AUGUST 151 



material under which it may have been placed. 

 They can be put in a cold frame in a shady aspect, 

 or under the greenhouse stage, and should be given 

 no more water than is absolutely necessary to keep 

 them from drying up. If the soil has had a 

 moderate amount of moisture in it when they were 

 planted they will need little additional attention 

 in this respect. It is through mistaken kind- 

 ness in the matter of watering that most of the 

 many failures to grow freesias occur ; too much 

 water at a later stage of growth will make the 

 leaves turn yellow and prevent their flowering 

 well. The less freesias are forced also, the better 

 they will be ; a cool temperature with protection 

 from frost is all that is required to ensure good 

 results. 



There is nothing more difficult among common 

 flowers to grow well than the Persian cyclamen, 

 and I am able to say so with decision, for I have 

 never yet succeeded in having them to my liking. 

 Part of the reason is that I am away in the late 

 summer, when they require special attention, and 

 another part is that I do not really understand 

 them. Of course I can get pots of healthy leaves 

 and a sprinkling of flowers, but that is what I do 

 not care for. I want two hundred blossoms to 

 a pot, and I can't get them. And yet my plants 

 appear to be managed under suitable conditions, 

 so that it is difficult to understand why my simple 

 wants cannot be gratified. We re-pot them in 

 August, giving them a suitable compost with a dash 

 of soot in it. The plants are placed in cold frames, 

 and are carefully protected from chills, while they 



