THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 29 



ON THE CULTURE OF THE CYCLAMEN. 



FOOD healthy plants, procured now, will probably have 

 commenced growth, and should be kept rather close for 

 a week, when it will be advisable to examine the state 

 of the roots, and if well furnished, shift into pots a 

 size larger ; otherwise repair the drainage, and defer 

 shifting until the roots indicate a want of pot room, and then a 

 moderate shift should only be given. 



At this season the plants should be placed near the glass, and 

 receive a sufficient supply of water to keep the soil in a nice, moist, 

 healthy condition. Provided frost is excluded, the temperature in 

 which they are grown is of little consequence, except where the 

 plants are wanted in flower without loss of time ; and as the 

 blossoms appear before the foliage is well developed, there will be 

 little difficulty in securing these at any period from November to 

 April. Keeping the plants cool and rather dry, will retard their 

 blossoms until March, and placing them in a temperature of from 

 45° to 50° will bring them into full beauty in a very short time. 

 The plants may be kept in a cold pit, where they will be safe from 

 frost until tbey commence flowering ; and then they should be removed 

 to a sitting-room window, where, with care to protect them from 

 currents of cold air, they will be quite at home, and will be beautiful 

 objects for some two months. The best situation, however, for 

 cyclamens, while growing and in flower, is near the glass in a green- 

 house or pit, where the temperature may average from 40° to 50°, 

 and where air can be admitted without its passing over the plants, 

 as in the case in most sitting-room windows. 



It is a too common practice to treat cyclamens with neglect 

 directly the beauty of the flower is over, and to give them little 

 attention, and sometimes hardly a drop of water until the following 

 autumn, when they are wanted in flower. This is the very reverse 

 of what they require, and annually occasions the loss of many bulbs. 

 The plants should be allowed a light, airy situation in the greenhouse 

 or pit, and kept properly supplied with water until May, when they 

 may be removed to a shady situation out-of-doors ; and when the 

 leaves decay, very little water need be given until it is desired to 

 excite the plants into growth ; the soil, however, should never be 

 allowed to become quite dry. Our own practice is to plunge the 

 pots in coal ashes during the summer, which in case of long continued 

 droughts, are watered so as to afford a little moisture to the soil 

 in the pots. The plants should be moved to the greenhouse in 

 September, and surface-dressed or potted as may be necessary. 



Propagation is more readily effected by seeds than by any other 

 method, for although large bulbs occasionally produce several large 

 crowns, there is considerable risk in separating them, as decay is 

 apt to follow the track of the knife. Seeds, however, are soon 

 grown into useful plants. They should be collected when ripe, and 

 sown in well-drained pots, filled with a mixture of loam, leaf-soil, 

 and sharp sand, and set in a safe situation till autuinu. 



January. 



