CYCLAMEN PERSICUM 23 



CYCLAMEN PERSICUM 



This is truly a winter-flowering plant and is held in the greatest 

 esteem. Its merits are all its own and there is no other plant 

 with which we can compare it. It is a very old favourite, 

 and it has kept pace with the times, for, compared with what 

 we knew it to be a generation ago, its flowers have taken on 

 new colours and finer forms. From comparative insignificance 

 it has become one of the most important pot plants from a 

 market point of view, and the fine examples coming into the 

 markets for about six months out of the year find a very 

 ready sale. 



Its cultivation is remarkably simple, calling rather for un- 

 remitting care and attention than for skill. Almost invariably 

 it is grown from seed, the individual seed itself developing 

 into a small corm, throwing out roots from its base and foliage 

 from its crown. Under favourable conditions practically every 

 seed germinates, though it takes three or even four weeks to 

 do so. Years ago we saved the corms from year to year and 

 obtained quite -satisfactory results from them, as much as nine 

 or ten years old ; but, though some growers still do this, it is 

 found more economical to raise new plants from seed every 

 year, if the desiderata be marketable size plants. 



Seeds should be sown in January or February and again in 

 August. We ourselves rely upon the later sowing for our best 

 plants, as, without special treatment, these have ample time to 

 make first-class market stuff by November in the year following. 



As soon as the seedlings have thrown up a leaf, they are 

 large enough to transplant either into store-pots, pans or boxes, 

 using an ordinary mixture of loam, leaf soil and sand. Then 

 when four leaves have developed, they should be potted into 

 Go's, and will stand in these until April. We begin to pot them 

 into 48*5 (their flowering pots) in batches, picking out the 

 strongest each time. Firm potting in a rich soil is advisable, 

 and sometimes we put a little old cow manure just over the 

 crocks. They must be grown in frames or pits during the 

 summer months, where they can have space and an abundance 

 of air ; but of their cultivation from this stage we shall treat 

 later. We will now only, once again, insist upon the importance 



