190 
THE PELARGONIUM. 
it may be necessary to thin the shoots of the strongest, that 
what are left may bloom the finer ; but in all the essential points 
the treatment is precisely the same, and by it plants like those 
seen at onr metropolitan exhibitions may be produced in the 
third season. 
No one who grows Pelargoniums can deny himself the plea¬ 
sure of raising new varieties, it may therefore be necessary to 
say something of the course to be pursued. To obtain seed 
which shall offer the most probable chance of success, it is neces¬ 
sary that it be hybridized; to do this, make choice of some of 
the very best forms in the collection to bear the seed, as it is 
found that the greatest effect on the future plant is produced by 
the female parent, remove the anthers from these flowers as soon 
as they can be seen, and next day fertilize the stigma with the 
pollen of such other kinds as may appear most desirable for their 
colours or general habit; when the seed is ripe, which may be 
known by its parting from the capsule, it may either be sown 
directly, if space can be afforded for the plants through the 
winter, or preserved till the following February, in either case it 
should be sown in pots or pans of light rich earth, composed 
chiefly of decayed vegetable matter, in a gentle heat, and when 
grown about an inch in length, the young plants should be potted 
and treated as previously directed; most of them will bloom in 
the following May or June, when the best may be selected, and 
increased in the manner mentioned at the beginning of this 
paper. The standard by which these flowers are judged is now 
pretty well defined; the petals must be five in number, the lower 
ones terminating in a rounded point, so that the outline of the 
whole may be as near as possible to a circle ; stiff, without being 
puckered at the edges, and projecting slightly forward from the 
footstalk, the colour of the three lower ones uniform, and the 
blotch or feather on the upper ones clearly margined with the 
ground colour of those petals; the principal flower stem suffi¬ 
ciently strong to support the truss erect and without support, and 
the flowers so arranged as to be neither confused, or widely 
apart one from another; the plant itself should be of compact 
habit and a free flowerer. 
We cannot close the subject better than with a selected list of 
the best new and old kinds in cultivation. 
