THE FLORIST. 269 



Journal of the 16th ult. I see a recommendation elaborately enforced, 

 that Pelargoniums, as well as Roses, should be grown " five, six, or 

 more feet in height." The writer even says that he would insist 

 upon the production at exhibitions " of given portions both of Roses 

 and Pelargoniums trained into a round pyramidal form." The argu- 

 ments by which this view is supported in the article in question are 

 equally curious in point of good taste and good logic ; but I pass 

 these by to deal with the proposal itself, which, coming from the 

 editor of a public gardening journal, demands some attention. 



That Roses may be grown in this or any other form is tolerably 

 clear ; many Roses may certainly be grown to the height suggested, 

 and I do not imagine that the writer hopes to immortalise himself 

 as an original discoverer by this part of his proposal ; but when he 

 speaks of a Pelargonium " of a round pyramidal form, and six feet or 

 more in height," I am tempted, in all teachable humility, to ask how 

 many yards across he would have it ? I think I remember hearing a 

 person assert, in argument, that a Geranium might be grown large 

 enough to fill Exeter Hall ! I regarded this at the time merely as a 

 magnificent assertion, to be dealt lightly with, because of the vastness, 

 and, to that extent, the poetry of the idea ; but here we have a sober, 

 deliberate leading article submitted for our consideration, and there- 

 fore to be considered accordingly. 



Seriously then, how many generations, let me ask, of long-jointed, 

 weak, weedy, succulent seedlings must be grown, before you can 

 convert this elegant shrub into a creeper or semi-creeper ? When 

 you have succeeded in altering its whole character, by giving it a 

 habit which would prevent it from standing upright without support, 

 just conceive what an outrage on floriculture you would have perpe- 

 trated ! Let any unprejudiced person grow a plant that will support 

 itself — Beck's Rosy Circle for instance — by the side of one that will 

 not, and let him decide which is, or, if the matter is purely conven- 

 tional, which ought to be the habit of the plant. 



Thus much for the good taste of the proposal in question. Do 

 not, however, let it be forgotten that ten thousand Pelargoniums are 

 grown for one that is exhibited ; and that, except under first-rate 

 cultivation, they will flower larger and finer in all respects in small 

 pots than in large ones ; so that the result of introducing a race of 

 plants, fitted only for training, would be to throw them, to a consi- 

 derable extent, out of general cultivation. 



That Pelargoniums may be grown too dwarfly, and especially if 

 exhibited in large pots, will be admitted by every one who has seen 

 them so exhibited, and with all the trusses standing at the same height ; 

 but a Pelargonium trained into " a round pyramidal form," like a Con- 

 volvulus, and " six feet or more high," is what I hope never to see! 



A. B. C. 



