SOFT-WOODED OR BEDDING PLANTS. 199 



that they will not be dried too much. Amateurs, to be 

 safe, should first dry them well, and then pack them in 

 boxes in dry sand. 



Fuchsias are the most graceful of all cultivated plants. 

 Nothing, in our opinion, can surpass the beauty of well- 

 grown specimens. They are of the easiest culture ; plants 

 rooted from cuttings in January can be grown with ease 

 to 6 feet in height in June, by due attention to repotting as 

 the plants make root. When grown as specimens, at 

 least half the soil should be rotted cow manure or rotted 

 refuse hops. They are also well adapted as bedding 

 plants for the flower-garden, in cool and partially shaded 

 situations. The dark-flowered varieties are best fitted for 

 bedding. There are also a few winter-flowering sorts 

 described in chapter on Winter Flowering Plants. One 

 of the most beautiful of the newer varieties, " Day Dream," 

 is represented in figure 51. 



Geraniums, botanically speaking, are nearly all hardy, 

 herbaceous plants, a short list of which will be found un- 

 der that head ; but Geraniums popularly known as such 

 are those that are about to be described, and we believe 

 that a large majority of our readers will agree with us in 

 using the popular name, rather than the botanical one of 

 Pelargonium. 



Geranium* Zonale.-r-Tliis is perhaps the best known 

 type of the class, so called from the leaves of many of the 

 varieties being marked with a dark band or zone. This is 

 the bedding plant, par excellence, of the easiest propaga- 

 tion by cuttings, always healthy and of free growth in 

 almost all soils and situations, blooming in summer 

 from. June to October, and, if desired, it will continue 

 its flowering in the green-house to June again. The va- 

 rieties are endless, ranging in every shade of white, rose, 

 crimson, scarlet, carmine, &c., &c. At the present time there 

 are a dozen or more of double varieties, though as yet only 



