290 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 5. 
in view. And what is the- object? Why, to obtain 
; an early, quick-grown, and stout plant, winch, by an 
early cessation of growth, shall organise a plump and 
well-ripened hud. The three first points are gained 
i by early runners and rich soil; and the latter is in¬ 
duced by shallowness, whereby the plant, having ex¬ 
hausted its rotten manure, and the fibres being in con¬ 
tact with the poor and hard soil beneath, is hastened 
into a state of partial rest, or, more properly speaking, a 
high degree of elaboration is induced. This practice, 
at first adopted as a rational theory, has been amply 
confirmed in practice, and leaves, in our opinion, 
nothing to be desired. The very best time to remove 
these to their final destination is the end of October ; 
and they must be removed carefully, with compact halls 
of soil, the ground having been duly prepared for their 
reception. They will lay hold of the new soil imme¬ 
diately, and the slight check experienced, just serves to 
prevent an undue production of foliage in the ensuing 
spriug. R. Errington. 
BEDDING GERANIUMS. 
I watched at all the London great exhibitions for 
this useful class of plants, and I saw, on the whole, 
; more than I expected to meet with ; some old ones, of 
! which I had no previous opportunity of comparing 
together, as the different varieties of Geraniums which 
take after Lucia rosea, pleased me much; then the new 
variegated ones; after them the sport from Diadematum 
rubescens, now called Wihnore's Surprise; and lastly, 
and for some gardens the best of the season, a real 
scarlet Ivy-leaved Geranium. This new “ Ivy-leaf” 
was exhibited at Chiswick, and at Regent’s Park. I 
did not learn how the judges dealt witli it. 
Let us take them in the order here set forth— Princess 
Alice, Hydrangiflora, Tom Thumb's Bride, and Rosea 
compacta, are all varieties from Lucia rosea, or from 
Mrs. Rodham's Pet. With the exception of the first, 
Princess Alice, which I received direct from Mr. Ingram, 
Her Majesty’s head gardener at Windsor, who raised it, 
I did not grow any of these; so that my estimate of 
their respective merits is taken from the single plants 
exhibited. Princess Alice has the best flower, and 
comes nearest in leaf to Lucia rosea, with a higher and 
better colour. Hydrangiflora had more trusses, and 
more spreading flowers, but the truss and flower were 
smaller than in the Princess; yet, for a bed, box, or 
vase, I should say the smaller were the best of the two, 
because, with the very same habit and style of flowering, 
I never saw anything come up to Judy, treated on 
Harry Moor’s plan. Tom Thumb’s Bride is third in 
order for flowers; but they again were more numerous 
than on either of the others, and as numbers go before 
quality, with some people, I must leave others to deter¬ 
mine which of the three to choose; for my own part, 
I would grow the three, and throw away Lucia rosea, 
and Mrs. Rodham's Pet, a kind which is hardly known 
about London, but it is as old as Lucia, and was first 
sent out from Colchester, and it had a prize at Ipswich 
before Lucia got any prize at all. Rosea compacta is 
certainly a very pretty thing; the habit or growth is 
dwarf, the leaves small, smooth, and shining, like those 
of some plain scarlet, and the flower is of a deeper rose, 
as in Lucia rosea, hut without any white. For a low 
pink bed, if it stands the sun well, it will match with 
the pink Ivy-leaf, and so increase the number of kinds 
of plants which one can get into an arrangement of 
beds without increasing the number of colours; and 
, this was always a great point with us at Shrubland 
Park. Indeed, it often happens, that one has to plant 
four corner beds, or, at any rate, four beds in some part 
of a geometric figure, and that they all must be of the 
same height, and also of the same colour. Then, in¬ 
stead of planting the four with one kind of plant, which 
is the shortest and easiest way for the gardener, ladies 
are always more pleased to find four different sorts of 
the same habit and colour to fill up the bed, and when 
that cannot be had, they must have them in pairs, two 
and two. No one, without being cock-eyed, would plant 
four match beds with three kinds of plants, let them 
come ever so near in colour and in height. The same 1 
rule holds good in the drawing-rooms, when plants are 
placed there in all parts of the house the same, and also 
in conservatories. People who take their notions of 
. flowering a house or room from a London route, where 
plants are “ furnished ” at so much a score, are satisfied 1 
if the house is full of flowers placed anyhow ; and it is 
much about the same in their flower-gardens; but 
people of taste would often rather go without flowers for 
a time, than have them placed stupidly about without 
order or arrangement. These are the readers who value 
hints about match plants, or beds, or plans of flower- 
gardens, and for such, Rosea compacta will come in 
useful to match the old Ivy-leaf. It must be re¬ 
collected, however, that I have had no experience 
of its growth, and that I may be deceived in it 
altogether. 
Mr. Kinghoru’s new variegated Geraniums are cer¬ 
tainly very nice things in the flower-garden. The one 
called Attraction is particularly so, and in leaf comes 
nearest to the Golden Chain in interest; between the 
w'hito and green, in the centre of the leaf, comes a 
brownish-purple ring, making three distinct colours in 
each leaf; and if this peculiarity holds on under a full 
sun, and a free system of bedding growth, this sort will 
he as much sought after as the Golden Chain. I once 
had the same marking on a seedling, but it would not 
stand in an open border; and I well recollect having 
had some cuttings of a variegated geranium from Bath, 
some of which turned this way while in the cutting-pot, 
and my foreman, Mr. Cole, of Oldford, near Birming¬ 
ham, had a good laugh at my expense, for believing that 
two kinds of variegated were sent us; but we both 
failed in stamping the mark on any of the plants. The 
marking on Attraction seems much better, and looks 
as if it would stand under all treatment. 
Wihnore's Surprise is a very rich and gay bedder. It 
is the fourth variety we have of the Diadematum breed, 
and is itself a sport from Diadematum rubescens. It is j 
the one that was talked of two years since as having ! 
been supposed to be a cross between a hollyhock and a | 
geranium. If it flowers as freely as Diadematum or Diet- I 
(lematum rubescens, it will far surpass all the bedding 
ones of the race of old ones. The Messrs. Lee, of Ham- j 
mersmith, had six or seven plants of it at the Regent’s ; 
Park Show, and they looked all that one could desire, j 
I have also flowered it myself, and it is the same as the j 
one I called Monstrosum —a name which I must give up— 
but visitors would not let my poor plants show what 
they could do, and I know no more of it; but all 
admirers of the race of bedders ought to have it for i 
next year. 
I could not hear to whom the new Scarlet Ivy leaf 
belonged, but I saw it twice, and there can be no 
mistake about it. It must be the most valuable seedling, 
or sport, for the terrace and geometric flower gardener 
that has been got these ten years. I heard of it last 
autumn, but I took it as said to be, from the pink ivy- 
leaf, and that I knew could not be, because that is per¬ 
fectly barren; it is from the other section or species, 
the one represented by the Trading White Ivy-leaf, and 
if it runs as much as the white, it will be still moro 
useful. It was called Fitness Seedling, or Fitness Ivy- 
leaf, I forget which. 
Geraniums, like vines, and many florists’ flowers, 
are so altered by different soils, that what is first-rate 
in one district, may be not worth growing in some other 
