Plate 99. 
VARIETIES OE SHOW PELARGONIUM. 
Pelargonium hybridum , vars. 
Within a period of little more than twelve months three 
of the most distiguished amateur raisers of seedling Pelargo¬ 
niums have been taken from amongst us,* leaving Mr. Hoyle, 
of Reading, the raiser of those now figured, almost alone—al¬ 
though we have hopes that Mr. Millar, of Upway, the raiser of 
Foxhunter Verbena, from what we saw of his preparations last 
autumn, may ere long occupy a foremost place; for, albeit that 
we have arrived at such a pitch of perfection that improvement 
becomes most difficult, yet so capricious are these garden hy¬ 
brids that it is impossible to tell what new strain may be hit 
upon; new colours or markings, or even increased size may yet* 
be attained. 
Mr. Hoyle’s flowers have for many years obtained (we may 
safely say) the first position among Pelargonium growers, a fact 
which is sufficiently attested by the large number of them that 
appear in the collections shown for competition at the various 
metropolitan shows; the most striking testimony to that being, 
that Mr. Foster, who was himself a most successful raiser, al¬ 
ways exhibited a much larger proportion of Mr. Hoyle’s flowers 
than his own: in size, smoothness of petal, substance, and shape 
they are in our opinion far superior to the flowers of other 
raisers. 
So much has been said at various times in the 4 Floral Maga- 
* Edward Beck, of Isleworth; the Eev. Bichard Garth, of Earnham; and 
E. Eoster, Esq., of Clewer Manor. We believe that Mr. Walter Beck 
will not allow the Worton Cottage strain to be lost. Mr. Garth had long 
ceased to raise new flowers, though he was one of the first to give an impetus 
to the great improvement that has taken place in this beautiful flower. 
