91 



THE geraniu:j house. 



The late Mr. Colvelle was amongst the lii'st wlio saw the propriety 

 and adopted the practice of gi'owing the Geraniacece in a house by them- 

 selves. Since that time many have followed the example, and. judging 

 from the fine specimens brought to the pubhc plant exhibitions within 

 these last three yeai's. we are led to think that in no depaitment of plant 

 culture has such a rapid improvement been made as in that of Pelargo- 

 niums. To grow these niunerous and splendid plants to perfection, 

 requires a separate house for themselves, and whoever has seen those of 

 Hill, at Hammersmith, Cox, of Chiswick, and Gaines, of Battersea. as 

 public cultivators, and those of Su' John Broughton. or E. Jenkinson, 

 Esq., will admit, we tliink, that they richly deserve a house for them- 

 selves. The Geraniacece have the following atti'acrions, namely, they are 

 easily kept, propagated, and flowered ; they conrinue nearly the whole 

 season in bloom ; present almost infinite variety of coloiu: and form, 

 and are much better adapted for standing in rooms uninjm'ed than most 

 other plants. New varieties ai"e reachly originated by cross impregnarion, 

 and these are reachly increased by cuttings, the simplest of all modes of 

 re-production. If the majority- of Pelai'goiiiums are deficient in fragi'ance, 

 nature has made up for that apparent deficiency, by the splendour of the 

 blossoms ; and, as it were, to equahse her gifts, certain kinds whose flowers 

 are less showy, nay, even of a dingy hue, have a dehghtful perfume ; some 

 during the evening and night, and others when rubbed against, or when 

 the wind lashes the leaves and branches against each other. 



Few genera of plants exhibit more fully the industiy of the culrivator, 

 or demonsti'ate more clearly the conti'ol he exercises in producing 

 varieties, than in the case of the Geranium or Pelargonium. Hundreds 

 of varieries, which are to be met with in the cohecrions of florists, are 

 the fruits of his ingenuity : for, however strange it may appear, it is 

 a positive fact that not above a dozen true species are to be recog- 

 nised amongst them. It is, therefore, now only in the strictly botanical 

 collections that true species ai*e to be seen, they having given place to 

 sub-species originated by hybridizing. AVitli the exception of three or 

 four species, the whole of this splendid tribe, amounting to nearly three 

 himdred recorded species, and above five hundi'ed sub-varieties, have been 



