62 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
another shift is given, using 32-size, which is amply large enough to grow 
them in for ordinary purposes, especially for dinner-table decorations. A few 
may be potted into 48-size, a suitable one for small vases. No further 
pinching is required. Grow on in a warm stove, syringing the plants pretty 
freely in bright weather. Never allow them to flag for want of water; once 
or twice a-week a dose of liquid manure or guano water may be given to 
advantage. Grandiflora, at the first stopping, frequently throws up four or 
five shoots from the base of the plant. Encourage these shoots, and do not 
stop them, as it is from their terminal points the bloom is produced. One 
drawback to this variety is the tendency it has to decay in its leaves—half 
being healthy, the upper portion like a piece of brown paper. Plants in the 
least stunted are frequently uncightly. This kind requires liberal treatment 
and more than ordinary care to avoid this blemish. 
Crom Castle , Ireland. John Edlington. 
ZONALE AND VARIEGATED GERANIUMS. 
I am pleased to see, by the Royal Horticultural Society’s schedule for the 
present year, that these beautiful decorative plants are now to be placed in the 
position they are so well qualified to fill, and that nearly £50 will be awarded at 
the July Exhibition for the various collections. Seeing the great scarcity of 
stove and greenhouse plants at our autumn shows, I was induced a few years 
since to turn my attention to the cultivation of the Variegated and Zonale 
Geraniums. Since that period other exhibitors have followed in the wake ; and 
now the local shows, which are held in this neighbourhood during the months of 
July, August, and September, bring no collections of plants together which are 
more interesting than the Geraniums in question. The introductions of the last 
few years have added many beautiful varieties to our collections ; but I think very 
few of them will be calculated to make good specimen plants. 
The culture of the Zonale Geranium is widely different from that of the 
ordinary Pelargonium, the object being with the former to produce good foliage 
with an abundance of blooms; but with the latter the flowers are required to be 
created in such quantities as to nearly hide the leaves. Such is not likely to be 
the case with the Scarlet class, even if it were considered desirable to be so ; but 
as the leaves of the plant are so varied in their markings, and in most instances 
form such an admirable background to the blooms, it would be bad taste to hide 
them. The production of moderate-sized foliage, with a good head of bloom, is 
what is desired. Nine-inch pots are sufficiently large for the strongest growers, 
and neither manure nor manure water should be applied—old turf and good loam 
is all that is requisite. No quantity of bloom will be produced until the pots are 
full of roots, therefore a shift is not necessary every year. Care should be taken 
not to over-water during the winter months, or the points of the shoots will rot. 
When such takes place, my advice is to throw away the plant at once. Many of 
the variegated kinds are very prone to this when they are a few years old, and I 
never knew one to recover. The best prevention, I have found, is to get the 
wood well ripened in the autumn, previous to shortening the shoots, which will be 
found necessary with some kinds ; but it must be borne in mind that they will 
not bear drying-off, or such close pruning as the show Pelargoniums will. No 
heat should ever be given except to some of the delicate variegated sorts. A cool, 
well-ventilated greenhouse is all they require; and their greatest beauty will be 
when little else is in bloom in the house. 
From the experience I have had, I find that the plants will not generally bloom 
freely enough until they are about three years old; by that time, if they have 
been properly trained, handsome bushes, about 30 inches through, will be formed. 
Nearly all the specimens I have seen brought to the shows have been deficient in 
bloom: over-potting, and rapidity of growth, are no doubt the causes. 
I will now give the names of a few kinds which I have proved as being well 
calculated for exhibition purposes, viz.:— 
