186 THE GARDENER. [April 



About Christmas a little liquid manure is weekly applied with 

 undoubted advantage, and the bloom will be much prolonged by this 

 timely stimulus ; and should you wish the Cyclamen to flower for 

 some months, it is of the greatest importance that all blossoms should 

 be removed as soon as the tips of the reflexed limbs become tinted with 

 brown. As soon, then, as the ends of petals become discoloured, they 

 should be pulled out by giving a sharp snatch to the bloom, so as to 

 detach it close to the corm ; for if not entirely removed, the remain- 

 ing portion decays, and the decomposition spreads over the whole leaf 

 as well as flower-stalks, and the plant will not be completely recovered 

 that season, even if detected in its earlier stages. I mention this 

 because occasionally, with extreme vigilance, it will occur in the most 

 unsuspected way, and I would advise some of the blooms and leaves 

 to be removed, and the centre" dusted over with sulphur, as the only 

 means of saving the plant, which is sometimes of consequence if a 

 well-known good variety. 



The soil best suited, in all stages of the Cyclamen, is one composed 

 of two-fifths coarse leaf-mould, the same quantity of very light soft 

 yellow loam, one-fifth dry cow-dung, and sufficient fine white sand to 

 prevent running together. The dry cow-dung should be collected in 

 fine weather, and it would be advisable, after rubbing small, to pour 

 some nearly boiling water over it to kill all seeds, which are very 

 troublesome if not destroyed in this way. The leaf-mould should also 

 be well wetted, mixed with cow-dung and sand ; the loam should be 

 ground down quite fine in a dry state, mixed with other ingredients, 

 and you will then have the very best compost it is possible to make 

 to grow the Cyclamen in. 



The corm is always seen above the soil, but this should never be so, 

 for the simple reason that the* roots in this case will only arise from 

 the lowest portion of it, whereas if buried they will do so from all 

 parts alike ; and this must be a very great advantage to so gross a 

 feeder as this plant really is. When the plants are put into their 

 blooming-pots I always place a handful of crocks in bottom, and on 

 the top of them some small pieces of dry cow-dung, which is without 

 doubt one of the secrets of success in the cultivation of this gem of the 

 winter season. H. E. I. C. S. 



FLORIST FLOWERS. ' 



The following remarks, taken during the blooming season of 1868, 

 may be interesting as well as useful to those who take an interest in 

 the cultivation of florist flowers. Those enumerated in Section I. 



