56 ON THE CULTURE OF THE COCKSCOMB. 



sunny situation; give but very little water, in fact only sufficient 

 to keep tbe plant alive. By the end of September your plant will 

 look miserable and sickly, and possibly not meet with approbation ; 

 remove it to a dry shelf in the greenhouse, .-^ t ill keeping it in a state 

 of starvation. In March reduce the ball of earth about your plant 

 as much as possible, taking care of the roots ; repot in soil as 

 follows: — half good sandy loam, half well rotted dung, or leaf 

 mould, with a small handful of white sand well mixed together ; 

 put plenty of broken crocks at the bottom of the pot; set your 

 plant in a stove heat, syringing over head often ; when the plant 

 begins to recover, water a little at root, which increase as the plant 

 improves in health, and in a short time it will present a spike of 

 flowers. 



I have little doubt but a number of species of succulent plants 

 would flower more freely, and certainly much liner, if they were 

 cultivated in rich soil (though opposite to most opinions) instead 

 of being potted in poor soil, and rendered still poorer by mixing 

 road sand or brick rubbish. I have had a great number of dry 

 stove plants under my care at different times, and have tried 

 various soils, but generally found rich soil more suitable than poor 

 and certainly produce much finer bloom ; but it must be well un- 

 derstood there arc a number of species so tender rooted as to 

 exempt them from this rule ; of course, if rich soil is used, a far 

 less quantity of water will be necessary. 



J. W. D. 



Great Bookham, Surrey, Dec. 9 th, 1834. 



ARTICLE V.— On the Culture of the Cockscomb, 

 (Celosia cristataj By Mr. W. Brown, Jun, 



The design of the publication of the Floricultural Cabinet being 

 the improvement of the culture of flowers, I beg to lay before 

 the readers thereof a few practical remarks on the treatment of 

 the Cockscomb. 



There are eighteen species enumerated in Loudon's Hortus 

 Britannicus. The large dark purple, the line feathered, and the 

 new large dwarf, red (C. cristata), are the sorts in general cultiva- 

 tion. The generic name Celosia, is derived from kelos, burnt, 

 appearance. 



