18 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST, 
[ February, 
Although the excellence of the flower must 
be considered the most important character in 
seedlings exhibited for the first time, yet every 
practical gardener is aware that to make a 
plant, a good habit of growth and fecundity of 
bloom are indispensable. These qualities 
should, therefore, be imperatively required in 
plants exhibited in collections of New Varieties. 
The absence of these qualities is often a fruit¬ 
ful cause of disappointment, for it will some¬ 
times happen that a variety whose flower is 
of superior merit, is rendered almost useless by 
shyness of bloom, or by a weak straggling habit 
of growth. It is difficult to ascertain these 
qualities in seedlings, until they have passed 
their first year of trial; up to that period, the 
uncertainty of their merit precludes the possi¬ 
bility of devoting much space or care to the 
cultivation of the plant. To ascertain these 
points should, therefore, be the main object of 
prizes offered for collections of new varieties, 
and the qualities required should stand in 
priority of importance as arranged in the 
following standard :— 
1. Habit of growth. 
2. Head of bloom. 
3. Excellence of flower. 
All that I have hitherto said refers to New 
Varieties, plants more or less in a state of in¬ 
fancy ; but their true perfection cannot be 
recognised until thoy have arrived at full de¬ 
velopment in the form <5f Specimen Plants, 
those magnificent objects which are, and will, 
I hope, continue to be, the great ornament of 
our summer exhibitions. But with specimen 
plants, the criterion of excellence requires con¬ 
siderable modification, and cultivation should 
be considered of primary importance. Those 
who, like myself, can speak from practical ex¬ 
perience, well know the amount of labour re¬ 
quired for the successful cultivation of specimen 
plants, and still more for the training and 
dressing them. To this latter point, indeed, 
special regard should be given in the award of 
prizes, for no object can be more unsightly 
than a plant which, from its bristling array of 
pointed sticks, appears to have been decorated 
on the model of a porcupine. The use of 
sticks is, of course, unavoidable, but such sup¬ 
ports should be as much as possible concealed 
from view, and of no greater thickness than is 
actually required. In accordance with these 
remarks, the qualities required in collections of 
Specimen Plants would arrange themselves in 
order of importance thus,— 
1. Excellence of cultivation. 
2. Head of bloom. 
3. Excellence of flower. 
I will now give in a tabular form the several 
standards of excellence which have been the 
subject of my remarks. 
Summary of Qualities Desired :— 
I. —In Seedlings of the current season. 
1. Roundness or evenness of outline. 
2. Substance and smoothness of petal. 
3. Novelty or brilliancy of colour. 
4. Size of flower. 
5. Habit of growth. 
II. —In collections of New Varieties. 
1. Habit of growth. 
2. Head of bloom. 
3. Excellence of flower. 
Til.—In collections of Older Varieties (Specimens). 
1. Excellence of cultivation. 
2. Head of bloom. 
3. Excellence of flower. 
I believe that the foregoing standards of 
excellence embody the principles which have 
always influenced the judges at the exhibitions 
of the Eoyal Botanic and the Pelargonium 
Societies ; and it was for the purpose of making 
these principles more generally known and 
practised, that I proposed at the late meetings 
of the Pelargonium Society that the above, or 
some such standard, should be adopted and 
published with the sanction of the Society. 
But as that could not be done in the way that 
I proposed, I now, with the consent of the 
Editor of the Florist, avail myself of the pre¬ 
sent method of bringing the subject into public 
notice.—A. Matthews, Gumley , Leicestershire. 
PELARGONIUM MRS. CANNELL: 
NEW IVY-LEAYED. 
E recently published a plate of Mr. 
George’s fine hybrid Ivy-leaved Pelar¬ 
gonium St. George, one of a few very 
choice and distinct forms which have resulted 
from his attempts to improve the Ivy-leaved 
race of Pelargoniums. We now publish a 
woodcut showing the habit of another striking 
advance in the true ivy-leaved section, in the 
variety named Mrs. Cannell, which is the largest 
and by far the best-shaped flower yet obtained. 
It is a plant of vigorous growth, and therefore 
well adapted for growing on into a specimen. 
