CYCLAMEN 341 



after having had a shift, doesn't need water every day during 

 bright weather throughout July and August, is likely to be a sick 

 plant or to lack proper drainage. 



FRAME CULTURE 



You can also grow the plants successfully in frames outdoors 

 during Summer. This means bringing them, after they have had 

 a shift in June, into a frame. The pots may be set on ashes, cinders 

 or torpedo sand; instead of placing sashes over the plants, you 

 may place on top the usual 4- by 6-ft. lath shade frames. Some 

 mighty fine plants are grown by this method. Here, again, it is proved 

 that the plants standing on the moist ground, even if on a layer 

 of cinders or sand, just delight in the moisture from below. It is 

 that which makes for the good leaves that are so essential to a good 

 Cyclamen. I think a well-grown Cyclamen with perfect leaves, 

 one overlapping the other just a little, all beautifully marked, as 

 is the case especially with the many white sorts, makes a most 

 attractive plant even without flowers. The leaves are what make the 

 plant and to get them is what you should strive for. 



To begin with, a little too much shade will cause a weak growth; 

 and the same thing results when you crowd the plants during their 

 period of growth. Spray the plants every day while in the frame 

 and wet things down around the frames as well. A light spraying 

 just at sundown to refresh the leaves after a hot July day is a 

 good thing. 



Don't ever try frame culture unless you are sure the plants 

 will get attention; with just a few on hand they are much more 

 apt to be taken care of under glass. This is not to say that they are 

 not every bit as well off outdoors, but you cannot put them there 

 and let it go at that. 



HOTBEDS FOR CYCLAMEN 



If you have the facilities and want to be "real good" to your 

 young stock, prepare a mild hotbed in April and, after you have 

 given the plants a shift, plunge them in it and don't give too much 

 air for awhile. Such treatment gives a real boost to plants that are 

 a little backward and you can repeat it after the next shift, say the 

 end of May. At this time use not a real hotbed, but just a mild 

 one. I have had excellent success with this treatment and others 

 have had the same. After May, however, a hotbed would be 

 out of place, so when giving the next shift place the plants in a frame 

 without heat below. 



