82 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



very effective. Plants which light up the landscape like these are the most 

 desirable. Another circular bed, 20 feet in diameter, was planted with Coleus 

 Verschaffeltii, in the form of a star and the points filled in with Pelargonium, 

 Flower of Day, edged with a circle each of Golden Pyrethrum and Alternan- 

 thira ama?na. This would be improved if Flower of Day were replaced by 

 either Pelargonium, Albion Cliffs, or Centaurea Candida. Another circular 

 bed, 13 feet in diameter, was cut up in sections by planting lines of Centaurea 

 gymnocarpa; the panels were planted with Achyranthes Lindeni, Cinararia 

 Acantharfolia, and Golden Pyrethrum, edged with circles of Lobelia speciosa 

 and Alternanthera versicolor. Plants with colored foliage are very effective for 

 this style of gardening, as they do not need the care and attention required for 

 flowering plants, nor is their beauty impaired by either sun or rain. They 

 should be massed in beds of simple form, such as circles and ovals. For flow- 

 ering plants, nothing beats the Pelargoniums. They sliould be planted in 

 masses of one kind and edged with something of a different color. But few 

 white flowered varieties are fit for bedding, but their place is well supplied by 

 silver leaf Albion Cliffs. 



Among bronze leaf varieties the best are the Moor, Earl Rosslyn, and 

 Harold. They are striking in small beds by themselves, their brilliant chesnut 

 zones showing to the best advantage next the grass, with no dividing line what- 

 ever. The golden tri-colors are not a success in our climate. Mrs. Pollock is 

 the best, partly because its lighter colored leaf enables it to stand the sun bet- 

 ter than those with darker zones. The dark Coleus, Emperor Napoleon, is a 

 good edging for this section, as it throws the colors of the pelargonium into 

 high relief. 



The following are among the best of the new French and English pelargo- 

 niums. They were fully tested on these grounds the past season, and were 

 admitted to be a decided im])rovement on the old varieties. The best doubles 

 are President Hayes, Depute Berlet, Depute Bio, Depute Laftize, Depute Bar- 

 roy, Lewis Boutard, Mons. Lowagie. The best singles are Cyclops, Dazzler, 

 Gen. Ciiamzy, Jealousy, Edwig Bellot, P. L. Courier, and Mad. Quinete. The 

 new double pelargoniums are noticeable for the extraordinary size of both 

 trusses and individual flowers and the great varieties of new shades and colors 

 they comprise, added to great freedom of bloom. As edgings to pelargoniums, 

 variegated alyssum and centauria Candida are among the best. The alyssum 

 when well grown and bloomed produces the most harmonious effects from the 

 combination of foliage and flowers. Then centauria if planted too close in a 

 wet season is liable to damp off. A bed of succulents was tried this year, but 

 owing to a lack of quantity in some varieties it was not as effective as it other- 

 wise would have been. A great variety of these plants may be grown together, 

 such as agaves, echeverias, and sompervivums, carpeting the whole with sedum 

 corsicum or primiosum. Geometrical designs of any kind may be worked out 

 with these j)lants, bearing in mind tiiat tiie best effects depend on careful and 

 exact i)lanting. A circular bed fourteen feet in dianieter was planted with 

 canna marechal vaillant, gynothrix latifolia, ericanthus ravennae, finished by 

 circles of canna tricolor. Colons, Grand Duke, golden pyrethrum, and varie- 

 gated alyssum. Cannas take a front rank for beauty, habit, rapid growth, and 

 in some varieties for profusion of flowers. Tlie centers of such beds should be 

 planted with tubers and edged with seedlings of some dwarf variety such as 

 limbatta. For color use pelargonium, golden pyretlirum, or achyranthes lin- 

 deni ; and bed would Ije improved by carpeting with sucli dense, dwarf -growing 



