JUNE. 161 



CYCLAMENS. 



The group of hybrid Cyclamens which forms the plate of our 

 present number is a valuable addition to our spring flowers ; and 

 when lately exhibited at the Horticultural Society's Rooms, in 

 Regent Street, by Mr. Atkins, of Pains wick, and Messrs. E. G. 

 Henderson, they were greatly admired. 



The variety raised by Mr. Atkins, whose name it bears, is a 

 charming plant ; and we beg to append some particulars respect- 

 ing it received from that gentleman, who informs us that the 

 hybrid named Atkinsi was " raised from seed of C. Coum, im- 

 pregnated with C. persicum, some of the seedlings proving true 

 ' Coums.' I first exhibited it in the spring of 1852, when a 

 certificate was awarded it, and again this season, with the like 

 result. It appears to be very hardy, having been wintered in a 

 common frame, and the soil in the pots was frozen through 

 during the severe frost in early spring ; notwithstanding which 

 the blooms began to expand immediately after the thaw, before 

 either C. Coum or C. vernum; in 1852 some blooms were 

 expanded before Christmas. To grow it in perfection the bulbs 

 should be covered to the depth of one inch to one inch and a half 

 with equal parts of light sandy loam, leaf soil, and peat ; it loves 

 to ' stole ' beneath the surface, sending up the bloom and leaf at a 

 distance from the centre of the bulb — the whole section to which 

 this belongs delighting in that mode of growth. A cold frame 

 would most undoubtedly be far preferable to any other kind of 

 shelter (artificial heat being decidedly injurious) ; it might then be 

 had in perfection from the middle of January to the end of April. 

 In summer I plunge the plants in the frame in coal-ashes, 

 without the glass being on, except during excessive wet, letting 

 them take the chance of all moderate weather till the end of 

 October ; continuing even after then some air at night, except in 

 severe frost. About two-thirds I find true from seed, the 

 remainder varying in difi*erent shades of ' Coum,' from a 

 light blush to the usual colour of that species. Seeds sown in 

 August of 1852 produced some blooming plants in January 

 1854. The foliage is always of a fine dark green, contrasting 

 well with the pure white of the blooms, which are produced in 

 great abundance — as many as 40 in a 48-pot. The specimen 

 exhibited at the Horticultural Rooms had 250 blooms on it." 



The other varieties are seedlings raised by the Messrs. Hen- 

 derson, of the Wellington-road Nursery. Ibericum is a beautiful 

 dwarf variety, with the habit of " Coum," and is quite hardy. 

 Punctatum, roseum, and rubrum are hybrids from C. persicum, 

 but, unlike Atkinsi, the seedlings vary very much, only a 

 small part of them coming true ; ^o that they are obliged to prove 



^EW SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. XLII. M 



