64 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



Cyclamen, in basket dressed with ribton. 



roots, which will be two years from 

 the time they are started. 



We often get an old cycas on our 

 hands that has been abused and lost 

 its leaves. By shaking off the soil and 

 potting in small pots and treating as 

 you do the imported stems you will in 

 time get a good plant. 



C. revoluta is by far the most valu- 

 able to the florist for all purposes. Of 

 the other species for private collec- 

 tions, media and circinalis are fine 

 plants. 



CYCLAMEN. 



Of all the winter blooming green- 

 house plants as well as a plant for a 

 customer a well grown cyclamen takes 

 the first rank. It is second to none. 

 It is so pretty in leaf and beautiful in 

 flower that few of our customers can 

 resist buying one, and when to that 

 is added its good qualities as a house 

 plant it is worthy of our greatest care 

 and attention. There are several spe- 

 Hes of cyclamen, but only one that is 



of importance to the florist. We often 

 hear people from Central Europe _(not 

 gardeners) when they see the cycla- 

 men persicum in our greenhouses say 

 that they grow wild in Europe, and 

 they call them the Alp violet. It is 

 Cyclamen neapolitanum they have 

 seen, a native of that country. All the 

 beautiful varieties we grow are from 

 C. persicum. 



The writer can remember when 

 these plants were coddled up, starved 

 largely and kept from, year to year. 

 That day is past, and they are now 

 rarely kept over, but are grown annu- 

 ally from seed. Anyone having a good 

 strain should save his own seed; it is 

 best fresh. It will be ripe in May and 

 June and should be sown in September. 

 If you don't save the seed, get the 

 best strain. The form that is known 

 as giganteum is not as good for the 

 florist as the type known as C. P. 

 grandiflora. 



Sow in light soil and press the seeds 

 into the soil and then cover slightly. 



Keep moderately moist and they will 

 germinate in three or four weeks 

 When the small leaves are up you 

 should give the pan or flat plenty of 

 light in a temperature of about 55 de- 

 grees. When the little bulbs (as we wi'.l 

 call them) are the size of a small pea 

 they should be transplanted into pans, 

 or can go singly into 2-inch pots. If 

 kept light and healthy they will need 

 a 3-inch pot by middle of April, and 

 the best place of all for them is a mild 

 hot-bed. The manure should be well 

 firmed into the frame and on it place 

 four or five inches of soil or ashes, in- 

 to which plunge the pots close to the 

 glass. 



A permanent shade is very bad for 

 cyclamen, as they only want a shade 

 which can be applied by throwing over 

 a thin cloth in the hottest hours of the 

 day. Never let them suffer for want, 

 of water. A slight syringing every 

 bright morning is necessary. If aphis 

 appears and fumigating is not prac- 

 tical, syringe with one of the tobacco 

 extracts. By middle of June they will 

 want another shift, and a slight bot- 

 tom heat will still help them very 

 much. They should be raised in the 

 plunging material till the rims of the 

 pots are even with the top of frame, 

 so that they can be syringed thorough- 

 ly. They will now be in 4 and 5-inch 

 pots. 



By the middle of August they should 

 have their last shift, a 6 or 7, or even 

 an 8-inch pot, if large enough. They 

 should never be crowded in the frame, 

 never neglected for water and syring- 

 ing and never shaded .except in the 

 hottest hours. Some narrow strips can 

 be run along the frames above the 

 plants and on these some lattice shad- 

 ing or cheese cloth can be rolled on 

 and off. The full exposure to the air 

 except during the brightest hours 

 (from 10 to 4) is what they want. If 

 wanted early some can be moved to 

 the greentouse middle of September, 

 others can remain a month or six 

 weeks later. 



The cyclamen is by no means a ten- 

 der plant, but it is not well to expose 

 them to frost. 



I have spoken before about what 

 I consider good rdainage. For cy- 

 clamen in the last shift I would say 

 a good handful of broken crocks cov- 

 ered with a layer of green wood moss. 

 In the greenhouse, as at all times, 

 they should have the fullest light. Hor- 

 ticultural writers use the phrase con- 

 tinuously "near the glass 1 ," which is 

 equivalent to saying "perfect light," 

 but plants that are near the glass of- 

 ten get a better circulation of air 

 around them (a great advantage) than 

 those near the floor. 



If well drained the cyclamen is not 

 very particular about soil. A good 

 yellow loam with a fourth of well de- 

 cayed cow manure and a fourth of 

 leaf-mould, rather firmly potted, will 

 grow them well. Some growers mix 

 a little broken lime rubbish with good 

 effect. Sometimes the beginner is 

 puzzled to know how deep to put the 





