GERANIUM. 
et 
222 
GERANIUM. 
of gardening is that in which the 
shape of the ground, of the beds, 
of the walks, and even of the shrubs, 
is regular, or symmetrical ; such as | 
may be formed on paper by a rule) 
and compass. The ground, if origi- 
nally flat, is reduced to a general 
level surface, over which the beds, | 
or borders, are distributed so as to | 
form figures, either simply regular, 
such as squares and parallelograms, | 
repeated one after another—or | 
squares and parallelograms, and 
circles or ovals, or other curvilinear 
figures,—so arranged as to be sym- 
metrical; that is to say, that one- 
half of the figure formed by the 
whole shall correspond with the 
other half. When the surface is 
naturally irregular or on a slope, it 
is thrown into different levels, which 
are joined by steep slopes called 
terraces, generally covered with 
turf, and ascended and descended 
by stone steps. Each of the levels 
is laid out either regularly or sym- 
metrically, in the same manner as 
if the whole were only one bed; 
but the figures are of course smaller. 
Small] trees or evergreen shrubs are 
distributed among the figures, and 
especially on each side of the main 
walks; and these trees or shrubs 
ought, in strict accordance with the | 
style, to be cut or chipped into regu- 
lar shapes ; such as cones, pyramids, 
balls, candelabra, statues of men 
or animals, arcades, columns, or | 
other architectural figures. In mod- | 
ern practice, this is generally neg- | 
lected; but its omission is a defect, | 
for cut trees are as essential to the | 
geometric style, as having the ground | 
eut or shaped into artificial surfaces. 
For the mode of cutting trees and | 
shrubs into regular shapes, see 'To- 
prary; and for laying out the beds | 
so as to form a regular figure, see | 
PARTERRE. 
Gera'Nium.—-Geranidcee.—-There 
are few plants more easily grown, 
or that better repay the care of the 
| largoniums. 
cultivator, than Geraniums, or, as 
they are more properly called, Pe- 
All the half-shrubby 
kinds require a light rich soil, com- 
posed of well-rotted manure, leaf- 
mould, sand, and a little loam, kept 
moderately moist. A cool green- 
house, where the ‘sashes can fre- 
quently be thrown off, and a balco- 
ny or window, not too much exposed 
to the sun, are the best adapted for 
them; and in such situations they 
may be kept during the whole year, 
only requiring, when in full flower, 
to be slightly shaded from the sun, 
to prolong the blossoming season. 
Geraniums are readily propagated 
at almost any season, by cuttings 
of the points of the shoots, which 
will strike readily in the same soil 
as that in which the plant is grown, 
without either a glass or bottom 
heat. The nurserymen, however, 
generally take their cuttings off 
the poits of the shoots, and plant 
them in the autumn round the 
edges of pots filled with light rich 
soil, and plunged into a moderate 
hotbed. 
When the cuttings are sufficiently 
struck, which will be in about six 
weeks, they may be potted into 
singhe pots; or if there should not 
be room in the greenhouse for so 
many pots, they may be placed on 
a tolerably dry shelf, near the glass, 
till the following spring, w&en those 
that are wanted may be potted, and 
the rest reserved for planting out 
in open ground, to bloom in the bor- 
ders during the summer. Gerani- 
ums, to make fine plants, and to 
produce abundance of flowers, should 
|be frequently repotted into larger 
and larger pots, during March, April, 
and May ; and, should the weather 
be rather cold, or the plants back- 
ward, a little fire put into the green- 
house at might will have ‘a good 
effect in promoting luxuriant growth 
and the formation of blossoms. Im- 
mediately after the plants have 
