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1S53.] THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. 3^3 



V^! April. Keeping the plants cool and rather dry will retard their bios-', V 

 v soms until March, and placing them in a temperature of from 45° to V 

 50° will bring them into full beauty in a very short time. The plants ) 

 may be kept in a cold pit, where they will be safe from the frost, un- 

 til they commence flowering, and then they should be removed to a 

 sitting room window, where, with care to protect them from currents 

 of cold air, they will be quite at home, and will be beautiful objects 

 for some two monshs; the best situation, however, for Cyclamens, while 

 growing and in flower, is near the glass in a greenhouse or pit, where 

 the temperature may average from 40° to 50°, and where air can be 

 admitted without ils passing over the plants, as is the case in most sit- 

 ing room windows. 



It is a too common practice to treat Cyclamens with neglect direct- 

 ly the beauty of the flowers is over, and to give them little attention, 

 and sometimes hardly a drop of water until the following autumn, 

 when they are wanted in flower. This is the very reverse of what 

 they require, and annually occasions the loss of many bulbs. The 

 plants should be allowed a light airy situation in the greenhouse or 

 pit, and kept properly supplied with water until May, when they may 

 be removed to a shady situation out of doors ; and when the leaves de- 

 cay, very little water need be given until it is desired to excite the 

 plants into growth : the soil, however, should never be allowed to be- 

 come quite dry. My own practice is to plunge the pots in coal ashes 

 during the summer, which in case of long continued droughts, are wa- 

 tered, so as 1o afford a little moisture to the soil in the pots. The 

 plants should be moved to the greenhouse in September, and surface- 

 dressed or potted as may be necessary. 



Propagation is more readily effected by seeds than by any other 

 method, for although large bulbs occasionally produce several crowns, 

 there is considerable risk in separafing them, as decay is apt to follow 

 the track of the knife. Seeds, however, soon grow into useful plants. 

 They should be collected when ripe, and sown in well drained pots, 

 filled with a mixture of loam, leaf soil and sharp sand, and set in a safe 

 situation till autumn. They germinate soonest by placing the pots in 

 September in a temperature of about 50°, taking care to keep the soil 

 well supplied with water. If well looked after during winter, they 

 will be nice little plants towards April, and may be potted singly in 

 five inch pots, taking care not to injure the roots in separafing the 

 plants. They should be placerl in a close shady situation until estab- 

 lished in their pots, and then set in a light airy part of the greenhouse. 

 When the weather become? warm and settled, they may be planted in J 

 C raised beds of prepared soil on a warm border; and during summer r p 

 f*^ will require no further attention than an occasional watering ill case GA 



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