The above named varieties are the earliest to bloom. I have sometimes had blossoms in December ; and they bloom for months, unlike the other varieties.

There is one difficulty in the culture of the pelargonium. They are often troubled with aphides, but frequent smoking with tobacco will keep away the offenders, and an occasional washing and sprinkling is also beneficial. They will be esteemed fully worth the little trouble it really is to grow them carefully.

Massachusetts. Mrs. M. J. Giodings.