80 
tiie amateur's flower garden. 
only half the show that may be obtained from young ones. 
In the northern parts of these islands the climate is more 
favourable to pansies and violas, and they are more valuable 
as bedding plants than in the warmer south. But, as re¬ 
marked above, for a charming display during April and May 
and some part of June, there is nothing more cheap and cer¬ 
tain. Ho one in these realms has ever seen a bed of pansies 
covered with flowers between Midsummer-day and the first of 
August, and the autumnal bloom is never equal to that pro¬ 
duced in spring. The following are the best varieties :—Cloth 
of Gold , yellow ; Sunshine , coppery orange ; Imperial Blue , 
light-blue purple; Dean's White, white; Cliveden Yellow, yel¬ 
low ; Magpie , purple and blue. 
Pelargonium. —Under this head we must consider the 
uses and characters of what are commonly called “ bedding 
geraniums.” We have here nothing to do with elaborate 
classifications, or with the various methods of cultivation by 
which exhibition plants and new varieties are produced 
therefore, though the subject might occupy a bulky volume, 
we shall hope to say enough for the present purpose in a 
contracted paragraph. The first thing to be said is that the 
zonate pelargonium is the king of bedding plants. It may be 
dispensed with, indeed, in particular styles of planting—as, 
for example, the silb-tropical—but there is no other plant 
capable of so many and such varied uses, and in some way or 
other it might be made to play a prominent part in almost 
any scheme of colouring that ever was devised. The wide 
range of its characters, and consequently of its uses, is in a 
■wonderful degree enhanced in value by its hardy constitution, 
and the comparatively small amount of skill and labour 
required in its management. Sunshine it must have, and 
really that is about all it requires, if we may adopt a “ rough 
and ready ” mode of expression. Speaking of the family as 
a whole, it may be said that a somewhat poor soil suits them 
best, but, nevertheless, the beds should be well prepared for 
them, to encourage deep rooting early in the season, for a 
good root-hold is essential to long-continued flowering, espe¬ 
cially in an exceptionally hot and dry season. Sandy and 
chalky soils should be improved for geraniums by the addition 
to the staple of thoroughly pulverized hotbed manure and 
leaf-mould, but all good loams of average depth are sufficiently 
nourishing and need not be manured. It is very bad practice 
