200 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
have descended, by means of various cross impregna¬ 
tions, those large, brilliant-flowered, and broad-leaved 
varieties, so strikingly ornamental in our floral collec¬ 
tions. 
Some of our contemporaries have fallen into the mis¬ 
take of supposing that Geranium, now Pelargonium, 
triste, tbe earliest introduced of the Capo species, may 
have bad something to do with such parentage, but this 
is more than improbable, for triste is one of tbe herba¬ 
ceous species. If we turn to Abercrombie’s Dictionary, 
published in 1778, we shall find that the shrubby Gera¬ 
niums then common in our greenhouses were, zonale, 
the horse-shoe, both with green and variegated leaves; * 
capitatum, the rose-scented; fulgidum, the flaming-red; 
inquinans, the mallow-leaved; papilionaceum, the pea- 
flowered; cucullatum, the hood-leaved; vitifolium, the 
vine-leaved, or balm-scented; gibbosum, tbe gouty- 
stalked, with columbine leaves; carnosum, the fleshy- 
stalked; betulinum, the birch-leaved; peltatum, the 
shield-leaved; and acetosum, the sorrel-flavoured. In 
these we can see the germs of those colours, forms, and 
habits which now characterize our most-favoured Pelar¬ 
goniums. 
We believe that Mr. Fairchild, who died in 1720, was 
one of the earliest improvers of this flower; and we have 
before us the reports of many of his experiments, and 
among them one of a successful attempt to inarch “A 
Geranium with variegated loaves upon a Geranium with 
a scarlet flower, from whence it is reasonable to suppose 
all the arborescent Geraniums will take upon one an¬ 
other.” It is certain that varieties had much increased 
between the time of Fairchild and 1800 ; for the Rev. 
* Wc think this was the chief parent of our varieties. 
[July 4. 
1 
Mr. Marshall, writing in this year, enumerates of tbe I 
Horseshoe Geranium alone, the “green-leaved, varie¬ 
gated, silver-edged, silver-striped, gold-striped, pink, two J 
scarlets and a purple, and one largo scarlet, or grandi- 
Jlortnn.” 
The increase of newly imported species continued, ; 
as well as of new varieties; and some of them were 
so markedly beautiful, that they attracted the atten- i 
tion of many nurserymen and amateurs ; for it be¬ 
came evident that they were so capable of improve¬ 
ment and variety as to be entitled to a place among 
florists’ flowers. Sir Richard Colt Hoarc was one of the 
amateurs who first addressed himself especially to this 
pursuit; and so markedly successful was he in his efforts 
to improve the flower, that one section of the genus was 
named Hoaeea in honour of him. After the lapse of 
five or six years, the number and consequence of these 
flowers had sufficiently increased to enable Mr. Sweet to ' 
commence, in 1820, the publication of a work devoted 
entirely to Pelargoniums. This was his Geraniaeeee ; 
and though it is a culpable confusion of varieties and 
species, yet it is a book of beauty and authority, enabling 
us to trace the gradual improvements effected in this 
flower; and in the last volume, published in 1830, there 
are some varieties, such as Dennis's Rival, which arc 
very little less excellent than the best prize flowers since 
exhibited by such cultivators of them as Cock, Catleugh ( 
Thurtell, Foster, Garth, Reck, and Ployle. 
No one, that we remember, published any criteria • 
worthy of notice, whereby to test the merits of a Pelar¬ 
gonium, until Mr. Glenuy did so about eight years since 
in the “ Practical Florist.” Those criteria, with some 
alterations, we now republish. 
i 
1. I he petals should be thick, broad, blunt, smooth 
at the edges, and lio close on each other, so as to 
appear whole or onepetaled, rather than a fivc-petaled 
flower. 
