CN SCENTED PELARGONIUMS. 



497 



ON SCENTED PELARGONIUMS. 



By Miss Teoyte-Bullock, F.E.H.S. 



[Read September 10, 1912; Mr. J. Hudson, V.M.H., in the Chair.] 



SOxME ten years ago in an idle moment I mounted a certain hobby, 

 allured mainly by the fact of its being of an almost forgotten breed. 

 On that delightful mount I have ambled for many a happy hour through 

 the quiet lanes of a country life. It has led me along the pleasant 

 paths of many new friendships. It ha.s also carried me more than once 

 on an exciting chase, ending sometimes in a successful capture, some- 

 times in a blank day and bitter disappointment. But I never imagined 

 when I started riding my hobby that I should be landed in front of 

 this extremely big and alarming fence — viz. giving a lecture before the 

 Eoyal Horticultural Society on the subject. However I suppose the 

 only thing to do is to screw up my courage, throw my heart over, and 

 hope to surmount the obstacle without making too big an idiot of 

 myself, while craving your kind indulgence for a very amateurish 

 performance, for alas ! I am no scientist. Mr. Wilks has asked me 

 to give you my experiences on Scented Pelargoniums. That sounds 

 rather a large order, for during ten years and more one goes through 

 many and varied experiences. I think perhaps the best way to carry 

 out his orders will be to divide what I want to say into sections, and I 

 will try to be concise : — 



1. History. 



2. Collecting. 



3. Classification. 



4. Cultivation. 



History. — You perhaps all know how Cape Pelargoniums came to 

 be introduced into England. I mentioned the facts, as far as I know 

 them, in my article in the E.H.S. Jouenal, vol. xxxvii. But as 

 probably few read it, forgive me if I briefly recapitulate them here. 



Scented Pelargoniums seem to have been imported chiefly from Cape 

 Colony, the native ' country of most of the species known to us. They 

 came to England, presumably in the case of the earliest introduced 

 (1690) specimens, by way of Holland, the Dutch being then in posses- 

 sion of the Cape; in or after 1795, probably direct to this country, the 

 English fleet having been sent out in that year to support the Dutch 

 supremacy at the Cape. Constant intercourse went on from that date 

 between the two countries, until in 1815 Cape Colony was finally ceded 

 to England. 



That, I think, will quite account for the following facts. Erom 

 1815, the date of the Cape annexation, all through the early years of 

 the nineteenth century, there was a steady supply coming direct into 

 VOL. xxxviir. K K 



