GERANIUM. 



216 



GERANIUMS. 



vers*lly cultivated, and ol none are there 

 greater varieties. 



Wiih regard to classification, although 

 the term "geranium" can be taken to 

 cover both sections of plants to which the 

 names geranium and pelargonium are 

 usually applied, yet the former is more gen- 

 erally assigned to the hardier sorts, mostly 

 self-coloured, being white, salmon, scarlet, 

 cerise, &c., and single and double, while 

 the latter gathers under it all the show 

 varieties of which the two upper petals are 

 generally distinct in colour and markings 

 from the three below. Many of the 



GENTIANELLA. 



varieties of the geraniums are distinguished 

 by the beauty of their foliage, for which, 

 i-ideed, they are chiefly prized. The fine- 

 foliaged geraniums comprise Golden Tri- 

 colors, Silver Tricolors, Tricolor variegated, 

 varieties with ornamental foliage, such as 

 "Happy Thought" and "Freak of Na- 

 ture," heavily blotched with white, Golden 

 Bronze, Yellow-Leaved and White-Edged 

 varieties, Zonal, Ivy-Leaved, and Mottled 

 varieties, with a long train of double 

 varieties distinguished by their colour, 

 which each comprise so many distinct 

 sorts that they can only be described and 

 named in the catalogues of nurserymen 

 who grow them on a large and extended 

 scale. The pelargoniums are well-nigh as 

 numerous in their groups, including French 

 Spotted and Early Flowering varieties, 

 Fancy Pelargoniums for exhibition, both 

 large flowering and small flowering, and 



the magnificent Hybrid Double Regals of 

 recent introduction. 



Geraniums : Bedding Varieties. 



Striking Cuttings. It is desirable, and 

 indeed necessary, that cuttings of all sorts 

 of geraniums for bedding the following 

 year should be struck early : from the last 

 week in July to the end of the first week 

 in August is very good time. They should 

 be taken in dry weather, when the parent 

 plant has had no water for some days, and 

 they should be kept to dry twenty-four 

 hours after they have been prepared for 

 potting. The more succulent sorts, and 

 any that appear difficult to strike, may 

 with advantage be touched at the end with 

 a small paint brush dipped in collodion, 

 which will serve to hasten the callus which 

 the cutting must form before it will throw 

 out roots. They may be potted four or six 

 in a pot, according to size. It is essential 

 that the pots be well fitted with drainers, 

 that the soil be light and sandy, and that 

 it be pressed tight round the joint of the 

 cuttings, which should be buried in it as 

 flat as possible. When potted, they may 

 be sunk in the ground on a south border, 

 and well watered in the evening, when the 

 sun is off. They will require no shading, 

 except the sun be very scorching ; and, in 

 this case, they must not be kept from the 

 light, but merely screened from the scorch- 

 ing rays of the sun. They may flag a little, 

 but this is of no importance ; in two or 

 three days they will recover, and put forth 

 roots. If they grow too freely before it is 

 time to take them in for the winter, the 

 top shoots should be broken off, and in this 

 way they will make strong bushy plants. 



Preservation of Old Plants through the 

 Winter. Take them out of the borders in 

 autumn, before they have received any 

 injury from frost, and let this be done on a 

 dry day. Shake off all the earth from their 

 roots, and suspend them, with their heads 



