34 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
purchased from nurserymen, but this must be done in the 
Summer or Autumn season. In mid-Winter the grown 
plants, budded or in full bloom, may be obtained from any 
Horist. However, if one wishes to try his hand at raising 
the plants from the start, seeds may be purchased and 
started in hotbeds or indoors in flats from January to the 
end of February. Cyclamen seeds should be planted in the 
soil at a depth of a little over twice their length, and they 
must be kept moist continually, though never left wet or 
soaking. Probably it will take the seeds three or four 
weeks to germinate. By the end of May the young plants 
may be removed to cold-frames. An eastern location is 
best for them. When they have been set out ten inches 
apart (the roots must be handled tenderly in the process) 
and have obtained some growth, little trenches should be 
made between the plants to receive, weekly, liquid manure. 
Then in the late Autumn they may be lifted and potted in 
six-inch pots, with a potting soil of loam and well-rotted 
manure. An east window exposure is best for them in- 
doors, and the temperature should be cool and even where 
they are placed, and the plants sprayed daily. If one wishes 
to save the corms of plants that have already been in blos- 
som, watering should be gradually lessened from day to 
day, until at last only enough is allowed to keep the roots 
from becoming absolutely dry. Then keep the corms cool 
during the Summer, turning them in the sandbox from side 
to side, never allowing them to dry out completely. They 
will be ready to set out in the fall. Mice are very fond of 
the Cyclamen corms, and care must be taken in storing 
these. The writer does not know if attention has been 
called to the fact that as soon as the blossoms have faded 
the stems of the Cyclamen begin to curl downward, burying 
the little seed pod in the soil near the base of the plant. This 
seems one of nature’s ingenious devices for keeping the seeds 
from birds. Among the recommended varieties of the 
Cyclamen are White Butterfly and Snowflake (white), 
Princess May (pink), Bush Hill Pioneer (various colors), 
January, 
Ig12 
An idea for the garden from foreign shores. Decorative plant-sticks for 
children’s gardens and for use as supports in potted house-plants 
Purple King (crimson), Salmon King (salmon), and Ro- 
coco, which has beautifully fringed flowers. One hundred 
seeds will cost from one to two and one half dollars, accord- 
ing to varieties, when purchased from any reliable seedman. 
Highly recommended pink and white varieties of the Cyclamen, one of the most attractive and exquisitely scented flowering plants for indoors 
