136 
late autumn and winter months sow about 
the end of July, in wide shallow pans 
filled with a mixture of sifted fibrous loam, 
withsome leaf-mould andalittlesand added. 
Press the material moderately firm, scatter 
the seeds an inch apart over the surface, 
and cover them with about a fourth of an 
inch of the soil. When sown at this time 
stand in a temperature of about 60°, where 
they will soon vegetate by keeping the 
soil a little moist; to do this without 
giving too much water a thin paper may 
be laid over the surface and removed as 
soon as the plants are up, after which they 
must be kept close to the glass, and the 
sun not allowed to reach them. The best 
place in which to grow them through their 
early stages is a low heated pit where an 
intermediate temperature (which is neces- 
sary all through the first autumn and 
winter so as to get them on large enough 
to flower satisfactorily by the close of the 
-ensuing year and on through the sub- 
sequent winter) can be kept up. Give a 
moderate amount of air daily from the 
time the young plants are up, keeping the 
atmosphere a little moist, and syringing 
slightly in the afternoons; as soon as 
large enough to handle move singly into 
small pots, using soil similar to that in 
which the seeds were sown. Stand them 
on a moist bottom, still close to the glass ; 
leave off shading as the sun decreases in 
power, and keep up a night temperature 
during the winter of about 50°, in which 
they will go on growing so as to require 
moving at the beginning of April into 3-in. 
pots. Then use similar soil, but add a 
little cow manure that has got old and 
mellow. They will now require a littlemore 
warmth, and until the season is further ad- 
vanced enough fire should be used in cool 
weather to keep them up to 55° in the night, 
and proportionately higher by day when 
there is an absence of sun to raise the tem- 
perature. A thin shade will again be 
needful through the spring and summer 
whenever the sun comes on them. Care 
must be taken at all times through the 
season of growth that they never want for 
water at the roots, or they will receive a 
severe check. Keep the atmosphere and 
the material on which the pots stand 
moist, syringe overhead each afternoon, 
all of which are requisite to keep them 
free from red spider. Give air every day, 
but avoid draughts; towards the end of 
June move the plants into 6-inch pots, 
which will be large enough to flower them 
in the first season, and use a fair amount 
of drainage. Continue to treat as hitherto 
advised in the early part of the summer 
until September, when give more air, and 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
CYCLAMEN, 
discontinue shading and syringing so as to 
solidify the growth and induce the forma- 
tion of flowers. Still let them have a 
position near the glass, but through the 
autumn and winter let the material on 
which the pots are be dry. If each plant 
is now stood on an inverted pot it will 
allow a better circulation of air round 
them ; with the same view do not crowd 
them too close—a condition that should in 
all the stages of growth be avoided or the 
leaves will get drawn and weak and the 
plants spoilt. If all has. gone well they 
will now be sturdy examples, with short 
stout leaf stalks, the foliage half covering 
the pots ; they will flower freely through 
the last months of the year and early part 
of winter, during which they should be 
kept in a night temperature of 45° or 50°. 
After blooming keep a little cooler, and 
when all danger of frost is over they may 
be turned out under a north wall, the pots 
plunged in ashes, or still better they may 
be kept in a cold frame, placed where they 
will be out of the full sun, and given 
enough water to prevent the soil getting 
quite dry. 
their leaves through the early part of 
summer, but will afterwards push up 
quantities; as soon as these are visible 
give more water, and when a little growth 
The plants will lose most of 
has been made move into pots a couple of 
inches larger, shaking away the old soil 
and replacing it with new, of a like de- 
scription to that hitherto recommended. 
Afterwards stand them in a pit, frame, or 
house and treat as advised for the preced- 
ing season, except that they will not now 
require to be kept quite so close. The en- 
suing winter the plants will yield numbers 
of flowers proportionate to the increased 
size they have attained. After blooming 
again treat as in the previous spring and 
summer in the matter of standing out, re- 
potting, &. They may be kept on after 
they haveagain flowered, or bediscarded and 
their place taken by younger stock, which 
it is well to keep coming on by sowing 
some seed each season. When the sowing 
is deferred until autumn keep a little 
cooler both before and after the plants 
come up, and it will be well to prick them 
off, when large enough, 2 inches apart in 
pans, allowing them to remain until spring 
before potting singly ; afterwards treat as 
advised for the early sown stock. 
Insects.—Red spider, to which they are 
liable, will usually be kept under by 
following the course of cultivation de- 
tailed. Thrips and aphides sometimes 
attack them, getting to the undersides of 
the leaves and doing much mischief before 
being seen. These insects should be re- 
