Feljraary 6, 1873. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



Ill 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



FEBEUAEY 6—12, 1878. 



Dr. Prioatlcy diod, 1804. 

 Twilight ends 6.11 P.M. 

 Half Quarter day. 

 Septuagesuia. 



[Meeting, 3 p.m. 



Koyal Hoi-ticultural Society, Annual General 



Koyal Horticultural Society, Fruit, Floral, and 



[General Meeting. 



Average Tempera- Rain in 

 ture near London. 13 yeara. 



Day. 



46.5 

 46.9 

 45.0 

 45..S 

 44.9 

 44.5 

 44.9 



Night., Mean. 

 32.6 39." 



83.0 

 82.0 

 31.6 

 30.1 

 29.8 

 29.6 



89.9 

 38.8 

 38.4 

 37.5 

 87.2 

 87.2 



Daya. 

 21 

 24 

 22 

 17 

 10 

 19 

 16 



Sun 

 Hiues. 



h. 

 32al7 



Snn 

 Seta. 



m. b. 

 57af4 



Moon 

 Rises. 



m. h. 

 27 11 

 atter. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



■^K'- ' sun. Year, 



Daya, 

 9 

 10 

 11 

 12 

 13 

 14 

 O 



m. B. 



14 22 



14 25 



14 28 



14 29 



14 30 



14 30 



14 29 



L18RAR 



Day(>JEW YOl 



OTANIC 

 3^ luAKDEI 



38 

 39 

 40 

 41 



42 

 43 



From ohserrations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week i.'i 45.2' ; and its night temperature 

 .2'. The greatest heat was 65°, on the 10th, 1831 ; and the lowest cold 3° below zero, on the 11th, 1845. The gieatest faU of rain was 0.52 inch. 



GEEANIUMS FOR BEDDING-OUT.— No. 1. 



MUST apologise for liaving been so long in 

 sending you notes on bedding Geraniums, 

 wliich I promised some time ago, but I have 

 been very much occupied, and last season 

 was so unfavourable for the trial of Gera- 

 niums that I have not much that is new 

 to add. 



I will begin my remarks with the darker 

 kinds of ciimsons. 



The best of the old kinds with me were 

 again Walthani Seedling and Bayard, both of which will 

 be so well known now as to need no description. "Wal- 

 thani Seedling has now stood the test of a great many 

 seasons, and though the truss is not so large, nor the 

 head so bright as in Bayard, yet the stiffness of its ilower- 

 stalk and its dwarf even growth will always insure it a 

 place in.'all gardens. Bayard has a finer truss, but it is 

 apt to straggle, and in a wet season the hea\'y heads of 

 flower are often beaten down. Douglas Pearson, another 

 of the same strain, proved better able to withstand the 

 weather than Bayard ; it has a fine truss, dwarf and com- 

 pact growth, and short ilower-stalk. Duke of Devonshne 

 (Pearson), which in 1871 made one of the finest beds I 

 ever saw, was not so successful this year, owing to the 

 wet ; it has, however, one of the finest trusses imaginable. 

 Moor of Venice (Downie, Laml, & Laing), is much of the 

 same type of colour as tlie last — deep crimson ; it has a 

 very fine truss, but did not bloom very freely. 



Bonfire (W. Paul) and Vesta (W. Paul), bright scarlet 

 crimson, I class together as being very nearly equal in 

 point of merit. Vesta I believe to be a seedling from 

 Waltham Seedling, but a brighter colour, and rather 

 larger truss. Bonfire has a smaller truss, but a larger 

 flower. Both are exceedingly good, and Bonfire seems 

 to stand wet weather better than most Geraniums. The 

 nest one I name. Star of Fu-e (Downie, Laird, & Laing), 

 is one of Mr. Laing's most promising seedlings, brighter 

 in colour than either of the last, one of the brightest and 

 most tilling colours yet introduced into the garden — a 

 bright scarlet without any shade of yellow, and there- 

 fore, perhaps, more properly classed among the crimson 

 scarlets. Its only faultis that the flower-stalk is too long. 

 It is a good grower, though not coarse, and is admirable 

 for fan-sized beds or for middle rows in a ribbon border. 

 It flowered freely with me last year (1872), in spite of the 

 season. 



This includes aU the good crimsons and crimson scarlets 

 that I bedded-out ; those of which I had only a few for 

 trial I will mention later on. 



Of crimsons, I have discarded Crimson King, which, 

 though of remarkably fine colour, gi'ows too coarse in 

 leaf, and will not flower sufficiently with me ; and Glory 

 of Waltham, which I have seen very good elsewhere, but 

 which has not fine-enough trusses here. 



I nest come to the section of scarlets, which includes 

 those that have a tendency to yellow in the scarlet, like 

 the type of the old Tom Thumb, Little David, &e. With 



No. 619.— Vm,. XXIV., New Sbeiei. 



me the best is Sobieski. What its parentage is I do not 

 know ; I obtained it from Mr. Pearson, who had it sent 

 to him from a friend as a match for Bayard in another 

 eolotu-. I fancy it is a seedhng from Sutton's Perfection, 

 which was itself an improved type of Tom Thumb, but 

 it is far superior to the old Tom Thumb — a good truss, 

 pure colour, and fi'ee bloomer. After giving Vesuvius 

 another trial, I have finally determined to discard it. I 

 am aware I seem to be in a minority about it, as every- 

 one is inclined to praise it. It is, no doubt, a free bloomer, 

 of strong hardy constitution, and is good for those who 

 pay no attention to then- Geraniums diu-ing the winter 

 months ; but the trusses are poor, always small, with 

 very few flowers out at a time, and it has a common look 

 about. I am obliged to own I have seen it at times 

 looking very well, but it has never pleased me for long 

 together, and no one who has been round my garden 

 these last two years ever asked me for cuttings from it, 

 and this is rather a crucial test. Glow is another one 

 which I do not intend to grow again, though I consider 

 it superior to the latter, and a very good pot plant. The 

 leaf, however, is coarse, and unless the season is very 

 favourable it is hardly worth gi-owing. Lady G. Gros- 

 venor is stiU a favourite with me ; though the flower-stalk 

 is rather too long and weak, stiU the colour is undeniably 

 bright and good, and the truss fine, and there is hardly 

 any bed so good when at its best. Cybister I have dis- 

 carded as being nearly ahke in point of colom- to the last, 

 and not so good a habit. The nest I shall name is Charley 

 Casbon, which quite realised last year aU I expected 

 from it. It is a very dwarf gi-ower and free-flowerer, and 

 must bo planted rather nearer than most Geraniums. It 

 is a good match for Violet Hdl in point of habit of growth, 

 though the flower-stalk, if anything, is rather too short, 

 but this is a fault on the right side. I am much mistaken, 

 however, if this do not become a great favourite with 

 those who like a dwarf compact bed. The nest two I 

 name are Godfrey and Grand Duke, which are more 

 light red, perhaps, than scarlet ; they are much the same 

 in point of colour. Godfrey has too long a footstalk, 

 though a good bloomer. Grand Duke is one of the best 

 Nosegays, very fine truss, with large individual flowers, 

 after the style of Le Grand and Eclat, but a better 

 bedder. 



The nest section will be the cerise with a violet tinge, as 

 Violet Hill, Amy Hogg, Dr. Hogg, Ai-thiu- Pearson,_and 

 Lady Kirkland. I still adhere to my old friend Violet 

 Hill, and I have not found it suffer from weather as some 

 have done ; it requires, however, good treatment, and will 

 not stand rough usage. No bed ilowered so continuously 

 or so freely again with me last year, though some of the 

 plants had been gi'own in a stove in the spring to in- 

 crease my stock and to get some young plants (spring- 

 struck) for edging a border. The next best to Violet Hill, 

 though of much stronger growth, is Arthur Pearson, an 

 improvement on Amy Hogg, with a larger truss and 

 firmer footstalk. Dr. Hogg and Darius (W. Paul), I class 

 together ; both are beautiful in point of tint, especially in 

 autumn. Dr. Hogg is apt to drop its petals too much in 

 No. 1271.— Vol. XLI^. Old Serjei. 



