GERANIUM. 



131 



GERANIUM, 



ruary in a rich soil of loam and 

 rotten clung, and the pots plunged 

 into a hotbed to excite the plants to 

 grow. Many hundreds of beautiful 

 varieties of Geraniums are cross- 

 breeds raised from seed; that is, 

 those raised from a plant the stigma 

 of which has been fecundated by 

 pollen from the anthers of another 

 variety of the same species. In this 

 respect, cross - breeds differ from 

 hybrids, which are raised from seed 

 fecundated from a plant of a ditfc- 

 rent genus, or, at any rate, a very 

 different species. The use of cross- 

 breeding is thus rather to improve 

 plants, by crossing them with 

 others having a better habit of 

 growth, or more brilliant-coloured 

 flowers, than to raise new and 

 striking varieties ; and, for this 

 purpose, the plants chosen for the 

 parents should be such as would be 

 greatly improved by admixture 

 with another. For example, a fine, 

 bright-coloured flower, on a plant 

 of a loose and bad habit of growiih, 

 might be crossed by a plant of a 

 dwarf habit, the flowers of which 

 were not beautiful, and so on. 



The following mode of grafting 

 Geraniums is abridged from the 

 " Floricultui-al ]\[agazine" for May, 

 1810. The stocks should be of the 

 strongest and healthiest kinds, about 

 two or three years old, and rendered 

 bushy by frequent transplanting, 

 and pinching off the leading shoots. 

 The year before they are wanted as 

 stocks, they should be cut down in 

 August to within three eyes (or 

 buds) of the base of each shoot. In 

 the following May the stocks should 

 be transplanted into fresh pots, a 

 size larger than their old ones ; and 

 early in June, they should be * * cut 

 down to a clear gi-own part of the 

 shoot, about two inches from the 

 last year's wood." The stock should 

 then be left two or three days to 



bleed, that is, to sufiier the exube- 

 rant sap to escape ; after which 

 it may be grafted in the whip or 

 side manner, without a tongue ; 

 care being taken to choose ' ' well- 

 ripened shoots, about three inches 

 long, for scions." The principal 

 difficulty arises from the succulent 

 nature of the Geranium shoots ; as, 

 if the bark be bruised or wounded 

 during the operation, the grafts will 

 not take ; and they are also very 

 easily broken off afterwards. 



Standard Geraniums are now 

 grown by many gardeners, and have 

 a striking and novel eff'ect. They 

 are prodiiced like Standard Fuch- 

 sias, by keeping the plants constantly 

 growing for two or three years, and 

 as constantly depriving them of 

 their side shoots. Geraniums thus 

 treated should be planted out where 

 the climate will permit, or where 

 they can be protected ; or, if kept 

 in pots, it should be on the one- 

 shift system, and the soil they are 

 grown in should consist of large 

 pieces of loamy turf, mixed with 

 vegetable mould and pieces of 

 charcoal. These plants look very 

 well on a lawn. 



The herbaceous and tuberous- 

 rooted Geraniums reqiiire a much 

 more sandy soil ; and, when they 

 have done flowering, they should be 

 put on a dry shelf, near the glass, 

 and very sparingly watered till the 

 spring, when they may be repotted, 

 and treated as above. These may 

 be propagated by cuttings, or divi- 

 sion of the roots, in rather dry and 

 sandy soil, and they rarely perfect 

 their seeds in our green-houses. 



The old genus Geranium has been 

 divided by modern botanists into 

 fifteen genera ; three of which are 

 quite distinct, and have been already 

 mentioned under the head of Ero- 

 dium. The kinds usually grown in 

 green-houses belong to the genus 

 — 



