1879.] 
THE CULTURE OP WALL-FRUITS.-NO. XIX. 
177 
HYBRID IVY-LExVYED PELARGONIUM ST. GEORGE. 
[Plate 503.] 
UR gardens owe tlie very beautiful 
variety of Hybrid Ivy-leaved Pelar¬ 
gonium we now figure to Mr. J. George, 
of Putney Heath, who is also well known as a 
raiser of choice novelties of other races of the 
Pelargonium family. It is, we learn, the result of 
a cross between P. peltatum elejans and a zonal 
variety, and, as our figure shows, is a most 
attractive plant, being of free habit, and pro¬ 
ducing abundantly its ample trusses of bright 
salmon-red flowers. Mr. George states that he 
has for some years been engaged in attempting 
to improve the Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums by 
crossing them with the zonals. In this attempt 
he has made the ivy-leaved sorts the seed-bear¬ 
ers, his object being to retain their very distinct 
habit and to combine therewith the larger 
trusses and more brilliant colours of the 
zonals; but he has found the process a slow 
one, inasmuch as the plants of hybrid race 
will not perfect their seeds. 
We owe to the raiser the annexed particulars 
of his experience, in regard to their place in our 
gardens:—“The Hybrid Ivy-leaved Pelargo¬ 
niums are a most useful class of plants, deserving 
of far more attention than they have at present 
received. They are all of a trailing habit, but 
some are much stronger growers than others. 
Thus the varieties called Nemesis^ Gem^ and 
Argus are best adapted for vases or basket- 
work ; while St. George., Mrs. J. George., 
Diadem., and Progress, being stronger growers, 
are best suited for pillar or trellis-work. They 
will all be found useful to supply cut-flowers 
for small glasses, as they mix with other choice 
flowers much better than the zonals. Moreover, 
there is no difficulty in having them in blossom 
for ten months in the year iu a cool green¬ 
house. They are in every way superior to the 
true Ivy-leaved types, the colours being so much 
brighter and more varied, and the trusses very 
much finer and bolder ; I have had as many 
as sixteen flowers open on a truss at one time.” 
Of the distinctness, beauty, and utilit}^ of these 
novel sorts, there can be no question whatever.—■ 
T. Moore. 
THE CULTURE OF WALL-FRUITS. 
No. XIX.— The Apricot {concluded). 
(^^^HERE is but little to add with regard 
manipulation and training of 
Apricots. The principal points to be 
kept in mind and attended to are, first, to make 
sure of a perfect system of drainage ; next, to 
give an abundant supply of soft water during the 
growing season ; further, to carefully remove 
all foreright and other ill-placed shoots designed 
for the formation of spurs, during the summer, 
so that the sap they would absorb for their 
support may be diverted to the perfecting of 
the wood which remains as a permanent part of 
the tree—that is to say, the young shoots which 
arc to be laid in for fruit-bearing the follow¬ 
ing season, and also for furnishing young wood 
to keep the balance even between the growth 
for fruit and the growth for young wood for 
other years. 
These objects should always be borne in mind 
in the summer management. It is a mistake to 
concentrate all the training on the production 
of fruitful wood, because by that system 
the energies of the tree become exhausted, 
and the growth debilitated, thereby con- 
No. 21. imperial series. 
tributing towards early decay. Although, 
as a general rule, therefore, the strong and 
luxuriant shoots are looked upon as intruders, 
and are, in most cases, very properly removed, 
yet we may feel sure that they are a natural 
provision put forth by the trees for the pro¬ 
duction of a strong and vigorous, non-fruitful 
growth, b}' way of counteracting the exhaustive 
effects of fruit-bearing. These luxuriant shoots 
are easily and early to be distinguished ; and in 
the course of stopping, spurring, and disbud¬ 
ding, a general surve}^ of the tree will indicate 
those parts in which such shoots will be re¬ 
quired for filling up vacancies, either actual or 
probable, so that they may either be laid in at 
full length or be shortened back to a lateral, as 
the case may require. Shoots of this kind 
will occasionally keep growung without throw¬ 
ing out any laterals, and often become fine- 
looking fruitful shoots, full of bloom-buds; 
where the choice is afforded, such shoots arc 
the most elegible for training-in, on account of 
their fruitful tendency, for although in the 
absence of any weakening effects—such as those 
N 
