oOt 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTrRE AXD COTTAGE GAIU)ENEB. 



[ Daeembei 9, 1813. 



Fekther. It is escellent lor mating the ground colour of 

 carpet beds. It is easHv propagated, grows freely, and is quite 

 hardy. But I would preier Golden Feather where is has to be 

 csed along wi;h Geraniums. Verbenas, oirj., in ordinary flower 

 beds and fcorders.^B. Ixglis. 



PLAXTS FOB CUT FLOWEES AND SPRATS. 

 Cyci-iiisns. — The beautiful and varied colours of these 

 flowers and their delicate perfume enlides them to a place 

 amongst the choicest of cut flowers. They keep fresh in water 

 as long as any other flower, and are very suitable for button- 

 hole bouquets. Well-grown plants are also admirable for 

 dinner-table decoration. These may be regarded as everyday 

 decorative plants of the first order of merit. 



The Cyclamen season may be said to commence with C. enro- 

 panm album, white and sweet, which flowers in September 

 or earlier, the variety rubrum being a pale rosy pink with 

 richly marbled foliage, and is probably the species enropsum. 

 C. hedersfoUum, rosy pink, flowers in September, with its 

 white variety . alburn^ is very beautiful. The bulbs of these are 

 Tery large. I have seen naturalised roots nearly a foot across 

 and producing over two hundred floirers each, and these are 

 followed by the leaves, which are usually about half as nume- 

 rous as the flowers, and are beautiful all through the winter. 

 C. grtecum is certainly very much akin to C. hedersefoliom, the 

 flowers rose and white, and the foliage grand. C. africanum, 

 blush or flesh purple tips, is also of near kinship with C. hederte- 

 folium, but larger in all its parts. C. nobile is of the same 

 class with C. hedeisefolium, they all flowering in antumn, and 

 have splendid leaves. Except perhaps the two last all are 

 hardy, and succeed in light rich loam enriched with leaf soil, 

 doing well in well-drained borders, the ledges of rockwork, and 

 in woods, where they are quite charming in autumn from their 

 flowers, and in winter and spring by their leaves. The corms 

 are most vigour when covered by decaying leaves, in the debris 

 of which the plants appear to luxuriate, doing equally well in 

 the moat shaded as in the open parts. I doubt not bat they 

 "wonld thrive in a light well-drained soil in most parts of this 

 country, and what a charm they would give to the wood- 

 lands and rural walks when the trees are assuming autumn 

 tints. 



C. neapolitanum, red, flowers in early November and before 

 the leaves, and is followed by C. conm. deep purplish red, 

 whic'i I have had blooming on rockwork early in December : 

 also C. coum vemum, which usually flowers in February, and 

 diJers only in that and in having variegated foliage. C. Atkinsi 

 or ibericnm with the varieties album, white with purple centre, 

 roseum, rosy red, and rubrum purpureum, deep purple red, 

 also flower early in winter, or on the first return of spring, and 

 areaU hardy, doing well on the ledges of rockwork ; but to have 

 their flowers during the winter months they require to be 

 grown in pots or pans, placing their corms about their diameter 

 apart, and covering them wiUi soil about an inch deep. They 

 do well in a light position in a house from which frost is 

 excluded. Outdoors they require rather shady positions, and 

 ■appear to thrive best on the limestone formation. C. coum 

 and C. ibericam (Atkinsi) flower with the leaves. Alter 

 flowering under glass the plants may be placed in a cold frame, 

 and in summer be kept in a slightly shaded position. Eieh 

 loam, with some leaf soil, and a little sandy peat with some 

 pieces of chalk or old mortar rubbish, three parts loam to one 

 part each the last three, with good drainage, will grow them 

 well. They like watering overhead when in free growth. 



C. ficariffifolium or repandum is a bright shaded deep rose 

 colour, but varying, and flowers during early April. It also 

 likes limestone, and to be shaded not densely in summer, and 

 to be well drained. AU the hardy Cyclamens are impatient of 

 dry cutting winds, and should therefore have the shelter of a 

 projecting rock in rockwork or other shelter of a wind-breaking 

 character. 



C. persicum is now pretty numerous in variety, and many 

 have finely variegated or marbled leaves, which render them 

 very enecsive for decorative purposes. They are easily raised 

 from seed ; plants so raised and grown-on in heat flowering 

 within the twelvemonth from sowing. Grown in a warm 

 greenhouse and starting early in August plants may be had in 

 bloom by December, and to bloom well during the early winter 

 months they require a temperature of -50' from fire heat, and 

 ordinarily in a greenhouse the flowering will commence in 

 February and be continued up to May. Their treatment has 

 been eo frequently given in tlus Journal, and is treated of in 



the " Greenhouse Manual," so that I need not give any 

 lengthened cultural hints. 



ScnxA. — S. bifolia is the first to bloom, followed by S. sibe- 

 rica, both bright blue, and both do well in pots, potted in Sep- 

 tember, and brought forward in a cool house in an airy position 

 after Ot'tober. In a greenhouse they will flower by January. 

 Of S. bifolia there in white i^alba), carnea (red), and rosea 

 (rose) varieties, all pretty. S. amcvna is a purplish blue, and 

 follows S. siberica. S. campanulata is light blue, and has 

 white (alba) and rose (carnea) varieties, which flower in May 

 or earlier, and grown in pots and forwarded as Hyacinths they 

 flower in March or early in April. Their tall spikes of pendant 

 bell-shaped flowers are very useful and eflective. S. autumnalis, 

 purplish blue, flowers in August or early September. Green- 

 house or cool-house kinds are S. peruviana, with its corymb cl 

 blue flowers with yellow stamens. Its white andyeUow varieties, 

 with S. ciliaris (mauve), S. Corsica (white), and S. Hughi (light 

 blue) are all in the style oi S. peruviana, and flower in early 

 summer, whilst S. japonica, white with rosy purple, flowers in 

 August or early September. 



SqtLills in pots require Ught airy positions, a Iree sandy 



fibrous loam, with a third of leaf eoU and a little sandy peat, 



the btilbs to be covered, and the pots to be weU drained ; have 



I the diameter of the bulbs between each, and half their diameter 



I from the sides of the pots ; but some have large bulbs, as 



S. Corsica, and they may be grown singly in pots twice the 



1 diameter of the bulbs. Outdoors the hardy kinds may be 



planted 3 inches deep in sandy soil well drained. 



Begosias. — The bulbous kinds flower from May throughout 

 the summer ; they are grown in the stove, greenhouse, and 

 I outdoors, in which latter case they require to be started in 

 ' gentle heat and planted-out after the middle of June. The 

 old B. Evansiana (discolor) may be mentioned as a good 

 window plant with pinkish flowers, and is tisefol for omr pur- 

 pose, as its flowers have fragrance. B. weltoniensis, pink 

 flowers of a waxy texture, the bright shining shaded green of 

 its leaves and its crimson stems render it a fine window plant, 

 and Cut along with its leaves or as sprays is very useful for 

 bouquets, Jre. It is very accommodating, blooming con- 

 tinuously in a stove, and it does well as a greenhouse plant 

 when kept dry in winter, and outdoors in summer it is,very 

 eSective. 



B. Veitchi has large flowers of a vivid vermilion cinnabar 

 red, 2 to 2J inches across, and is sweet-scented. It is equally 

 accommodating as C. weltoniensis ; stove, greenhouse, window, 

 or outdoors suits it. 



B. Pearcei has yellow flowers, with leaves of a dark velvety 

 green with lighter veins, and is very elegant, and of this there 

 is some eflective seedlings. I have no experience of it beyond 

 a cool stove. 



B. intermedia, vermilion red, flourishing in a greenhouse ; 

 also E. rosffflofa, large flowers, carmine red ; and B. Eichardsi- 

 ana, with elegantly cut leaves and white flowers like B. Dregei, 

 which last is very tiselul for cutting and does in a gre^ihouse, 

 blooming in a stove all the year, it and B. weltoniensis being 

 most useful. 



B. chelsoni has large salmony orange flowers, drooping, and 

 flowers grandly during the winter in a cool stove. B. Martiana 

 (diversifolia) is a fine subject for winter-flowering in a cool 

 stove, and does well in a greenhouse ; the flowers are rich rosy 

 cerise, very abundantly produced. 



B. boliviensis, glossy red, and its several varieties, which as 

 cool-stove plants flower in early summer ; and kept cool and 

 dry up to April, and then started in gentle heat, do in a green- 

 house, or may be planted-out in June in a warm sheltered 

 position outdoors, and they will flower freely. 



B. semperflorens, white or blush flowers, is very dwarf and 

 very free-flowering, with shining green leaves ; it is desirable 

 as a table plant. It flowers in a cool stove from January to 

 May. The tuberotis-rooted Begonias, of which there are many 

 fine varieties, are especially suited for greenhouse culture when 

 the summer occupants are outdoors, requiring only to be 

 started in heat and removed to the house in Jtme, and of late 

 years in stmny positions outdoors they have been used with 

 good effect. Planted on rockwork it is likely that many kinds 

 will prove hardy. They require to be fresh potted when start- 

 ing or required starting into growth, to be moderately watered 

 until in free growth, then freely, but never soddened, and when 

 the flowering is past reduce the water, withholding altogether 

 when the plants die down, and store away in the pots in any 

 dry place safe from frost. A compost of three parts turfy loam, 

 one part leaf soil, hall a part each old cow dung and silver 



