FLOEISTS' FLOWERS. 



So7 



camel-hair 'brush to the blooms of a plant of good 

 hahit and stiff well-marked foliage, which should in 

 all cases be indispensable in the seed-bearing plants. 

 In performing this some care is required, as the 

 female organs are extremely delicate, and will not 

 admit of any rough usage. The pollen should be 

 gently applied to the stigma, and it wiU be found that 

 at least a small portion has adhered, which is aU that 

 is required. Not more than six flowers on a large 

 plant should be allowed to seed, for if a greater num- 

 ber be retained the seed will be small, and the plants 



wiU soon come up above the foliage, forming quite a 

 coronet of turban-like blooms, which last a very- 

 long time in full beauty. 



It is well to grow a few from seed every year, 

 as the corms after they become three or four 

 years of age are scarcely worth growing, as the 

 flowers decrease very much both in quality and 

 quantity. 



In the process of potting, the soil should be 

 pressed down firmly, and the centre of the corm 

 should be slightly elevated above the soil, or the 



The Cyclamen. 



obtained fi-om it, in all probability, be wanting in 

 that vigour which is at all times so important in 

 seedlings. After fertilising the six best blooms, aU 

 others should be at once removed, and the plants put 

 by in a shady part of the green-house, but still having 

 as much light as possible ; and no place can better 

 suit them than a shelf protected from hot sun by 

 wood- work about one foot or eighteen inches from the 

 glass. The seeds ripen in about ten weeks, and they 

 can be sown at once, as previously directed. There is 

 a keen enjoyment in raising seedlings, the peculiar 

 deHght of which is known only to the enthusiastic 

 and painstaking florist. 



If Cyclamen bloom is wanted early, and a good 



succession kept, place a few at a time in a sHghtly 



warmer place, not forgetting that these plants cannot 



thrive in a close atmosphere. So treated, the flowers 



22 



young leaves and buds are apt to decay if too much 

 moisture is about them. 



The compact habit of the Cyclamen, and the 

 long foot-stalks on which the blooms are borne, 

 render them very useful for winter and spring 

 decoration, either as pot plants or when their 

 flowers are cut for the embellishment of the 

 house. 



There are some named varieties of the Cyclamen : 

 indeed, new varieties bearing names are being 

 introduced every year. But they are not sold, be- 

 cause the old system of propagation by means of 

 dividing the corms has been abandoned. But finding 

 that seed from many of these will reproduce the 

 variety, cultivators offer such seed for sale, and a 

 few, at least, of the leading varieties will be found 

 in the catalogues of most seedsmen. 



