May 23, 1867. 1 



JOURNAIi OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



359 



*' The whitish or brown spots which occnr on the leaves are often pro- 

 dnced by thickened cells, containing peculiar colonring matter, nnder- 

 lying the chlorophyll cells. In such cases variegation might be traced 

 to an alteration in the epidermal cells, and the same is true of certain 

 bright colours aBsnmed by the surface of aome leaves." 



With regard to the leaf of the Tricolored Pelargonium, Mr. Grieve 

 said he had sometimes been inclined to think that the zone nndergoes 

 no change whatever when the leaf becomes variegated, or yellow mar- 

 gined ; and notwithstanding the fact of red being one of the primary 

 colours, consequently, according to theory, cannot be produced by any 

 combination of colours ; but covering, as the zone does, the junction 

 of the yellow mai'gin with the green disc, or centre of the leaf, we find 

 that whatever part of the zone rests upon the yellow appears bright 

 red, while the portion which may rest upon the green part of the leaf 

 retains its normal or brown colour. The question, then, is, How is 

 this red colour produced? For his own part, he too hastily jumped 

 at the conclusion that the brown and yellow had produced the red ; 

 but this, according to the theory of colour, could not have been the 

 case. So he had to leave the settlement of this interesting question 

 to those whose scientific knowledge would qualify them for the task. 



Before proceeding to furnish what little information he conld as to 

 the histoi-y of the Tricolored Pelargoniums, he might notice a defect 

 incidental to the Silver-tricolored section, but without being able, he 

 was sorry to say, to suggest a remedy. Ho alluded to the cupping, or 

 «mmpling of the foliage, more particularly when the varieties are cul- 

 tivated in the open air, and if the weather is at all cold and wet. This 

 crumpling appeared to be caused by the fact of the white or colourless 

 margins being nuable to expand in proportion to the growth of the 

 green or central part of the leaf, consequently cupping or crumpling 

 was inevitable ; and very possibly this deficiency of expansive power in 

 the white margins of the leaves might be attributed to the nearly en- 

 tire absence of chlorophyll or green colouring matter ; and that this 

 defect does not in any way apply to the yellow- margined varieties 

 might be accounted for by the fact that their yellow margins are not 

 entirely destitute of this principle. 



Some twenty years ago there were, he hclloved, but few varieties of 

 Tariegated Pelargoninms in existence. Of these, the two best fitted for 

 the purpose of bedding or massing in the tlower garden, were a sort 

 inown as Variegated Nosegay, and another called Mangles's Variegated 

 Nosegay. Of the origin of the first-named he knew nothing ; of the 

 latter he had heard that it was obtained by the late Captain Mangles 

 ■as a sport from a green-leaved variety. This sport is well adapted 

 for the purpose of bedding, and still, he bclieyed, extensively n.-ied in 

 that way. The two varieties named above were both silver -margined 

 aorta, with nosegay or very uarrow-petalled flowers. The only golden- 

 margined sort of any merit at that time was the variety Uno\Tn as 

 Golden Chain, and of its origin he wa? also quite ignorant ; bnt he had 

 been informed by an old gardener that he recollected having grown it 

 *long with a collection of stove plants nearly fifty years ago. About 

 seventeen or eighteen years since the horticnltural world was some- 

 ■what startled by the announcement of a scarlet Pelargonium, haring 

 broad- pe tailed tiowers and variegated foliage. This proved to be 

 the celebrated and now well-known variety called Flower of the 

 Day, and he believed that it was to Mr. Kinghom that wo were 

 indebted for the introduction of this forerunner of a hii^hly or- 

 namental race of plants. This variety was soon followed by others 

 of increased merit, the production of more than one successful 

 raiser, among which the names of Lennox, Elphinstone, ifcc. deserved 

 to be mentioned. Amongst these new introductions the beauty of 

 several varieties was greatly enhanced by having, in addition to their 

 silver margins, a red or pink zone, well defined and exceedingly beauti- 

 ful when the leaves were in the early stages of their development. 

 These varieties, combining as they certainly did. three distinct colours 

 in their foliage, might with propriety be designated as the forerunners 

 of the Silver-tricolored race, and to Mr. Kinghom he believed belonged 

 the credit of having originated the first of them, named, he thought 

 Attraction. 



About the year 1855 or 1856. he (Mr. Grieve) had succeeded in 

 originating several varieties which were considered as advances on 

 their predecessors, the best of which, however, was the variety named 

 Italia Unita, which in its class is, perhaps, unsurpassed ; and about 

 the time stated above it occurred to him that similar improvement 

 might possibly be effected in the golden-margined varieties, which at 

 that time consisted of only Golden Chain and one or two other sorts 

 inferior to the sort named. But at all events he confined his experi- 

 ments to Golden Chain, and after trying many experiments, many of 

 them resulting in failures, he at last succeeded in originating two 

 varieties which were considered as worthy of being distributed nnder 

 the names of Golden Tom Thumb and Golden Cerise Unique. Those 

 were succeeded by Gold Pheasant, which was also in its turn eclipsed 

 by the variety knnwn by the name of Sunset, and in the following year 

 be succeeded in raising the now well-known variety Mrs. Pollock, 

 ■which was succe«'ded by Mrs. Benyon, Lncy Grieve, and lastly. Lady 

 Cullum. now being distributed by the Messrs. Henderson, and about 

 "which variety it was quite unnecessaiy^ to say that it would be sure to 

 jrove a public favourite. The great desideratum in a variegated 

 Pelargonium, said Mr. Grieve, is a vigorous constitution, and, conse- 

 quently the power of rapid increase by cuttings ; and this quality is 

 assessed in an eminent degree by the variety referred to, and in a 

 still greater degree by that which he had named Queen Victoria, and 



which he considered to be in all respects the best he had over raised. 

 On that account ho took the liberty of giving to it the name of 

 Her Gracious Majesty ; but since doing so he had found that he had 

 been forestalled, as the name had been already assigned to another 

 variety, but he would still adhere to the name in the slightly altered 

 form of Victoria Regina. 



Soon after the introduction of Mrs. Pollock, the attention of other 

 cross-breeders appeared to have been directed to this subject, and thft 

 consequence was, that the name of Tricolored Pelargoniums might now 

 be said to be Legion, and growers had ample opportunities of selecting 

 and adding to their collections varieties of the greatest mtrit, includ- 

 ing, of course, habit of growth, quality of bloom, ^'c. In the garden- 

 ing journals he had recently given the pedigree of Mrs. Pollock, so 

 that it would be unnecessary to repeat it. but he might briefly etate 

 that the Golden-tricolor Pelargoninma which he had originated had 

 all descended from the well-known Golden Chain. 



Ho had also at various times tried experiments wi;h Mangles's Varie- 

 gated Nosegay, without having been very successful. It was a sort 

 which did not produce pollen freely, nor did it seed freely when fer- 

 tilised by the pollen of other varieties, and even when it does appear 

 to ripen seeds they very frequently refuse to grow. He had, however, 

 succeeded in raising a few seedlings from it, and one of them was 

 known as Stella Variegata, and was produced between a seedling 

 Nosegay variety (raised from a veiy strong growing sort known as Mrs- 

 Vemon), and Mangles's Variegated Nosegay. This variety (Stella 

 Variegata), greatly resembled sports which had at different times, and 

 in various localities, been obtained from Beaton's Stella, although 

 their origin as he had endeavoured to show, was entirely distinct, and 

 their flowers of a different shade of colour. Last year, Mr. Grieve 

 remarked, he had fertilised blooms of a small-leaved seedling Nosegay 

 Bort with well-defined zones, and which has been named Blackbi-nd, 

 with pollen taken from Stella Variegata, and one of the results is the 

 Minimum variety with very white leaf margins, named Minnie WaiTen. 



Some years since, on the introduction of some of the better sorts of 

 the white-flowered Zonal varieties — such as Madame Vaueher, White 

 Tom Thumb, Sec, all the kinds haring well-defined zones, it oc- 

 curred to him that if sorts with foliage similar to Mrs. Pollock, Lucy 

 Grieve, &c., could be induced to produce pure white flowers, it 

 would be a veiy desirable acquisition, and he immediately set aboat 

 experimenting in the matter, but found the process to be much slower 

 than he had at first calculated upon. It would be tedious to describe 

 all his experiments and failures, bnt in four generations he succeeded 

 in producing plants having golden-tricolored foliage, and also producing 

 pure white flowers, unfortunately, however, accompanied by an ex- 

 ceedingly feeble constitution, and apparently a strong determination 

 to leave this world as soon as they conveniently could, and which most 

 of them succeeded in doing. Still he managed to persuade a few of 

 them to live ; and one of them before the meeting was named The 

 Ghost, as it was only the ghost of what he wished it to Le. But the 

 first two points had been gained — riz., tricolored foliage and white 

 flowers, and the third point only was wanting — namely, vigour of con- 

 stitution ; the first step towards that point was, he believed, success- 

 fully taken, the proof of which was the variety named Eva Fish. 



Two pi-inciples, it would be observed, had been active in tending to 

 enfeeble or debilitate the constitutions of the white-llowered and 

 Golden-Tricolor race ; these were variegation itself, which always tends 

 to diminish the vigour of any variety, and also what is called the " in 

 and-in " system of breeding, which is known to have a similar effect 

 in the vegetable as well as in the animal kingdom ; and the method ha 

 had adopted to throw fresh blood, as it were, into the race was as fol- 

 lows, ami, as far as he could judge, he thought it likely to prove snccess- 

 ful : — He selected one or two strong-growing silver -margined seedlings 

 having very Light pink or nearly white flowers. These he fertilised 

 with pollen taken from Madame Vaueher, White Tom Thumb, ajid 

 some other green-leaved, white -flowering sorts. Most of the progeny 

 proved green-leaved, a few, however, showed variegation, but ha 

 selected a few of those which showed no symptoms of variegation 

 whatever, and when they bloomed they nearly all proved to have white 

 flowers, and these he fertilised with pollen token from the variety 

 named The Ghost. The results of this cross were the plant named 

 Eva Fish, and one or two other promising seedlings, which he had 

 little doubt would produce white flowers. 



It would appear, continued Mr. Grieve, that because the hand of 

 science has not directed such experiments as he had endeavoured to 

 record above, scientific men hardly feel inclined to assign to the 

 rough-and-ready cross-breeder the amount of credit which he may 

 possibly consider as due to his exertions. Professor Morrcn, in treat- 

 ing upon this subject, says that the cause that operates in the pro- 

 duction of such varieties as Mrs. Pollock, Suu'^et, itc, is a multiple 

 or complex one, and draws attention to the apparent diversity of tha 

 origin of such plants, and to the simultaneous appearance of similar 

 forms in different localities in England, in France, and in Belgium. 

 Now, all this Mr. Grieve said he believed to be incorrect, and an in- 

 stance of conclusions being arrived at without trouble having previously 

 been taken to ascertain facts. He believed, in common with most 

 growers and raiaers of these plants, that no Golden-tricolored Pelar- 

 gonium deserving of the name existed antecedent to Mrs. Pollock and 

 Sunset, and if any similar varieties originated simultaneously either 

 in this country or on the continent, where were they to be found ? or 

 what had become of them ? M. Morreu further said, " These varieties 



