The Weekly Florists' Review. 



849 



A Wedding DecoraUon. 



also cools the air and gives the cyclamen 

 a more favorable atmosphere. Give the 

 cyclamen the most natural cultivation 

 possible. The ventilation is preferred 

 from the top to that from below. Water 

 heating is also preferred to that by 

 steam. 



Place the flats of plants on the slate 

 benches. If slate benches cannot be had 

 put the flats on the coarse gravel which 

 has been put on the other benches. 

 Leave the plants in flats until they 

 have touched each others' leaves and 

 no ground can be seen. It is of greater 

 advantage to prick out the young plants 

 in flats first and then put into little pots 

 because the young plants out of the fiats 

 aTe much stronger, have larger bulbs and 

 more and stronger roots. When planted 

 in 2i-inch pots. they will more quickly 

 take hold of the soil and form a stronger 

 bulb. 



By this time the young plants will 

 have reached the month of October or 

 November. If the temperature goes be- 

 low 50 degrees in October firing should 

 begin to keep the temperature at 50 

 degrees at night because August and 

 September being very warm it is very 

 easy to check the young plants by low 

 temperature and then all kinds of dis- 

 eases will take hold of them as the young 

 plants are very tender. Keep this tem- 

 perature during November and Decem- 

 ber. On bright sunny days syringe the 

 plants lightly over the foliage, keep 

 walks well damped and give plenty of 

 ventilation but avoid any direct 

 draughts. 



About the beginning of January begin 

 to pot the little plant's into 2i-inch pots 

 with the same preparation of soil as that 



used in the flats, only leaving out the 

 peat and adding one part of well rotted 

 sods and sifting through a coarser sieve. 

 Place on the slate benches, pot against 

 pot, raise the temperature to 55 de- 

 grees and water only with the watering 

 can. Shift the plants from 2§-inch to 

 3-ineh when well rooted through. 



It will now be about the month of 

 llarcli. Prepare the hotbeds for the 

 cyclamen out of doors. Make a good 

 layer of horse manure, let the manure 

 get good and hot, take all the sash off, 

 permit all ammonia to escape, put on a 

 layer of very loose soil about six inches 

 thick and put close to the glass. Plunge 

 the 3-inch potted cyclamen in rows, the 

 space between pots being from two to 

 three inches. Put the sash on and shade 

 the glass by whitewashing. Now very 

 close attention to the hot-beds is re- 

 quired. When the sun is out give plenty 

 of air by alternating the sash, one on 

 top, next below. During dark and damp 

 weather give a small crack of air. By 

 this treatment the young plants will 

 make a vigorous and compact growth. 

 with large leaves on short stalks. If at 

 night heavy frost should appear, cover 

 all sash with boards; if the weather 

 should be unsuitable in March prepare 

 everything a month later. 



When the plants are well rooted in 

 the 3-inch pots repot into 4-inch pots 

 with same preparation of soil as the 

 3-inch had, only adding a very little 

 bone meal and coarse sand instead of 

 fine sand. Plunge again into hotbeds with- 

 out bottom heat, again near the glass. 

 Now the plants will have reached May 

 or June. Elevate the sash about two 

 feet above the plants. JIako a shade 



above the elevated sash by drawing a 

 white cloth from one end of the fiame 

 to the other. From now on you may be 

 liberal in watering and if carefully done 

 u^i- tlip hnlf inch hose. Syringe two to 

 tlii.i' linir- :i (lay, both plants and sur- 

 loiiihliiii:-. W hi'u again the 4-ineh are 

 llH.rniiLilily united through shift them 

 into 5-inch pots with a preparation of 

 soil, half Icafmold, half old sods, one 

 part old rotted cow manure, some coarse 

 gravel and a little bonemeal. This to be 

 all chopped up and well mixed. But it 

 is not necessary to shift any more. 

 Plunge again in hot-beds as described 

 above but leave the sash off entirely and 

 shade only with white cloth from 9 

 o'clock in the morning to 4 o'clock in 

 the afternoon. If heavy rain is in sight 

 put the sash on. 



The last shift,- into 6-ineh pots, will 

 be in October or November. Before shift- 

 ing select all the strongest and best 

 plants from each variety you are going 

 to raise seeds from. If the 5-inch are 

 well rooted through, I mean if there is 

 no more nourisliment left, shift them into 

 6-ineh pots so that half of the bulb is 

 above and the other half below the 

 ground. All the shifting should be done 

 in this way. 



Be careful to insure good drainage by 

 putting broken crocks at the bottom of 

 pots with still the same soil as 5-inoh, 

 but adding a larger portion of well- 

 rotted cow manure. The nights are now 

 starting to get cold and plants are al- 

 ready well hardened off; it is not advisa- 

 ble to leave tliem out in frames any 

 longer. Before placing them in houses 

 have the houses thoroughly clean. This 

 being done, begin to place tlie G-inch pots 



