CyCLAMEN 251 



green lanceolate leaves, which produces its clear pink 

 flowers all through the summer. It comes from New South 

 Wales. 



Cyclamen. 



A genus of Primulacem, invaluable as spring decorative 

 plants ; but though so attractive and useful for bouquet- 

 making at a season when flowers are especially valuable, 

 it has, till within a few years, been very much neglected. 

 The varieties of C. perdcum, to which we shall principally 

 confine ourselves in these pages, have been intercrossed with 

 great success, and are charming objects, producing their 

 elegant flowers from October to May. They should be culti- 

 vated everywhere, for few plants are more easily managed 

 or more beautiful. 



These plants can only be increased by seed, which should 

 be sown as soon after it is ripe as possible, in August or 

 September, in 6-inch pots, and be placed in a temperature 

 between 60° and 70°. If carefully attended to, by being grown 

 in heat and kept shifted whenever the pots have become filled 

 with roots, the plants may be bloomed in a year, while two 

 or even three years are required when they are treated in a 

 negligent manner. After blooming, they must be carefully 

 watered until the leaves decay, gradually withholding it then 

 until none is required, when they should be put into a frame, 

 or some such place, where they can be protected from.heavy 

 rains. Potting should be done, or the surface of the soil 

 renewed, just before the corms start into growth. The soil 

 best adapted for them is a mixture of fibrous loam, good leaf 

 mould, and well-decomposed manure, in equal parts, with a 

 liberal addition of silver sand. 



If a good stock of these plants is kept up, it is quite 

 possible, by starting a batch at different times, to have a 



