JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOOLTOBG AND OOTTAQB GABDEKEG. 



I AprU 5, 1877. 



be spared and liqnid manure given instead at every alternate 

 watering. By Angnat the plants will have formed good corma 

 and have ample foliage. It is the time when no Btimuln3 to 

 growth is required ; it ia the natural period at which old plants 

 commence throwing out leaves and the flower buda appear. 

 Avoid, therefore, any incentive thereto, but keep the plants 

 moderately moiat at the roots, discontinue aprinkling over- 

 head, and admit air freely both day and night. In early Sep- 

 tember remove them to a light airy position in a house with 

 a temperature of 45° to 50° at night, and in October they will 

 flower, continuing for months, aa all the plants will not flower 

 together but come succeaaionally. 



The above ia unqueationably the beat mode of growing Cycla- 

 men peraionm. It waa adopted in consequence of someone 

 differing with me in burying the corms, which waa considered 

 nnadvisable from the water being liable to settle in the crowns, 

 and when this is the case the leaves and flower stalks decay 

 when the corma are buried. I had hitherto grown them with 

 the corma buried, but the plants were raiaed high in the centre 

 of the pot, space being left for watering at the side. So long 

 aa the water waa given there it did not matter about the corms 

 being covered with soil, but when the water waa poured upon 

 the corm in the centre of the pot the leaves became less and 

 the flower buds dropped, the atema decaying at the aurfaoe of 

 the aoil. The force of our friend's remarks was seen and 

 acted on. The corm is not buried after the planta have formed 

 a few leaves, care being taken at the last potting to keep the 

 corms well up. Water poured into the centre of the plant is 

 certain to prove disastrous to the leaves and flowers. 



Seed sown ea;rly in spring, or even now (early April), and 

 placed in a hotbed— as that of a Cucumber frame, and the 

 seedlings grown-on through the summer in a temperature of 

 65° night, 70° to 75° day, and up to 85° or 90° in bright weather, 

 keeping near the glass, and shaded from bright sun, moving to 

 a house in September with a temperature of 50° at night or by 

 artificial meana — will flower in winter and spring ; but aowing 

 in August is much preferable. It gives a little more trouble 

 and ocoupiea a little longer time ; but the increaaed size of 

 plants well repay for it, and when once it ia practised no one 

 will care to keep on growing corma from year to year. 



A compoat of equal parts of fibrous loam, old cow dung or 

 leaf soil, and half a part of sandy peat with a free admixture 

 of sand and good drainage will grow them well. Some do not 

 use peat, but I have not good loam. I may be told Cyclamens 

 are not florists' flowers. I can only reply in the opening para- 

 graph of your excellent little manual on " Florists' Flowers " 

 — viz., " Florists' flowera are those flowers which by their 

 beauty, power of producing permanent varieties, readiness of 

 propagation, and easineas of cultivation are so largely in de- 

 mand as to be especially worthy of being grown by florists as 

 articles of commerce."— G. Abbey. 



themselves and afford the greatest satisfaction to others, who 

 foster a love of gardening in its most beneficial aapecta, in- 

 crease the interest which is so desirable in gardening pursuits, 

 and advance the craft horticultural in the most practical 

 manner. Yet the lines on which " big shows " are fonnded 

 are frequently such as to place the great majority of cultivators 

 at a discount and give a premium to the few, who have had 

 their reward, it may be, fifty timea over. 



When " big prizea " are offered a feeling is at once estab- 

 lished that "big plants" only can have any chance of secur- 

 ing them. Well, it is tolerably well known how many collec- 

 tions of " elephants " there are in the country, and estimates 

 are formed that it will " pay " to take them to a given distance ; 

 while those having smaller plants — it matters not how intrinsi- 

 cally excellent they may be, how satisfactory they are to their 

 owners, and how creditable to the growers — decide, and very 

 naturally, to " keep their plants at home," for the sufficient 

 reason that it ia " no use taking them for certain defeat." 

 Many admirable examples of cultivation are, I doubt not, 

 " kept at home " simply because of the impression produced 

 as the result of big prizes, that only "big plants" will have 

 " any chance " of sharing the honours, and the smaller, how- 

 ever well cultivated they are, will have to run the gauntlet of a 

 certain amount of public depreciation by their being " left out 

 in the cold." So deterrent are " big " money prizes that even 

 the possessors of " big " specimens seem half afraid of exhibit- 

 ing, for it is notorious that, as a rule, the larger the prizes the 

 smaller ia the competition. That, at any rate, has been bo in 

 the case of the metropolitan exhibitions when one followed on 

 the heels of another in tiringly rapid succeaaion. The compe- 

 tition for the " big prizes " waa simply reduced to a question 

 of " one, two, and three," and gave little tronble to the 



EXHIBITING— LARGE versus SMALL PLANTS. 



ToTJK laat issue of the Journal of Horticulture contains two 

 paragraphs which I and some friends who have read them, and 

 privately commented thereon, consider of some significance as 

 bearing directly on hortioulturalexhibitions— i.e., flower shows. 

 There can be no use in evading the fact, but, on the contrary, 

 every reason to recognise it, that flower shows have not always 

 done what they were intended to accomplish, namely, be auo- 

 cessful to their promoters financially and beneficial in other 

 respects by those who have aupported them. Beneficial they 

 may have been to the individual winners of £50 and £20 prizes, 

 but I much doubt if the satisfaction that has been enjoyed by 

 the few has not been unpleasantly counterbalanced by the dis- 

 appointment of the many. 



Until the present year a conviction has been growing that 

 for an exhibition to be Buooessful it must be arranged on a 

 scale of magnitude eolipaing all which have gone before. The 

 prizea offered mnat be magnificently tempting, and the compe- 

 tition reanlting is expected to be correspondingly splendid in 

 its character and spirited in the race of competitors. But (a 

 very important "but" is this) it has been forgotten that the 

 principle of temptation is not a sound principle, and that 

 appeals to the mere cupidity of a man carry with them a 

 penalty, and work in a measure their own cure. It should be 

 remembered that if a aenaational prize has an alluring effect 

 on the one hand, it has a deterring tendency on the other. 

 Senaational prizes encourage professional exhibitors, who are 

 comparatively few, at the expense of the very far larger number 

 of amateur cultivators, who labour with the greatest credit to 



The matter becomes different when isolated and apeoial 

 exhibitions are projected, which are (not merely in name) 

 national or international in their character. One or two 

 really great and grand exhibitions during the seaaon — one in 

 London and one in the provinces, under the auspices of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society — would be not only admiasiblo 

 but desirable, and owing to the large field, the special occur- 

 rence, and the national character of such shows they could not 

 fail to be well supported, and especially if the schedule was 

 not framed so as to " schedule out " the many exhibitors of, it 

 may be, comparatively small yet eminently useful produce, in 

 deference to the few who could " put in " a sensational 

 appearance. One large fruit show during the year ia also to 

 be commended, and ia certain of success; but three or four 

 " large attempts " during a limited time, and in a oironm- 

 Bcribed area, is a mere matter of " throat-cutting." 



The " signs of the timea " denote that " big shows " and 

 " big plants " are losing their prestige, that quality has olaima 

 to public recognition as well as mere size. These signs are 



j perceivable in the paragraphs I refer to as directing attention 

 to the sale of the plants of the late Mr. Wilkins, and the pro- 



I posed Exhibition at South Kensington of Covent Garden 

 Market commodities. The large plants so skUfully grown by 

 Mr. Ward went, with a few exceptions, in common parlance, 

 for an " old song," It is suggestive that by the distribution 

 of these and other " big plants" at such moderate prices that 

 such giants are not now eo popular as they once were ; and 

 equally significant is it to find that small, even the smallest, 

 well-caltivated plants which are so valuable for many decora- 

 tive purposes, and which exhibit undoubted cultural skill, are 

 at last to have a measure of recognition accorded them. These 

 are indeed national plants, such that spread into almost every 

 home ; and it appears that as such the patronage of the Boyal 

 Horticultural Society may be appropriately extended to them 

 and their cultivators. 



An exhibition such as the one projected cannot fail, as yon 

 say, to " be instructive," and such as will afford many a hint 

 to the numerous gardeners, and' employers of gardeners, who 

 will visit the Show by way of noting euch examples of cultiva- 

 tion that would be useful in the decoration of their several 

 homes and gardens. 



That is what I call advancing useful horticulture — spreading 

 its benefits far and wide, "bringing it home" in the best 

 manner, and to the greatest number to which it is practically 

 applicable. More may be said on this subject — that is, on 

 ■ exhibitions— large rcrsiis small plants," and I cannot but 

 think that any suggestions as to the best mode of widening the 

 influence of exhibitions and giving rewards to meritorious 

 cultivation, even if presented in a " small way," would be 



