May 2, 1872. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUER AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



307 



comb fragrance perfectly delightful. It was iliseovered at 

 Sauta Barbara, about forty miles from the coast, by Mr. G. W. 

 HarforJ, uuJer Captain Forney, of the U.S. Coast Survey. — 

 (Aiiu'rictm Gardener's Moiitlili/.) 



GEEENHOUSE PLANTS.— No. 10. 



Cyclames PKRSICU3I. — The genus Cyclamen consists of several 

 species and many varieties of dwarf, neat-growing, tuberous- 

 rooted plants, veiy useful for gi-eenhouse or conservatory de- 

 coration. As furnishing cut flowers, also for table decoration, 

 there are few plants which can vie with well-grown and well- 

 flowered specimens of Cyclamen persicum. Two or three 

 flowers set on the plant's own leaves, which are remark- 

 able for beautiful vai'iegation, are extremely useful for bou- 

 quets, and when placed with their stalks in water retain their 

 beauty and freshness for many days. They are now ex- 

 tensively cultivated, and they wU! thrive in any light airy 

 gi'eenhouse. 



Anyone desirous of cultivating thom should purchase a packet 

 of seed of a choice strain. From a large packet a hundred or 

 more plants may be raised for the price that one good named 

 vai-iety would cost. Under ordinary treatment the seedlings 

 will flower within twelve months of the time of sowing. Last 

 April I sowed a half-crown packet of seed, and succeeded in 

 flowering upwards of fifty plants consisting of nine very dis- 

 tinct varieties with finely marbled foliage. Some are in flower 

 now, and will continue so for some time. I have been supplied 

 with plants not nearly so good the first year as any of those 

 raised from seed, and I therefore advise raising from seed m 

 jn-eference to purchasing plants. If named varieties are wanted, 

 then, of course, we must purchase them ; but some nine varie- 

 ties in separate packets of seed can bo obtained, and the 

 varieties reproduce themselves truly from seed. 



It is now late to sow the seed, but those who have not yet 

 sown may still do so, and the plants will flower within 

 the year. From the middle of March to the middle of AprU 

 is the time I would advise for sowing the seed, always ex- 

 cepting when it is home-saved, and then I would sow it 

 as soon as ripe. 



Drain a jian well, cover the drainage about an inch deep 

 with the roughest part of the following compost — viz., two 

 parts light fibrous loam, one part leaf soil, one part sandy peat, 

 and a sixth part of silver sand and small charcoal. Sift through 

 a half-inch sieve, and fill to within a quarter of an inch of the 

 rim witli the sifted soil. Scatter the seeds evenly and thinly, 

 and cover them with about a quarter of an inch of fine soil. 

 Water gently, and place the pau in a hotbed of 70' to 75' and 

 top heat of G5° to 70°, with a rise from sun heat to 80° or 85°. 

 A Cucumber frame is as good a place as any. Keep the soil 

 regularly moist, and when the seedlings appear place them 

 near the glass. They should have slight shade from bright 

 sun in the middle of the day. A gentle sprinkling overhead 

 may be given every afternoon. 



AMien the plants have one leaf and are showing the second, 

 pot them off singly in 3-inch pots, lifting them carefully. Pot 

 so that the corm may be covered about half an inch deej) with 

 soil. The same kind of soil as that used for sowing the seed 

 win answer at this potting. Eeturu the seedlings to the hot- 

 bed or another of Uke temperature, shading for a time from 

 blight sun, anJsprinlde overhead in the evening. Here they 

 may remain with a moderate amount of air and an evenly 

 regulated temperature, shading lightly when the sun's rays are 

 very powerful, and keeping the plants near the glass to prevent 

 their beeomiug drawn. 



^Yheu the pots are becoming full of roots shift the plants 

 into 4i or 5-inch pots, and employ the compost already recom- 

 mended, but chopped up and jiassed through a three-quarter- 

 inch sieve. Good drainage is necessarj' at this and all other 

 pottings. The plants may be returned to a hotbed, but instead 

 I place them on shelves in a house, or on the front curbs or 

 stages of low pits, where the temperature ranges at night from 

 55"' to 00°. After potting set the plants for a time iu a mild 

 bottom h(!at, housing them, however, by the early part of 

 October. In November they will be good plants, and some of 

 them will need a shift, though I do not care for them in larger 

 than 7-iuch pots. Any of the most forward and best-grown 

 plants may be shifted into pots of that size and be encouraged 

 to make further growth, but those which have not filled the 

 pots with roots should not be shifted. It is no disadvantage 

 for the plants to be of different degrees of growth, as in this 

 case they wUl afford a succession of bloom. 



The plants are kept during the winter in a temperature of 

 55 ' at night, with air on all favourable occasions. The most 

 important point in their winter management is to keep them 

 near the glass, not to water at the roots before the soil 

 becomes diy, and then to afford a thorough supply. Water 

 should be given before the soil parts from the sides of the pots. 

 The plants are benefited by a gentle sprinkling overhead morn- 

 ing and e\ening, except in very severe weather. A moist 

 atmosphere is also good, but drip will soon ruin them. 



By the middle of Februaiy the plants will be coming into 

 flower. Any that are in pots less than or 7 inches iu dia- 

 meter, and not showing flower-buds, but with good foliage, 

 should be placed in pots of those sizes ; all thi-owing up for 

 bloom sliould be removed when the flowers are expanding to a 

 house with a temperature of 45' to 50° at night or from fire 

 heat, and they will continue in beauty for weeks. They should 

 have a light airy position, and must be duly supplied with 

 water. The plants not flowering, if continued iu the warmer 

 house, will flower later. 



The flowering wUl be over iu May. Eemove the plants to a 

 pit or cold frame, and give them water as requu-ed until the 

 leaves turn yellow. I place mine in June in a cold frame, 

 plunging the pots to the rim iu coal ashes. .\fter the 

 middle of .June I withdraw the lights, consequently it would 

 answer just as well to plunge them in ashes out of doors after 

 the middle of .June. If I had cocoa-nut fibre refuse I would use 

 it in preference to coal ashes, and cover the pots to the depth of 

 from one-half to three-quarters of an inch. They are not watered 

 after plunging. 



This brings me to the time of starting the established 

 plants — namely, the end of July, the beginning of August, or 

 later, for after the plants have flowered, or whether they flower 

 or not, they are kept under glass until the middle of June, and 

 then plunged iu frames or out of doors. I am opposed to 

 drying-ofl' the roots or corms. It impairs the vitaUty of the 

 corm, and destroys the majority of the roots, which are as 

 perennial as the corms. From the end of July they should be 

 examined frequently to see when they begin to grow, and if 

 the soil is dry at that time water is given v.-hen they begin to 

 grow, which may be known by the corms putting out fresh 

 leaves. Withdraw the pots from the plunging material, take 

 the plants to the potting bench, turn them out of the pots, re- 

 move as much of the old soU as will come away freely without 

 injuring the roots, and repot in the same size of pot. .\fter 

 repotting place the plants in a cold frame, keep them close and 

 moist for a few days, and then admit ah- freely. Take care not 

 to overwater, and sprinkle overhead eveiy afternoon on closing 

 the frame. By the middle of September they will be growing 

 freely ; the pots will be full of roots, and the plants may be 

 shifted into 6 or 9-inch pots, or be flowered in those in which 

 they were first potted ; in either case they may be removed 

 to a house with a temperature of 55° at night, placing them 

 near the glass, and admittiug air freely. A stove, or any house 

 where there is a temperature of 55° at night, is suitable. Here 

 they may remam until they flower, when they should be re- 

 moved to a house with a temperature of 45" to 50°. 



All the plants wiU not start into growth at one time, or if 

 they do then we have only at different times to introduce them 

 to heat ; for instance, one batch in September, another in 

 October, the last batch being removed from cold frames in No- 

 vember. In this way we secure early bloom as well as a suc- 

 cession of it. In the ordinary course of things we may calcu- 

 late on Cyclamen flowers from November to May inclusive, if 

 seedlingsas well as old plants are grown. The plants will not 

 thrive in a low temperature, especially when it is accompanied 

 with a damp close atmosphere, and the soil is wet. 



The varieties of Cyclamen persicum can be growni without 

 being placed in a warm house in autumn and continued there 

 until in the flowering state. Many cannot afford more beat 

 than that of a gi-eenhouse from which frost is excluded. In such 

 Cyclamen persicum can be grown well, the treatment up to 

 October not being different from that of plants placed in heat ; 

 afterwards the plants should be set on shelves near the glass, 

 and kept only moderately supplied with water, giving none as 

 long as the soU is moist, and when dry a thorough supply. 

 The plants may, if necessary, be shifted into larger pots in 

 October and Fe'bruaiT, for under cool treatment they wiU not 

 flower until March or April. 



Dried corms should be potted as early in autumn as possible 

 — indeed, whenever received they should be potted, surround- 

 ing the corms with silver sand. Keep them in a cold frame 

 until September, and at the end of that month it is desii-able 



