THE PELARGONIUM. 



grown, the Pelargonium assumes an importance and produces an effect which is gorgeous 

 in the extreme; and can only be equalled, by a fe\r of the inmates of other families in our 

 best collections. 



They can be grown in the greatest perfection, without a great demand upon the time 

 of the gardener; with only fire-heat enough to exclude frost; and by judicious pruning, 

 and by propagation early in the season, the bloom can be prolonged over a lengthened 

 portion of the year; and although not at all times in the same perfection, yet always 

 with enough success to well repay the cultivator for his trouble. 



I propose in this paper, to give a histor}' of the improvement of the Perlargonium, during 

 the last few years, which I think maj^ interest the present amateurs of the flower, and 

 show what may be done by perseverance and well directed experiments. 



The modern history, if I may so call it, of the Pelargonium, may be said to commence 

 with a flower, which some thirty years ago made a great sensation in the tioricultural 

 woild of London, which was raised there, b}- a well known florist named Davky, and 

 was called by him after himself, " Daveyanum." It was a dark crimson variety, of small 

 poor shape, and not equal in that respect to some others of the day, which had broader 

 and more substantial petals; but the color was remaj-kably attractive, possessing a velvet 

 gloss and depth of tint which was then novel and much admired. Davey, (who Mas 

 an old florist, and well knew how to make the most of a good flower,) is said to have made 

 a thousand pounds sterling by this geranium, which amount is probably over-rated, 

 although my own acquaintance with what was done by some nurserymen, at the height 

 of the Dahlia-mania in England, a ftiw years ago, by no means renders the supposition of 

 his having done so absurd. Another florist, about the same time, of the name of Moohe, 

 brought out a flower which he called " Victory;" this was in shape and quality, much on 

 a par with the Daveyanum, but in color it approached a scailet, and possessed a good com- 

 pact habit, and an elegantly shaped leal, much like the common rose scented geranium. 

 These two flowers, with a white variety, named Macranthon, were the giants of thatdnj^, 

 although, I fear their pigmy character, in comparison with our present favorites, would give 

 a very unfavorable impression to modern amateurs, of the tastes of their predecessors. 

 About the year 1824, a flower made its appearance, which may be regarded as something 

 like the first ancestor of the existing race of Pelargoniums. I do not mean to assert that 

 such was literally the case; but that it bore some approach to those points of excellence 

 which have since been improved upon, and brought prominently out in the flowers of the 

 present day. This was a white flower called the " The new Duchess of Gloucester," of the 

 character of Macranthon, but so much better a flower, as wholly to supercede it. The 

 amateuis were inad after it, and at three guineas a plant, it found among them ready 

 purchasers; and so popular did it become, that I well remember finding in a nurse- 

 ryman's, one day in the second or third year it was out, a green-house some 30 or 40 feet 

 long, entirely filled with plants of " The new Duchess," and upon my remark at the 

 large stock of one plant, he said he could find a ready market for as many more if he had 

 them. 



For some few years after this, no great move was made, to mark particularly the progress 

 of the geranium culture; although each year brought out its new candidates for public 

 favor, which they possessed in a greater or less degree according to their merits. At this 

 day it is not fair to pass judgment upon them; so completely have our notions of the 

 qualities of a really good Pelargonium, been revolutionized in this age of revolutions, 

 looking over a few dried specimens, which I preserved of the flowers of that day, 

 ding among them the celebrated " Daveyanum,") I cannot say much in their favor 



