Plate MO. 

 NOSEGAY PELARGONIUM, ROBERT BOWLEY, 



There is much division of opinion ;is to the merits of the 

 Nosegaj section of Zonal Geraniums, but we believe that the 

 vasl improvemenl which has taken place in them of late years 

 will tend to make these who, like ourselves, disliked their 

 ragged appearance, look on them with a more favouring eye. 

 The objections that were made to them, that the tnis-.es were 

 loose, and that the centre usually got black and disagrceable- 

 looking, are being obviated by the skill of the hybridizer; and 

 the brilliancy of colour is certainlj not equalled in its way in 

 any section of this numerous and remarkable family, while 

 during the present trying season they have shown themselves 



capable (if bearing as well, if net better. e\ell than the Zonals, 

 the long and trying drought to which they have been exposed. 



No firm — with the exception, perhaps, <>f Mr. George Smith, 

 ofTollington Road Nursery — has been more successful in sending 

 forth really good and striking varieties of the Nosegaj section 

 than Messrs. Downie, Laird, and Laing, of Stanstead Park, 

 Forest Hill; and amongst those which they have produced, we 

 may safely say that the present C-n< — named after the able and 

 zealous manager of the Crystal Palace Company— surpasses, in 

 the size of its truss, and the deep and rich colour of its flowers 

 any that the) have previously raised. Tt has received a first- 

 class certificate of merit from the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 and will form, when let out in the spring, a fitting accom- 

 paniment to Masterpiece, raised by Mr. George Smith. 



We had an opportunity of seeing, the other day, the fine 

 stock of Pelargoniums grown by this firm, and we believe that, 

 in the gold and bronze section especially, thej have a strain 

 unsurpassed, in purity and marking, bj anj other firm. The 



