"Very different in their character are these two tribes of plants, and they are not less different in their constitution and aspects. We may regard the Geraniums as herbs of Europe, and the Pelargoniums as miniature trees of Africa. When we examine the flowers, we find the fine petals of a true Geranium of precisely the same shape and size; but the fine petals of a Pelargonium are not so, for sometimes the topmost are the largest, and stand apart from the rest with great dignity, like mother and father looking down on their dutiful daughters, and in other cases they are the smallest, suggesting that the daughters have grown too fast and become unmanageable. The florists are doing their utmost to obliterate the irregularity of the petals of the Pelargonium, and in this respect to convert Pelargoniums into Geraniums, but the conversion will not be complete until much more wonderful things are accomplished. A Geranium has ten stamens, and a Pelargonium has only seven (perfect ones). These numbers are not constant, but the exceptions are of no consequence in a general statement of the case.
"When all is said that can be said about the differences and resemblances of the several genera of Geraniaceæ, there remains only one constant and unfailing test of a true Pelargonium, and that is the nectariferous tube immediately below the flower, and running down one side of the flower-stalk. If you hold the pedicel up to the light, it may be discerned as giving an indication of a double flower-stalk, but when dissected with a pin or the point of a knife, it is found to proceed from the base of the largest of the green sepals, and it often appears to form a sort of digit or point in the line of the pedicel. When you have mastered this part of the story, you may cherish the idea that you know something about Pelargoniums.
"The large flowered show varieties and the large-flowered single Zonals take the lead, and they are pleasantly followed by a crowd of ivy-leaved, double-flowered and variegated sorts that are useful and beautiful. The Pelargonium Society has set up a severe standard of judging, and a variety must be distinct and good to pass through the sieve. Moreover the raising of varieties has been to a great extent reduced to scientific principles, and we obtain as a result new characters suggestive of the great extent of the field that still lies open to the adventurous spirit in cross-breeding. No one in recent years has contributed more directly toward the scientific treatment of the subject than our own painstaking Treasurer, Dr. Denny, of whose labors I propose to present a hasty sketch.
"Dr. Denny commenced the raising of Pelargoniums in the year 1866, having in view to ascertain the influence of parentage, and thus to establish a rule for the selection of varieties for seed-bearing purposes. In raising varieties with variegated leaves, as also with distinct and handsome flowers, he found the pollen parent exercised the greatest influence on the offspring. The foundation of his strain of circular-flowered Zonals was obtained by fertilizing the large starry flowers of Leonidas with pollen taken from the finely formed flowers of Lord Derby. From 1871 to the present time Dr. Denny has sent out sixty varieties, and he has in the same period raised and flowered, and destroyed about 30,000. These figures show that when the selection is severe, and nothing is allowed to pass that is not of the highest quality, there must be 500 seedlings grown for the chance of obtaining one worth naming."
We have devoted a good deal of space to this citation because of its interest and value on the question at issue. Mr. Hibberd has, we think, made the matter very clear, and conclusive it must be to the most of minds. Pelargoniums are divided into classes, though we rarely see any classifications of them in the catalogues.
REGAL PELARGONIUMS
Are comparatively a new type, and from the fact of their having more scalloped petals, somewhat approaching a double; they retain their petals instead of shedding them as do the single show flowers. The Beauty of Oxton and Queen Victoria, novelties of very recent introduction, belong to this class. We had them in bloom last year and thought them very fine. The Beauty of Oxton has the upper petals of a very rich maroon color, darkly blotched; under petals very dark crimson, shaded with maroon; light center tinted with rose. All the petals are attractively and regularly margined with white and beautifully fringed. The flowers are large and the extra number of petals gives them the appearance of being semi-double.
Queen Victoria is of a very novel type and marvelously beautiful. The flowers have crispy petals, all of which are a rich vermilion in color, broadly margined with white, and the upper ones blotched with maroon. The "Show and Fancy Pelargoniums" have what the florists term "blotches," i.e. large spots on the two upper petals, and "spots" which mean the darker marks upon the center of the lower ones. The Lady of the Lake belongs to this class. Lower petals orange-rose painted with crimson, very dark maroon top petals with a narrow, even crimson edge, white center. Prince Charlie is very unique in its markings. Color white elegantly tipped, with rose-violet blotches.
FRINGED AND STRIPED PELARGONIUMS.
This is a very handsome class of which there are many new varieties. Princess of Wales we had last summer. It has elegant frilled petal margins; flower trusses large size and borne in profusion well above the foliage; ground color pure blush, each petal alike marked with a rich dark velvet crimson-scarlet margined blotch.