THE CRANE'S-BILL FAMILY. 321 



This variety is the result of a cross between Golden Pheasant 

 and Emperor of the French, a dark-zoned, scarlet - flowered 

 kind, to which Mrs Pollock often reverts when grown in rich 

 soil. Golden Pheasant was a cross between Emperor of the 

 French and Golden Tom Thumb, the latter being itself a 

 cross between Coftage Maid and Golden Chain. Messrs 

 Grieve, Morris, Carter, Windebank, Shepherd, Smith, Hen- 

 derson, Thorpe, Turner, Watson, and Gill, have also raised 

 Tricolor varieties. 



Soon after Mrs Pollock was sent out, Mr Wills originated 

 another distinct group, the Bronze Zonals his Beauty of Oulton 

 being one of the earliest and best of the group ; and this was 

 followed by numerous other varieties raised by Messrs Wills, 

 and Downie, Laird, & Laing. Twenty years or so before this, 

 however, the late talented Donald Beaton, when gardener at 

 Shrubland Park, had commenced to hybridise and raise seed- 

 ling Pelargoniums, his aim being to improve the long-petalled 

 forms of P. zonale, or the Nosegay forms, then represented by 

 Fothergillii, and " Mangles's variegated." His seedlings were 

 great improvements on their progenitors, and his Indian Yel- 

 low is still the nearest approach to a yellow " bedding " Pelar- 

 gonium. When Donald Beaton died, his stock of seedlings fell 

 into the hands of Mr W. Paul, who has since sent out many 

 good Nosegay forms, one of the best being Waltham Seedling. 

 Among those who have, by careful cross-breeding, endeavoured 

 to improve the flowers of the Zonal section, we may mention 

 Messrs W. Paul, Pearson, Hibberd, Groom, Smith, and Denny, 

 in England ; while MM. Victor Lemoine and Jean Sisley have 

 worked towards the same object and set the example in Con- 

 tinental gardens. Donald Beaton believed that he could pro- 

 duce a yellow-flowered Pelargonium, and some of our modern 

 hybridists feel equally confident of producing a blue one ; and 

 one variety known as Amaranth, and a still more recent one 

 named Mrs Turner, have a distinct blue shade, just as Beeton's 

 Indian Yellow has a strong shade of yellow when seen in a 

 mass. 



About 1873 a novel variegated form made its appearance, 

 under the name of P. " Happy Thought." Previous to this 

 variety all our silver-variegated Zonals had leaves green in the 

 centre, with a marginal band of silver. Here, however, the 

 order of things is reversed, and we have a white leaf with a 

 green margin. This plant bears bright lilac-carmine flowers, 

 and promises to be the parent of a new and beautiful race. 

 Its foliage sometimes reverts to that of the old P. reticulatum, 

 which has a green leaf netted with fine gold lines ; so we may 



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