THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
135 
Adonis, Rose Rendatler, Leonie Nivelet, Stella and Cy- 
bisier. Up to this time we had not any decided break 
in color, but wo were soon to be surprised with larger, 
botter shaped flowers and new shades of colors as Bon¬ 
nie Dundee, bright cerise; Roi d’ltalie, light-red, white 
eye, very large; Amelia Grisau, white, with salmon eye; 
and Helen Linsday, brilliant rose-pink. Following 
closely were Md. Vaucher, the best white forsome time; 
Clipper, brilliant scarlet, fine-shaped flowers; Eugenie 
Mezard, salmon and white; Tintoret, cerise pink ; 
Beatons, Indian yellow; Orange Nosegay, Amy Hogg, 
purple shaded pink ; and Ossian, deep crimson, marked 
witli orange. This brings us to many varieties within 
the remembrance of many. 
Some time about 1856 or 1857 a double Geranium was 
announced, in fact there were i wo, “ Marechal de Cham- 
flour and Baron Cliambord.” These represented a dis¬ 
tinct section known as “Inquinans,” with enormous 
leaves of long, straggling habit, and very few flowers. 
We can remember before this time a double Geranium 
reaching 14 or 15 feet high, trained to a trellis on the 
back of a half-span greenhouse. The flowers were scarlet, 
very ragged, and so few as to be hardly ever seen, but 
what it lacked in flowers it made up in leaves, for some 
of them were more than 3 feet in circumference. These 
varieties were followed quickly by others, until a really 
good double variety was introduced in Gloire de Nancy, 
a pretty shade of rosy scarlet, but with coarse leaves 
and few flowers. Thus the double varieties were 
steadily increased, and until Md. Rose Charmeux, a 
double Tom Thumb, all belonged to the Inquinans section. 
In 1S67 a double sport was obtained from the white 
variety Md. Vaucher, itself worthless, but the fore¬ 
runner of all the beautiful double fxee-flowering vari¬ 
eties of to-day. The first seedlings from this sport were 
offered in France, raised by that noble enthusiast, Jean 
Sisley, and one “Asa Gray” is still grown as a good 
variety. Then others, notably M. Lemoine, of Nancy, 
raised and sent out numerous finer varieties, and to-day 
we can scarcely see any of the old, coarse-growing 
doubles in cultivation. 
Geraniums Grown for the Beauty of their Leaves. 
These embrace all the forms of variegation known in 
the family, and there are quite a number of old kinds 
that have been grown for fifty years. One of the very 
oldest is Mangelsii, a slender growing, spreading kind, 
with flat green leaves margined with silvery white; 
others are quercifolium variegatum, the variegated form 
of the Rose Geranium and Dandy, a compact growing 
small-leaved kind; the Flower of the Day, green with 
creamy white margins; Silver Queen, with white mar¬ 
gins; and' the Golden Chain, with yellow-margined 
leaves. These were much used as bedding plants and 
for baskets, urns and vases. A great impetus was given 
to the cultivation of variegated Geraniums by the intro¬ 
duction of “Mrs. Pollock;”.this variety was one of the 
novelties of the century, and for which, with “Sunset,” 
another golden tricolor, and “Italia Unita,” the first 
very distinct silver tricolor, the raiser obtained £100 
each. It is remarkable that 1 ‘ Mrs. Pollock, ” though being 
the first, is to-day the best bedding variety. Immedi¬ 
ately after the introduction of this variety, raisers of 
new varieties sprang up in all directions, rules were 
laid down as to what should constitute a perfect tri¬ 
color, as follows: “The leaves flat and round in outline, 
of thick texture; the disc or centre to be bright green; 
the zone broad, and well-defined of rich crimson; the 
margins to be rich golden-yellow, and the more dis¬ 
tinct the markings, the nearer the beau ideal.” So, 
with these restrictions, the general vigor of' the plant 
was necessarily impaired, for as all variegation is more 
or less a diseased, or if not diseased, it is when the cells 
are filled with colorless fluid instead of the true sap, and 
the rigor of the plant is more or less impaired according to 
the surface showing variegation. This is where the varitey 
Mrs. Pollock is more vigorous than varieties of later 
introduction, and, as an illustration, we have only to 
observe that the green portion of the leaf in Mrs. Pol¬ 
lock not only extends to the zone, but very far into the 
margin also—not that' many jof the more delicate and 
more distinctly marked varieties are not more beautiful, 
but they will not thrive when exposed to our trying 
summer sun. Those having a very light window or, 
better, a green-house, can derive much pleasure for three 
or four months in winter from a collection of Tricolor 
Geraniums. They have been well called vegetable 
jewels, for, in our opinion, when well grown, a group 
of these compares more favorably, for brilliancy of 
color, graceful outlines, richness and effect, than any 
other class of plants grown for the beauty of the foli¬ 
age. 
The Silver Tricolors had representatives before the 
introduction of Mrs. Pollock in Countess of Warwick, 
Fontainbleau and the Rainbow ; but not until the ad¬ 
vent of Italia Unita, about 1863, did they receive so 
much attention. The same rules for a.perfect Silver 
Tricolor were observed as for a Golden Tricolor, except 
that the margins of the leaves must be white. If there 
were difficulties in getting a perfect Golden Tricolor, 
there were more in getting a perfect Silver one; for, in 
proportion as the variegations were whitened, the mar¬ 
gins were always more contracted, and the leaves always 
more convex, showing conclusively there is more of the 
true sap in the cells of plants with yellow variegation 
than in those with white variegation. Another form of 
variegation is those with entire golden leaves, of which 
Creed’s Seedling and Cloth of Gold are the type; yet 
others with golden leaves and broken green discs, as in 
the variety Crystal Palace Gem. The Bronze Geraniums 
are also distinct, with yellow leaves and bronzy dark- 
brown zones. One of the first and most distinct was 
Luna, but it compares very unfavorably with such as 
Marechal McMahon of to-day. Yet another distinct 
form is Happy Thought, with its disc or centre of 
creamy yellow and its deep green margins. Those 
interested in vegetable physiology will have no diffi¬ 
culty in observing that the true sap is conyeyed under¬ 
neath the leaf in the thick ray-like veins to the margin, 
and that the variegation is only in those cells showing 
the cream or white. How this came to be named 
Happy Thought may be interesting. It was first ex¬ 
hibited at Bath, England, in 1873, and at the exhibitions 
of different new plants in London that season a great 
inany had been stolen; to prevent this, Happy Thought 
was shown in a round basket with a network of wire over 
it. The editor of the Gardeners' Magazine, Shirley 
Hibberd, on seeing the plant so' protected, remarked 
“ That’s a Happy Thought;” hence the name. 
JOHN THORPE. 
[to be continued.] 
