THE GREEN-HOUSE.—GERANIUMS. 87 
Vauxhall Nursery (Messrs. Chandler’s), which have been treated in 
this manner, and have stood out for several years. The hardiest 
kinds, and the most suitable for planting in the open air, are the 
single red, the double red, and the double white. The magnificent 
Camellia reticulata is also said to be tolerably hardy. The tenderest 
of the common kinds are the beautiful apple-flowered variety of C. 
Sasanqua, and the single variety of this species, the flower of which 
resembles that of the tea-plant. These plants are both of low growth, 
and ought always to be kept in pots. Camellias are very often in- 
fected with insects, particularly a kind of black aphis, the only reme- 
dies for which are fumigation and constant syringing. The leaves 
of Camellias should be always syringed on the under side, as well 
as on the surface, as they curve inwards a little, and thus afford a 
shelter to insects, from which it is very difficult to dislodge them. 
For an account of the new method of grafting the Camellia, now 
practised with great success at Knight’s Exotic Nursery, King’s 
Road, Chelsea, and some other places, see p. 66. 
The best collections of Camellias in London are those of Messrs. 
Loddiges at Hackney, Messrs. Chandler’s at Vauxhall, and Messrs. 
Lees at Hammersmith. 
Geraniums, or Pelargoniums—The beautiful green-house shrubs, 
which we are accustomed to call Geramums, have, in fact, been long 
separated from that genus, and formed into a new one called Pelar- 
gonium. ‘The difference is in the shape of the seed vessel; that of 
the Pelargonium being like a stork’s bill, and that of the Geranium 
like a crane’s bill. Both are nearly allied to the Touch-me-not: and 
when the seed is ripe, the valves of the seed-pod burst asunder and 
curl up. There are almost innumerable species, hybrids, and 
varieties of Pelargoniums grown in our green-houses, so mixed up 
together by hybridizing that it is very difficult even to class them. 
One of the hardiest kinds, which has numerous descendants, is the 
Horse-shoe Geranium, Pelargonium zonale: and another, P. inqui- 
nans, is the common scarlet. The rose-scented Geranium, P. grave- 
olens, and oak-leaved, P. quercifolium, with their numerous descend- 
ants, the flowers of which are all crimson, striped with brown so 
very dark that it looks almost black, are also tolerably hardy. All 
the shrubby kinds, which are generally kept in green-houses, require 
arich loamy soil, that is, about half very rotten dung, and half 
sandy loam, to make them produce fine flowers. "When the flower- 
