January 29. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
flower stalks are too short; it is also a gay thing any 
where above the eye, but let it come below the chin, 
j and you see no more of it than the back of the truss, 
aud not always that, as sometimes the leaves cover the 
flowers all over, so that it is of no use, even as a single 
plant in a mixed border, much less as a whole bed. 
Nevertheless, its bright aud very gay fiery colour would 
claim a place for it in my experimental greenhouse— 
j when I can have one; but the old story again—it is 
quite barren, and after all this, seven writers within the 
last ten years recommended it either as a breeder, or for 
bedding out; but here, I think, we have it now in the 
right state. 
The nearest variety to Moores Victory is Quercifolium 
coccineum, alias Quercifolium superbum, which has an ex¬ 
cellent dwarf habit for a bedder. The flowers and 
trusses small; the colour crimson, with dark spots. It 
requires a warm sheltered place for a bed out-of-doors. 
It will force for cut flowers in April, but the forcing 
must be gently brought on, otherwise it is apt to get 
blind. It strikes from cuttings easily all the season. 
It is quite barren, aud seldom has any pollen. 
Quercifolium. —For general purposes this is the most 
useful of all the Oak Leaves, as it is a free grower, a good 
bloomer, and of a very hardy constitution; I can recom¬ 
mend it to ali who grow any of this class of bedders. 
It is an old variety, got from seeds in the county of 
Norfolk, and Mr. Bell, the well-known nurseryman, of 
Norwich, told me, that, through his recommendation, it 
was bought from the raiser by Air. Russel, a Loudon 
nurseryman, after whom Rhododendron Russellianum 
was named. Air. Russel “ brought it out” in London 
as a fine “greenhouse plant” some twenty or five-and 
twenty years ago; and I believe it is the very last 
Geranium of the old school for which a handsome 
sum was olfered to a provincial grower for the London 
trade, and as such it is a remarkable plant, showing the 
dilfcrence between the old and new schools of Geranium 
breeders. The word Quercifolium means oak-leaf, and 
is, therefore, an unfortunate name, because w r o have a 
great many newer seedlings with leaves just as much 
entitled to that name as any of the old ones; and 
although none of these new ones are yet gay enough, or, 
at any rate, not yet sufficiently proved to be good 
bedders, we may rest assured that in a few years wo shall 
have a large number of Oak Leaves to select good bedders 
from, notwithstanding that the three last-named, the cream 
of the old Oak Leaves, arc barren. A fresh breed of Oak 
Leaves, with much stronger habits, and a hardier constitu¬ 
tion, is now in the second aud third generations, from an 
excellent breeder, having oak-leaves, and by name called 
Fair Helen. This Fair Helen is the oldest cross we now 
cultivate, and, with the sole exception of the Prince of 
Oranye, the hardiest of all the Geraniums we grow. If 
their leaves are dry, eight degrees of frost do them no 
harm. I once had a whole bed of the Prince of Oramje 
overtaken by ten degrees of frost, and a sunny day fol¬ 
lowing, which caused no more injury than a little crump¬ 
ling in the top leaves. The flowers of Fair Helen are 
as thin as those of an old Petunia, and as gaping as a 
monkey, with the colours not at all strong, or well con¬ 
trasted, yet Fair Helen has kept her ground, and, to 
tins day, is a great favourite with the ladies in their 
nosegays, owing no doubt to the delicious fragrance of 
her leaves; and her offspring, as far as we have gone on 
with them, are also sweet-scented. The first Helen was 
the cause of the war between the Greeks aud the Tro¬ 
jans, as every schoolboy knows; aud our Helen bids 
lair to occasion a war, and a long siege too, between the 
breeders of bedding geraniums and those who are 
striving to get them as round as a full-moon. But the 
worst of it is, that our Helen, though fair aud sweet, 
and a great favourite besides, will not do in a bed, and 
yet she is the first of the season to bloom out of doors, | 
209 
and the last to yield to the autumn frosts, except perhaps 
Unique, and on that account, and having some know¬ 
ledge of her ways, 1 introduce her here as the most sure 
breeder of all our old crosses, but her seedlings will 
have to pass through several generations before they 
will be fit companions for Unique, Lady Mary Fox, or 
our Duulematmns. An old plant of Fair Helen, planted 
out in a sheltered border, and not pampered with rich 
soil, will come as true from seeds as if it were a wild 
species from the Cape. These seedlings will reproduce 
themselves, but in the third generation they begin to 
vary. I once had a self-coloured one at this stage, and 
one with the petals quite entire on the edges, but that 
was before the “ fancies” appeared, and I was not then j 
experimenting for bedders, so I followed them no far¬ 
ther. I have since crossed seven or eight kinds with it, 
and re-crossed some of them again and again; aud 
although I have nothing to prove my assertion, I am 
quite confident that Fair Helen is a safe one for any 
I new beginner to begin with in the way of crossing. 
Unique would be an excellent one to cross witli an early 
breed from Fair Helen, but the two, as they stand at 
present, will not unite, at least I failed in doing so after 
various experiments for seven years, and I could never get 
any of the large greenhouse ones to touch it. As I am 
almost certain that the first two or three generations of 
seedlings from Fair Helen will be good for-nothing, 
except as breeders, and for the sweetness and variety of 
their leaves, and also that high-feeding in the parents j 
is very apt to cause very large leaves in seedlings, and, 
moreover, that Fair Helen is too strong already, I would 
strongly advise that it, and breeders from it, be kept in 
a half-starving condition in small pots, until good 
colours are first obtained; aud then, if the leaves or 
flowers are too small, we must cross again, under a more 
nourishing diet, to get botli as big as we want them. 
After that, breeding in-and-in, as the florists do, but 
under a protest that it is no such thing, will give sub¬ 
stance of petal, and an improved form up to a certain 
point, and then a stand-still, except shifting the shades 
for want of fresh blood. That is an epitome of the true 
history of cross-breeding geraniums in tins country 
since 1815. 
Sjjleenii. —This is a fine bedding geranium, a strong 
grower, and, like all tho strong growers, old plants of 
it will flower more abundantly than young ones, and 
the bed should not be rich or deep for it. The flowers 
are shaded with stripes of light pink or salmon on a 
deeper ground. It comes freely from cuttings all the 
season, and is very easily carried over the winter; J 
highly recommend it. Sidonia and DiadcmaUnn bicolor j 
are tho only two more striped ones which can be had i 
this season; but there is a new striped one at Ipswich, 
which will soon occupy the same place as Sqdecnii, and ' 
be a capital match-bed with it, where two beds, as near 
as possible alike, are required to balance two corners, I 
&c., in a geometric flower-garden. The name of this 1 
new one will be Mrs. Jeffries; at least, 1 desired if 
should bo so called when I first saw it about the begili¬ 
ning of last October. They tell us, when a new French 
rose “ comes out” by the name of Madame this or Ala- ! 
dame that, you may safely buy it at once, as the best 
seedling of the season, picked out by tho Airs, of tho j 
establishment on purpose to commemorate her own dear j 
name: see how lucky Mrs. Laffay and Mrs. Souchet, I 
and many more of the French rose-growers’ wives have j 
been, in selecting good flowers for their name. I se- ! 
lected tliis name for Airs. Jeffries on the same principle, 
for she is certainly as active in looking after seedlings ! 
and sports, and other things about tho nursery, as any j 
Mad ante in France, or anywhere else, can be. Every 
season since .1813, 1 spent some time endeavouring to j 
seed Spleenii, but all my efforts were in vain, and I put j 
it down as perfectly barren, so you may judge of my i 
