1885.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



39 



thick, with leaves as large as saucers, dark and 

 glossy, and the earliest one keeping green till the 

 last flowers had blown — hundreds of flowers on 

 each single plant. Shall we never see these times 

 again ? We think we shall see these famous times 

 again. Gardening, as an art, is inseparable from 

 the best advances of man. The love of beauty — 

 the love of flowers, is one thing — but mere cold, 

 passive, receptive love, is but half the pleasure of 

 life. To create and shape the beauty we admire, 

 is the full measure of earthly happiness. Pygma- 

 lion of ancient story had possibly more pleasure 

 in the statue he made, and to which Venus gave 

 life in order to please his enthusiasm, than any of 

 us ever took in the grandest picture gallery in 

 the world. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



CULTIVATION OF THE CYCLAMEN. 

 BY MARTIN J. EDMONDS. 



Cyclamen Persicum and its varieties can be 

 raised from seed with the greatest ease by sowing 

 them early. Latter part of January or February 

 1 think is about the best time to sow. Purchase 

 a packet or two of seed from a reliable seedsman, 

 of a good strain, and you will have all sorts of 

 different shades of color, from a pure white to the 

 deepest red, and spotted. The soil 1 use for seed- 

 lings is good loam, mixed with a fair share of 

 sharp sand. Sow in a seed pan, well drained, and 

 cover about a quarter of an inch deep; water 

 them and stand them in a gentle heat. Where 

 they stand must be clear from slugs. The best 

 way to guard against these is to take a seed pan 

 of a larger size, make it water tight, fill it with 

 water, invert a flower pot in the center, the bottom 

 just above the water, and stand your seed pan on 

 it ; then perhaps you will have good seed and not 

 bad. It often happens that the small leaf which 

 appears at night has disappeared in the morning 

 — not damped off, but devoured by slugs. As 

 soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle, 

 pot them in small pots, and cover them about half 

 an inch deep. Water them as often as they need 

 it, and shift into a larger pot when required. A 

 four-inch pot is large enough to bloom them in. 

 If they are well taken care of they will bloom in 

 about ten to fifteen months. If large strong corms 

 are desired for future blooming, pinch off the seed 

 pods as soon as the flower drops. After they have 

 done blooming, water them more sparingly till 

 they go to rest naturally, and then stow them 



away in some cool and airy place free from sun 

 and rain, until the time comes to re-pot and start 

 them again. I pot all I have the latter end of 

 August or the beginning of September. Shake 

 all the earth from them, and pot according to the 

 size of the corm. A five-inch pot is large enough 

 for the largest corm, so long as there is room 

 enough to pass your finger between corm and pot. 

 Old corms 1 do not care to cover, especially where 

 the crown is the shape of a hollow crowned pars- 

 nip. Stand them on a board outside in the shade 

 till they begin to grow, or till there is danger of 

 frost, and then remove them to a shelf in the 

 greenhouse, near the glass where they will get 

 plenty of air. As soon as they begin to show 

 their flowers give them some liquid manure, every 

 other watering, and then you will have more 

 flowers than leaves. If they are wanted to bloom 

 earlier than January, place them in stronger heat, 

 but 45° at night and 50° by day is hot enough till 

 they show their flower buds. The above is my 

 treatment, but it may not suit every one. The se- 

 cret 1 believe, if there is any, is the drying off and 

 the rest they receive. If any manure is used, use 

 it sparingly, and make up for the deficiency with 

 manure water. Where they are grown by the 

 thousand, and a house is devoted to them, they 

 are very easily grown. There has been much 

 improvement, both in size and number of flowers, 

 made in late years by hybridizers. A plant a few 

 years ago with two or three dozen blooms upon it 

 was considered good, now they are commonly 

 seen with a hundred. Card, to J. McCreery, Esq., 

 Inwood-on-the-Hudson, N. Y. 

 [Read before the N. Y. Horticultural Society.] 



A REMEDY FOR ROSE MILDEW IN 

 GREENHOUSES. 



BY A. VEITCH. 



Perhaps the florist has few more subtile enemies 

 to contend against than mildew, and for this reason 

 much has been written upon the subject, both as 

 regards its prevention and its cure. But as it is 

 one of those visitants which " walketh in darkness" 

 and makes no sign where the next point of attack 

 shall be, even the most viratchful frequently suffers 

 much loss before remedial measures can be applied ; 

 and even these, when applied, do not always prove 

 an unmixed good. 



For years past I have been familiar with a num- 

 ber of remedies for this disease and believe that 

 several of them may be advantageously applied, 

 but it is only recently that a cure that is safe. 



