1866.] 
AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST. 
4.35 
Beddingf Geraniums— A Double One. 
— « — 
The common name, Geranium, lias become 
so well establisUecl in the jjopular mind, that 
■were we to say Pelargonium — the proper botan- 
ical name — a large class of our readers would 
1)6 at a loss to know what plant was intended. 
Pelargoniums differ from the true Geraniums in 
the structure of their flowers, and the two are 
separated by botanists— but for our purpose we 
will follow the majority and call them Gerani- 
ums. Not many years ago Geraniums were 
grown exclusively as pot plants. Now they are 
among the most valuable of our bedding plants, 
and each spring our propagating establishments 
turn them out by thousands. From the old 
Scarlet Geranium, with its plain green leaves, 
and the Horse-shoe Geranium with a dark semi- 
circular mark upon its foliage, we have a great 
variety of seedlings and sports. Some of these 
liave the leaves green and white — others j'el- 
low and green, and then a series with tlie fo- 
liage striped with reddish brown, white, and 
yellow — as g.ty as a leaf need be. But alas ! 
these beautiful sports, about which English cul- 
tivators write so enthusiasticalh', can not en- 
dure our hot suns, and we are obliged to give 
up the most of them for bedding uses. Some, 
however, do tolerably well, and perhaps the 
most satisfactorj' are : the Mountain of Snow, 
green and white, and Cloth of Gold, green and 
yellow. A circular or oval bed cut in a lawn, 
planted in the center with some of the free flow- 
ering scarlet varieties, and bordered with these 
variegated ones, makes a very brilliant show. 
Altogether the finest scarlet Geranium we have 
ever seen is an American seedling, called Gen- 
eral Grant ; we believe it originated in Ohio. 
BOt^lE GERANIUM. 
The flower is of good size and color, the truss 
so enormous in size as to hide the foliage and 
make the bed one sheet of flowers. We saw a 
bed of this remarkable variety in the grounds 
of Ellwanger & Barry, and doubt if a finer 
thing in the way of geraniums was ever seen. 
Quite a novelty among geraniums was brought 
out tills year by Mr. Henderson, in which the 
flowers are perfectlj' double. This is called by 
the rather absurd name oi ranuncuUflora. We 
say absurd, as we object to the use of Latinized 
names for florists' flowers. A double gera- 
nium is such a novelty that we have had an 
engraving made of it. When we saw the 
plants they were too small tojudgc how effective 
they would be in the mass. Certainly this will 
prove valuable to the bouquet makers, on ac- 
count of its brilliancy of color and double char- 
acter. Geraniums are favorite window plant?, 
and when they have plenty of room and light, 
bloom freely. Generally we see them badly 
shaped and drawn up into long-legged, forlorn 
looking subjects. No plant is more tractable 
than the geranium, and by pinching and prun- 
ing it may be brought into any desired shape. 
Half H.uidy Plamts. — It is well known 
that certain plants will pass the winter safely, if 
they have only a slight protection ; but most 
cultivators do not seem to be aware that this 
protection is given as much against heat as it i"? 
against cold. Like the man who was reported 
as having died, not of his disease, but in getting 
well, many of our plants can stand freezing bet- 
ter than they can thawing, and if protection to 
so-called tender things is not given until mid- 
winter, it often answers perfectly. A barrel, put 
over a shrub, shields it from sudden changes, 
A good light and dry cellar is agrcathelp, in ab- 
sence of a green-house. Tender roses, Lantaiias, 
Oleanders and many other things that are very 
useful, when jiut in a cellar and just kept from 
freezing, will "worry along" nicely and tliey 
will generally come out all right in spring. 
The Diseases of Trees. 
It is with not a little surprise that we look 
upon the number of letters inquiring about 
diseased trees, that have accumulated upon our 
hands. It is the opprobrium of scientific liorti- 
culturethat so little has been done to investi- 
gate the subject of plant diseases. We have 
read about all tliat has been written on the sub- 
ject, have talked with the most experienced 
pomologists East and West, and find that there 
is really little positive information extant. All 
admit the existence of certain maladies, and 
attempts have been made to enumerate them. 
A recent work on horticulture gives us La.,i.i 
names for these tree troubles ; though it \n * 
gratify the inquiring mind to know that freezing 
is congelatw, and that decay is mries — we are 
unable to see that it adds much to our knowl- 
edge. Among the causes assigned for the un- 
healthy condition of our trees, some are sensi- 
ble and others absurd. It is a very common 
