150 



JOUENAL OF HOETICTJLTTJEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



[ AuKust 25, 186). 



CYCLAMEN CULTURE. 



In reply to " A Country Cueate," we recommend seed- 

 lings of Cyclamen persicum to be aUowed to grow as long as 

 they will without receiving any extra stimulant in the shape 

 of more heat. Give them water so long as they continue 

 to grow, keeping them on the shelf of yom- greenhouse ; but 

 when new leaves cease coming fi-oui the ciown, the plants 

 assuming a standstill aspect, turn the pots on then- sides 

 to make sure of their not being watered. Keep in the 

 fuU sun until all the leaves are oft', when they may be placed 

 close together on a shelf in a cool part of the greenhouse. 

 We do not advocate shaking them oiit of the soil and storing 

 the bulbs in sand, certain as we are that it has a tendency 

 to weaken the bulbs. We should not be surprised if the 

 seedlings continued to grow on thi-ough the winter until the 

 beginning of May next year, when you must gi-adually with- 

 hold water and liave the bulbs thoroughly ripe by the be- 

 ginning of June, the pots then to be set aside in a cool place 

 without water until the end of August. 



At that time pot the plants singly, choosing pots about 

 twice the diameter of the bulbs. Drain well ; at least one- 

 third of the depth of the pot should be filled with broken 

 pots or sifted ashes, covered with a thin layer of sphagnum 

 moss or cocoa-nut 

 fibre. Use a com- 

 post formed of 

 equal parts of 

 tiuiy sandy loam 

 and leaf mould, 

 with a sprinkling 

 of silver sand. 



The bottom of 

 the bulb shoulddo 

 little more than 

 rest on the soU, 

 and not be buried 

 beneath it; but 

 the crown of the 

 bulb ought to be 

 level with the rim 

 of the pot, its bot- 

 tom just within 

 the soU, which 

 leaves room for 

 watering. Water 

 spaiingly until 

 the growth com- 

 mences, and as 

 it increases give 

 more water. Place 

 JD a Hght and aii-y 

 situation, for if 

 kept in a close, 

 damp, or dark 

 place they will 

 never flower. 



In after-seasous when the plants die down turn them into 

 the open border of the garden, allowing them to remain 

 until the nights begin to be chilly toward the end of Sep- 

 tember, when leaves very often are appearing and flowers 

 rising. Pot forthwith, place on a shelf in the greenhouse, 

 and you will have Cyclamen persicum in bloom all winter. 

 Tours, however, may be the evergi'een variety, by no means 

 so rare as is represented, and if so, yon will pot in Angiist 

 of each year and have flowers all the year round ; but if 

 evergi'een they need a rest, and that is done by giving less 

 water from June until September. 



U Having thus answered the inquhies of our correspondent, 

 we will add a little information about various kinds of this 

 favourite genus of " plants with the petals combed back," 

 as a lady described them. 



" The origin of Cyclamen Atkinsi is thus explained to us : — 

 " ' After many ineffectual attempts,' writes Mr. Atkins, ' to 

 produce a good cross between Cyclamen coum or C. vern\im, 

 and C. persicum, combining the neat habit of the two 

 former with the colom- and larger petals of the latter, 

 having at the same time the foliage dai-k, yet relieved with 

 a lighter band, or marbled, I at length sue leeded in raising 



Cyclamen Atkinsi. 



the hybrid now figured, fi-om seeds produced by a variety 

 of C. coum impregnated with C. persicum, and this, I have 

 eveiy reason to believe, I shall be able to perpetuate, and 

 thus introduce a new and most interesting feature into this 

 beautiful family of plants. Amongst the seedlings, it was 

 found that every plant deviating in the marking of the 

 ioUage from the ssed-bearing parent, produced white or 

 blush flowers, whilst those retaining its plain dark leaf have 

 invai-iably bloomed with different shades of the colour of 

 that species.' 



"This account of its origin perfectly explains its appeai- 

 ance, it being, in fact, exactly intermediate between itsparents 

 as to size and form, and to some extent even in coloui-. The 

 specimen which oui- vignette represents was exhibited with 

 about seventy fully-expanded flowers, and bears full evidence 

 of the success of Mr. Atkins' mode of culture. 



" In Cyclamen Atkinsi the leaves are large (2i by 2 inches), 

 ovate obtuse, cordate at the base, with a deep siuus, the 

 sides of which overlap, dark glossy green, with an irregular 

 pale zone within the margin; the under surface is livcr- 

 coloured, or duU purple. The flowers are elevated on longish 

 verrucose stalks, and arc of a French white, marked with 



a deep crimson 

 ovate blotch at 

 the base of each 

 segment ; the ca- 

 lyx consists of 

 five acute lance- 

 shaped pubescent 

 segments ; the co- 

 rolla has a short 

 globose tube, and 

 a limb of five 

 broadly obovate 

 segments neai'ly 

 seven - eighths of 

 an inch long ; the 

 luoutli of the tube 

 is nearly cii'cular, 

 the angles being 

 indistinct ; the 

 stamens are in- 

 cluded, but the 

 style equals the 

 tube. The flowers 

 are scentless. 



" Cyclamen 

 iliericum produces 

 flat heart-shaped 

 leaves, having an 

 open sinus, and 

 the margin very 

 slightly sinuate- 

 dentate or entu-e :. 

 they are deep 

 green, with an u-regulai' heart-shaped belt of p.-vle greyish- 

 green some distance witliin the margin, the veins sunken 

 on the upper face, i^rominent and gi-een beneath, on a didl 

 reddish-purple ground. The flowers vary in colour ; in 

 some, they are pale rosy or flesh-coloured, in other plants, 

 deep rose-colour ; in some they are white ; but in all cases 

 they are mai'ked with a broad ovate spot at the base of the 

 segments, which spot is either puiple or crimson, and is ex- 

 tended in the centre as fai' as the mouth, which, in the front 

 view, thus shows five purple bai's or spots ; the bases of the 

 segments are cui-ved outwai-ds at the miu-gin, the mouth 

 thus becoming pentangular, with concave sides. The calyx 

 lobes ai-e acutely lance-shaped; the tube of the corolla is 

 ventricose, the segments of the Hmb either roundish obovate 

 or oblong obovate. The stamens are quite enclosed, and are 

 slightly exceeded by the blunt, simple stigma, which is 

 somewhat exserted."^(M., in Garden Com-pirnion.) 



The Late Frosts. — -is I see the fr-ost has been so general 

 in England, I give you a short account of what it has been 

 in Irelan i. We had some very cold nights from the 18th to 



