GEOMETRIC GARDENING. 



118 



gera'nium. 



light rich soil, and do best in a mix- 

 ture of loam and peat, enriched with 

 a little vegetable mould. G. acaulis 

 does best in peat alone. The peren- 

 nial kinds are increased by dividing 

 the root, and the annual ones by seeds, 

 which should be sown as soon as ripe, 

 as, if left till spring, they will not 

 come up till the second year. 



Geometric Gardens. — This style 

 of gardening is that in which the 

 shape of the ground, of the beds, of 

 the walks, and even of the shrubs, 

 is regular, or symmetrical ; such as 

 may be formed on paper by a rule 

 and compasses. The ground, if ori- 

 ginally flat, is reduced to a general 

 level surface, over which the beds, or 

 borders, are distributed so as to form 

 figures either simply regular, — such as 

 squares and parallelograms, repeated 

 one after another — or squares and 

 parallelograms, and circles or ovals, 

 or other curvilinear figures, — so ar- 

 ranged as to be symmetrical ; that 

 is to say, that one half of the figure 

 formed by the whole shall correspond 

 with the other half. When the sur- 

 face is naturally irregular or on a 

 slope, it is thrown into different levels, 

 which are joined by steep slopes called 

 terraces, generally covered with turf, 

 and ascended and descended by stone 

 steps. Each of the levels is laid out 

 either regularly or symmetrically, in 

 the same manner as if the whole were 

 only one bed ; but the figures are of 

 course smaller. Small trees or ever- 

 green shrubs are distributed among 

 the figures, and especially on each 

 side of the main walks ; and these 

 trees or shrubs ought, in strict ac- 

 cordance with the style, to be cut or 

 clipped into regular shapes ; such as 

 cones, pyramids, balls, candelabras, 

 statues of men or animals, arcades, 

 columns, or other architectural fig- 

 ures. In modern practice, this is 

 generally neglected ; but its omission 

 is a defect, for cut trees are as essential j 



to the geometric style, as having the 

 ground cut or shaped into artificial 

 surfaces. For the mode of cutting 

 trees and shrubs into regular shapes, 

 see Topiary ; and, for laying out the 

 beds so as to form a regular figure, 

 see Parterre. 



GeraVium.— GeraniaceG.—TheTe 

 are few plants more easily grown, or 

 that better repay the care of the cul- 

 tivator, than Geraniums, or, as they 

 are more properly called, Pelargo- 

 niums. All the half-shrubby kinds 

 require a light rich soil, composed of 

 well-rotted manure, leaf mould, sand, 

 and a little loam, kept moderately 

 moist. A cool greenhouse, where the 

 sashes can frequently be thrown off, 

 and a balcony or window, not too 

 much exposed to the sun, are the best 

 adapted for them ; and in such situa- 

 tions they may be kept during the 

 whole year, only requiring, when in 

 full flower, to be slightly shaded from 

 the sun, to prolong the blossoming 

 season. Geraniums are readily pro- 

 pagated at almost any season, by cut- 

 tings of the points of the shoots, which 

 will strike readily in the same soil as 

 that in which the plant is grown, with- 

 out either a glass or bottom heat. 

 The nurserymen, however, generally 

 take their cuttings off the points of 

 the shoots, and plant them in the 

 autumn round the edges of pots filled 

 with light rich soil, and plunged into 

 a moderate hotbed. When the cut- 

 ings are sufficiently struck, which will 

 be in about six weeks, they may be 

 potted into single pots ; or if there 

 should not be room in the greenhouse 

 for so many pots, they may be placed 

 on a tolerably dry shelf, near the 

 glass, till the following spring, when 

 those that are wanted may be potted, 

 and the rest reserved for planting out 

 in open ground, to bloom in the bor- 

 ders during the summer. Geraniums, 

 to make fine plants, and to produce 

 abundance of flowers, should be fre- 



