CULTURE OF FAVORITE PLANTS. 
for a short time, as their juicy leaves soon become feasting fields for the green¬ 
fly, which is very hard to subdue on these dwarf plants. To he at all success¬ 
ful they must have all the air that can he admitted, and not too much sun. To 
propagate from seed for spring blooming, they should be sown late in August 
or early in September; for midsummer and fall blooming, they should he 
IOLA tricolor, from the triple color of the blossoms, is the 
scientific name of the Pansy, which itself seems to have been 
derived from the French ftensee, a thought, from its habit of hanging 
its head as if in a pensive or thoughtful attitude. They are among 
our earliest spring flowers, and are sometimes forced in hotbeds for 
market long before the grass makes its appearance. They arc sold 
in pots to decorate window boxes, hut in the house they do well only 
JSTS TT 
sown in spring. To produce large flowers they require a rich soil and a partially shaded 
situation where they will escape the noonday heat and receive a few hours of the morn¬ 
ing or afternoon rays. They may be increased or propagated by cuttings, layers, or 
divisions of the root. Cuttings are taken about the second spring or fall month. These 
are much better than the older plants, which are usually woody and hollow, and are best 
rooted in light, sandy soil in a shady place, being covered with a bell-glass or oiled paper. 
They should be set an inch or more deep, with the earth firmly placed around them. 
The varieties are numerous, amounting to several hundred. Seeds should be sown soon 
after gathering, as they deteriorate in keeping. Layering is done as described elsewhere. 
RR LX R U O X I CM. 
PELARGONIUMS (from the Greek felargos, a stork, because of 
the resemblance of the beaked seed to a stork’s bill) are plants allied 
to the Geraniums, constituting a genus of that family and embrac- 
W ing three hundred species, and are occasionally called Fancy Gcra- 
i ^ niums, of which one of the most popular is known as the Lady 
Washington. All the Pelargoniums are shrubby or hard-wooded, 
,except the shoots that bear the blossoms. The flowers, which appear in trusses, 
are variously marked, either darkly veined, or with the upper petals differing 
from the lower, or shaded from a deep tone to a lighter, as from almost black 
\ to scarlet, and so on through cherry, crimson, lilac, white and pink. They 
/ are among our handsomest, most delicate and showy flowers. So singularly 
picturesque are the markings in different varieties of the Pelargoniums that they have 
been named Clown, Pantaloon and Harlequin, the flowers resembling the typical costumes 
of these well-known, popular characters. They never thrive so well when placed in the 
garden, except when retained in the pots in which they are grown, and plunged in the 
ground; for, if the roots get too much room, the plant grows almost entirely to foliage. 
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