482 
THE GARDENER’S ASSISTANT. 
selection extending over a period of at least 
a century, and new varieties are added yearly 
by Messrs. Canned of Swanley, Lemoine of 
Nancy, Bruant of Poitiers, and others. About 
700 varieties were awarded certificates by the 
Royal Horticultural Society in the period be¬ 
tween 1860 and 1890. 
Much information concerning the early sorts 
can be obtained from Andrews’ Monograph of 
the Genus Geranium (1805), which contains 
beautifully-drawn coloured figures of the prin¬ 
cipal species and varieties then in cultivation. 
The accidental crossing of one sort with another 
evidently occurred in Andrews’ time, who says: 
“ The introduction of the African species within 
the last twenty years from the Cape of Good 
Hope, whose prolific character seems to know 
no bounds in the production of endless seminal 
varieties, which, Proteus-like, appear in ever- 
varying forms, and for which numerous varia¬ 
tions we are indebted to the industrious bee, 
which conveys the pollen from one plant to 
another”. Sweet’s Geraniacece, a work of five 
vols., published 1820-30, containing 500 coloured 
portraits of Pelargoniums, nearly all of garden 
origin, gives much information as to their early 
history in the garden. About 170 species are 
known. They are nearly all natives of South 
Africa. Except in botanical collections they 
are not recognized garden plants. 
The four races or sections of Pelargonium are 
cpiite distinct from each other, and except in 
one instance they have refused to interbreed, 
the exception being the Zonal and Ivy-leaved 
sections, an accidental cross between the two 
having been secured by M. Lemoine about 
twenty-five years ago. 
Zonal Pelargoniums. 
This section includes the bedding or scarlet 
Geranium, Bicolor, Tricolor, and Gold Ger¬ 
aniums, and the highly-developed Zonal proper, 
usually grown for the greenhouse and conserva¬ 
tory in winter. They are all supposed to be 
descendants from P. zonale and P. inquinans. 
Cultivation. —Cuttings of these may be struck 
at any season of the year. If, however, good 
pot-grown plants are desired, cuttings put in in 
February are to be preferred, as they start into 
growth immediately, and form dwarf stocky 
plants by May, when it will be safe to keep 
them in a frame to be grown on for flowering 
from October on through the winter. When 
their flowers are about over, the plants should 
be rested in a cool house for a few weeks, keep¬ 
ing them dry. This drying process tends 
greatly to sweeten the soil. The following 
February or March these plants should be cut 
back, this process providing the needful stock 
of cuttings for the spring strike. When they 
have broken into fresh growth, they should be 
repotted, reducing the balls sufficiently for 
them to go back into the same size of pot. 
Later in the season, as summer advances, these 
older plants will require another shift. When 
well established, they will prove useful to follow 
the Show and Fancy sections in the conservatory. 
Full exposure to light and air is a sine qua non 
in Pelargonium culture; without this the stocky 
habit so much desired cannot be had. 
The stock for late or winter flowering should 
be stopped up to the end of August, whilst at 
no time previous to this should any flowers be 
allowed to develop. When coming into flower, 
they need a slight warmth, say 45° to 50° as the 
minimum, with a free circulation of air to keep 
down any symptoms of damp, These winter¬ 
flowering plants require careful watering, not 
nearly so much being needed as for the plants 
that flower earlier in the year. Weak doses of 
artificial manure, alternately with farmyard 
liquid given weekly, will assist the plants. 
