498 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCILITY. 



England of rare and curious species of Pelargoniums and their near 

 relatives — Campylias, Giconiums, Dimacrias, Erodiums, Geraniums, 

 Grenvilleas, Hoareas, Isopetalums, Jenkinsonias, Monsonias, Otidias, 

 Phymatantliuses, and Seymourias. But with all these off-shoots, 

 if I may so call them, of our subject, we have little to do, though 

 one or two I shall have to mention later on. From 1820 onwards 

 nurserymen and private collectors seem to have rivalled each other 

 in procuring rare specimens and producing new and beautiful hybrids, 

 until at last from these charming and elegant — I use the last adjec- 

 tive advisedly — plants were evolved the series we know as Show or 

 Fancy Pelargoniums. If you look through Sweet's Geraniaceae, " 

 as I have been privileged to do lately in the Lindley Library, you will 

 be astonished to notice the number of fine collections that existed in 

 English country-houses at the date of that standard book — viz. 1820-28. 

 To mention a few in my part of the world only, the West Gountry. 

 There was one at Longleat, the Marquis of Bath's ; one at Haldon, the 

 seat of the Palk family ; another at Luscombe, Devon ; a world-f amousi 

 one at Stourhead, formed by the Wiltshire antiquary and scientist. Sir* 

 EicHARD GoLT HoARE, after whom a whole series of Geraniaceae, the 

 Hoareas, were named; and, finally, the Earl of Ilchester's at 

 Melbury House, Dorset, which is nob mentioned in Sweet's " Gerani- 

 aceae," but a copy of the catalogue of which I possess, comprising 

 111 varieties, dated 1817. Now of all those collections in houses of 

 which I know something, not one survives at the present day, and I 

 have no doubt that it is the same in other parts of England. Where 

 have all those rare and valuable specimens gone? My theory is that 

 they were ousted by the mid- Victorian craze for Zonal and Fancy 

 Pelargoniums, of the evolution of the latter of which I shall have 

 something to say under the head of " Glassification. " My idea is that 

 the existing survivors of the older and far more interesting Gape and 

 Scented Pelargoniums are those which lingered on undisturbed in out- 

 of-the-way and old-fashioned gardens, such. as Mr. Dorrien- Smith's at 

 Tresco Abbey, Isles of Scilly, the only place I know where the original 

 collection is in situ — though I am told that Lady Scarborough's col- 

 lection still flourishes in the original home of Pelargonium Scarborovae, 

 ' Gountess of Scarborough '• — or which, when exiled from the fashion- 

 able garden of the day, found a home under humbler roofs, often those 

 of cottages. Another possible reason for the disappearance of many 

 beautiful varieties may be tha,t, being hybrids, they have just died out 

 m the course of years, or reverted back to the original stock, as we 

 see so many modem hybrids do. Still, one would think that cannot 

 have happened to over 300 varieties, which is the number, roughly 

 speaking, of those of which I can so far find no trace. But even 

 Sweet in 1824 says in " Geraniaceae," vol. iii. p. 299, apropos of 

 P. X odoratissimum, " It is now become rather scarce, as are those of 

 the old original species, none of them being now much cultivated, 

 except a few that are thought essential for producing the finest hybrids. " 

 My own idea is that there are many more to be found in country places 



