PELARGONIUM 



PELARGONIUM 



1261 



and repotted in a light compost, not rich, into the small- 

 eat sized pots that will hold them, for the process of 

 growing them on has to be gone over every season. After 

 potting, a good soaking will be necessary, and they may 

 be placed in a well-lighted coldframe. There is no need 

 to keep them close; the stimulation of water, and the 

 slight protection of a frame being usually enough to 

 start them into new growth. No forcing will ever be 

 needed at any season, and if one wished he might keep 

 them in a coldframe until very late in the season, so 

 long as adequate protection against frost is afforded. 

 With us they are at their best in late May and June, 

 and to have them in good condition we grow them 

 slowly in a house averaging about 50 night tempera- 

 ture (slightly less in midwinter), from October onward. 



After the turn of the days in January we repot 

 them, using now a richer compost. We give a fairly 

 good shift, depending in part on the size of plants de- 

 sired, the vigor they show, and the difference in varie- 

 ties. If we had wanted them to bloom in April or, as 

 some florists might, at Easter, we should have potted 

 them at once in late August or September, into the 

 size they should bloom in, a medium size, probably the 

 same as they had lately occupied, and have taken them 

 indoors to grow on continuously. But for our display, 

 in May and June, they are potted again in January, and 

 some may be given another shift when extra vigor or 

 the possible need of a few extra large specimens de- 

 mand it. They will need careful stopping. Some rub- 

 bing out of weak shoots, when they break abundantly, 

 will help those that remain, and we may even have to 

 do a little pruning. Stopping, however, must 

 be discontinued as soon as the flowering stems 

 begin to show, which is about the end of Febru- 

 ary in the writer's practice. These stems can be 

 distinguished easily by a slightly different man- 

 ner of growth. Up to this time the plants may 

 be allowed to grow naturally; but if we want 

 trained specimens we must begin to bend them 

 as we wish them to grow, as their growth speed- 

 ily hardens and the plant will readily take and 

 keep the form to which it is shaped. 



Water should be given sparingly through the 

 dead of winter. February and March are the 

 months when the most growth is made, and at 

 this time we can stimulate them materially by 

 the judicious use of artificial manures, which 

 may, if necessary, be continued until they come 

 into bloom. They are much subject to the at- 

 tacks of greenfly and red spider; and as the foli- 

 age is fairly tender and liable to injury from to- 

 bacco smoke, we are compelled to rely upon fluid 

 insecticides almost wholly. The blooming season 

 is very much lengthened by giving a slight de- 

 gree of shade. 



The best time to take cuttings is soon after the 

 flowering season. Often towards the last of the 

 season, the plants make a few "growing" shoots, 

 and these we take ; but off and on during the summer we 

 can get cuttings, and any time until August will do. Cut- 

 tings taken during winter time with a heel make pretty 

 little plants in 4- or 5-inch pots without stopping. Cut- 

 tings taken at the usual time and grown on in 6- or 7- 

 inch pots come in handy in grouping for the front lines. 

 It is necessary to raise a few plants every season to re- 

 place older plants which have grown too large. New 

 varieties are raised from seed, which is freely produced. 

 In hybridizing it does not appear that hand-pollination 

 has any effect, as the seedlings seldom show any par- 

 ticular affinity to either parent. 



There is a dwarf strain of show Pelargoniums known 

 as "fancy." The plants are usually heavily blotched 

 and very free-blooming. The writer has never seen 

 any in this country. T D . HATFIELD. 



INDEX TO THE SPECIES NAMES. 



A. Plant with thick, succulent branches, and strong 

 fishy odor: Ivs. orbicular or reniform, shal- 

 lowly if at all lobed : inflorescence umbellate: 

 good stamens 7, the 2 upper ones short. (Cico- 

 nium.) FISH OR BEDDING GERANIUMS. 

 1. zonale, Willd. ZONAL, or HORSE -SHOE GERA- 

 NIUM. Shrubby in its native place and in warm coun- 

 tries, becoming woody at the base even in pots, the 



j " 



1704. Pelargonium angulosum. 

 From Dillenius' figure in 1732. One-half the size of the original plate. 



young branches somewhat hispid: Ivs. round-cordate, 

 glabrous or pubescent, long-stalked, usually with a zone 

 or horse-shoe mark of deeper color on the upper sur- 

 face, the margin crenate-dentate, with several very 

 shallow rounded lobes: stipules broad, cordate-oblong: 

 peduncles long, the fls. nearly sessile: calyx -tube gla- 

 brous or nearly so, 4-5 times longer than the lanceolate 

 segments ; petals separated, narrow-wedge shape or 

 spatulate. "Among shrubs and on hillsides. . . . The 

 flowers vary from scarlet and crimson through all shades 

 of red to pure white." Harve y. Probably originally red. 

 P. zonale was introduced into England in 1710. Linnaeus 

 described it in 1753 as Geranium zonale, founding the 

 species on previous descriptions, not on specimens. It 

 is probable that the species had been considerably modi- 

 fied by domestication when Linnaeus wrote. There 

 seems to be no accepted portrait of the original form of 

 the plant. 



2. inquinans, Ait. FISH GERANIUM. Fig. 1698. Plant 

 more velvety than P. zonale, sometimes more or less 

 viscid, the leaves not zoned: calyx-tube densely gland- 

 ular and viscid, 3-4 times longer than the lanceolate 

 segments ; petals broadly obovate, scarlet, but now 

 varying to lighter colors. "Among shrubs and on hill- 

 sides." This is the Geranium inquinans of Linnaeus, 



