194 



THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



Woeld as do not already possess it 

 to obtain a stock, for there is not a 

 more useful hardy spring flower in 

 our gardens. And I hope that the 

 kind friend who sent me the bulbs — 

 of which now I have a good stock — 

 will believe that I never ceased to be 



grateful for the gift and the re- 

 minder, though in the hurry of 

 attempting to accomplish twice as 

 much as I am able to do, I put his 

 letter somewhere so safely that I 

 have never been able to find it again. 

 Shielex Hibbeed. 



SEEDLING GERANIUMS SOWN, FLOWERED, AND 

 DESTROYED IN ONE SEASON. 



It is not generally known that zonale 

 geraniums may be flowered the same 

 season as the seeds are sown ; in fact, 

 there are some practical men who 

 will deny that it can be done. Let 

 them deny ; who cares ? On the 

 20th of February last, I sowed four 

 pans of seed, and placed them in 

 warm greenhouse temperature. They 

 were sown in rather rough pure loam. 

 They came up well, and in due time 

 were potted into thumbs and 60's, 

 according to their size, as they were 

 taken out of the seed-pans. The first 

 potting off commenced in the last 

 week of April, and thence to the 

 last week in July ; but they were 

 potted in succession, as room could be 

 made for them to grow. The only 

 house appropriated to them was the 

 "lean-to" described in a former issue 

 of this work, which measures thirty 

 feet by ten feet. As a few hundreds 

 of geraniums were wintered in this 

 house, the seedlings did not have 

 much of a chance till the first week 

 in May, when a great many of the 

 old plants were taken out to make 

 room for them. On the 24th of June, 

 the first bloom appeared on one of 

 the batch which were first potted. 

 From thence to the end of August, 

 about two hundred have flowered, and 

 more than three hundred have good 

 trusses advancing. As they number 

 in all about fifteen hundred plants, it 

 was, of course, impossible to flower 

 them in the house. As fast, there- 

 fore, as they demanded more room, 

 they were taken out of doors, and 

 placed on a bed of coal-ashes. At 

 the time of writing this, the out-door 

 plants are sufficiently numerous to 



cover a bed sixty feet long by five 

 feet wide, and the lean-to is " choke- 

 full." Of the two hundred that have 

 flowered, all have been destroyed 

 but one dozen, because in no re- 

 spect better than varieties already in 

 cultivation. How many more, be- 

 sides this dozen may be kept out of 

 what have yet to show their first 

 blooms it is impossible to say. In 

 case any reader should think the 

 plants were starved into bloom, it 

 may be well to add, that none are 

 bloomed in less than 48-sized pots ; 

 and plants promising well in their 

 style of growth are got into 32's 

 before showing their first blooms, so 

 that, in every instance throughout the 

 whole collection, the plants are very 

 vigorous, with stems as thick as a 

 man's forefinger, and ample leafage — 

 in fact, no small proportion of them 

 are a trifle too strong. This little 

 story is told simply to show what can 

 be done ; the experiment was made 

 solely to settle the point that zonale 

 jreraniums may be sown, grown, 

 flowered, and proved in one season. 

 And perhaps the point may be con- 

 sidered settled, especially as the seed- 

 lings have been seen by many well- 

 known cultivators ; and some of them, 

 as Henrietta, Magna Charta, Chi- 

 biabos, Emily Ellen, and Neivington 

 Beauty, etc., have been publicly ex- 

 hibited, criticised, and described. 

 May I take the liberty to add that 

 Magna Charta surpasses all known 

 varieties in its perfection of form. 

 The top petals are almost as broad as 

 the lower ones, and overlap, so as to 

 leave the thirty-second part of an 

 inch to spare. S. H. 



