SEPTEMBER. 257 



SEEDLING PELARGONIUMS. 



(Plates 91 and 92.) 



We present our readers this month with a double plate, repre- 

 senting some of the new varieties of our three largest raisers, 

 Messrs. Foster, Hoyle, and Beck, and which are to be sent out 

 in the autumn of the present year. In spite of some severe 

 remarks from the editor of the Gardeners^ Chronicle^ this flower 

 has lost none of its popularity, and we doubt if it was ever so 

 largely or so well cultivated as it is at the present time. In- 

 deed, we have heard that several leading nurserymen were unable 

 to supply the demand for the best varieties during the past 

 season; and from the enquiries for lists of the superior sorts 

 addressed to ourselves, we are quite satisfied that raisers of seed- 

 lings have only to go on and prosper. One thing we would 

 earnestly impress upon them, and that is, to use every means in 

 their power to increase the varieties of colour, a thing much re- 

 quired in a first-rate collection. It should always be borne in 

 mind that contrast is necessary to produce eff'ect, and that bril- 

 liancy loses half its claim to our admiration if it has nothing to 

 relieve and set it off. We know from experience how difficult it 

 is to obtain some colours in combination with good habit of plant 

 and bloom. Year after year we have had intensely bright colour 

 — rich purples, the deepest maroons, &c. — and yet accompanied 

 by faults of such a character that we could not propagate — could 

 only seed from them, hoping in time to get all we required. We 

 are always encouraged when we meet with desirable colour ALONE, 

 because it tells what is in store for him who does not allow him- 

 self to be disheartened, but perseveringly proceeds with a deter- 

 mination to succeed. We would add that, with every care, it is 

 impossible for the artist to give the exact colours of nature. In 

 the present instance the drawings were made from the plants, 

 and we trust our readers will see the latter all frequently exhibited 

 in the winning collections of next season. 



In another page Mr. Beck has supplied a short account 

 of the flowers raised by him, and now in the hands of Dobson 

 and Son. 



As regards the two varieties figured in Plate 92, they are 

 both free bloomers of good habit. Both flowers took first- 

 class certificates at the National Floricultural Society, on which 

 occasion the following description was taken of them : — 



" Phaeton : A rich orange scarlet, stout, smooth, and of good 

 form ; also a free bloomer." - 



" Wonderful : This is a large flower, of the finest form, with 

 smooth stout petals. The top petals are dark maroon, shaded off 



NEW SERIES, VOL IV. NO. XLV. , S 



