96 
my table with forty blossoms and ten 
buds, and it certainly was a beautiful 
sight. I now have sixteen small plants 
in the house. 
Mrs. F. C. Yelverton. 
Sow the seed as early as August or 
late July in a five inch flower pot, using 
a soil one-fourth sand, one-fourth friable 
leaf mould and one-half good loam, all 
put through a quarter inch mesh sieve. 
I say “flower-pot” because with all the 
seeds of these greenhouse plants I get 
better germination and stronger seed- 
ings by starting in pots than boxes, I 
presume because the sides of the pot 
admit a certain amount of air to the 
dirt. Place the seeds, not more than 
20 to a pot, on the surface of the soil. 
With the end of a match push the seed 
into the dirt about one-eighth inch. 
The soil must not dry out during the 
germination period, not even once, nor 
must it be muddy. The best way to 
water is to set the pot in a pan of 
water until the surface of the soil is all 
moist. This may take hours or a much 
less time according to the nature of 
the soil, but then take the pan away. 
Repeat the process when the surface 
commences to dry. Twenty-one days 
is the minimum germination period 
and forty about the maximum. Keep 
just on the edge of sunlight at all times 
until November 1st, when plant can be 
put in full sun in a warm room. 
Do not expect rapid growth. Six to 
eight small but sturdy leaves should 
be all that is produced by, say Feb. 1st. 
When the third leaf appears put into 
three inch pots with the bulb just half 
way into the soil, never more. Potting 
soil should be the same as for the seed. 
These pots will accommodate your 
plants till the following mid-summer, 
when they should go into five inch. 
You should again put your plants on 
the edge of the sunlight about April 1st 
and keep them there till October. Nine- 
teen to twenty-four months are re- 
quired generally to flower a Cyclamen. 
The temperature requirements are cool 
tops and warm roots so do not put on 
your lowest window in the house but 
rather on a shelf midway and always 
take out of the window on cool nights. 
Florists sow Cyclamen seed in Sep- 
tember but have facilities for getting 
more rapid growth than is possible in 
the house. 
Paul L. Ward. 
After it was seemingly settled that 
the American Gladiolus Society’s an- 
nual show would be in Boston, the 
question of holding the show in Cleve- 
land was taken up, and this location 
was seemingly settled on. Now, at 
the last moment, we have word that 
the offer of the Massachusetts Horti- 
cultural Society to hold the show with 
them in August is still open, and that 
the American Gladiolus Society’s an- 
nual flower show will be held in Horti- 
cultural Hall, Boston, Mass., in August, 
exact dates to be published later. Bos- 
ton is a good flower show town and the 
facilities offered by the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society are equal to any 
in the country. 
ZBfye ^Flower (Brower 
Seeds from Past Ages. 
[ IV \ ritten expressly for The Flower Grovier. ] 
I have a little opinion about your note 
on page 40 in March number. You 
seem to believe that seeds sprout up 
from past ages and that there springs 
up very unusual and unknown plants 
upon battlefields and excavated places. 
Most of these supposed instances are 
stories or opinions. The vitality of 
seeds is not so great as this would nec- 
essitate. The stories of seeds from the 
pyramids thousands of years old are 
thought to be myths. Seeds are living 
emDryo plants, they seem to be able to 
rest just so long and then their viability 
is destroyed, for seeds are never per- 
fectly dormant or quiet. There is a 
gradual change in the protoplasm of the 
seeds, it is slowly coagulating. The 
reason why strange seeds seem to 
spring up in these excavated areas is 
that the soil is adapted to only a few 
sorts of plants; they thrive and multiply, 
because they do not compete with the 
multitude of other plants. 
It is the same question as the growth 
of Pines, some persons believe that 
Pines do not like good soil because they 
grow out of crevices of rocks and on bar- 
ren hillsides. The point is that in fertile 
soil the Pine is crowded out by other 
trees. Many of the deciduous trees, 
needing richer soil than these barren 
Pine areas, they do not get a start in the 
poor soil. Then again, Meadow Sorrel 
is associated with acid and sour fields 
because the Sorrel is one plant that will 
grow in sour soil, the others do not 
prefer it. The Fire weed springs up 
over areas of burned forests because the 
conditions are adapted to this one plant; 
gradually the conditions are altered, 
and other plants get a start. It is very 
doubtful whether these plants have 
started from seeds already in the soil. 
By various methods they are carried to 
these areas. 
Experiments have been conducted to 
determine the longevity of seeds and 
none lasted over twenty-five years, 
most of our seeds are useless after ten 
years. 
Alfred C. Hottes. 
Growing the Cineraria. 
By ERNEST BISSON. 
\lVritten expressly for The Flower Grower . ] 
The Cineraria is a cool greenhouse 
plant and is very popular with private 
gardeners for greenhouse and conserv- 
atory decoration. It is also grown to 
some extent by commercial growers 
and good plants can usually be seen in 
the Florists’ windows in season. 
Cineraria seed can be sown any time 
from May to September, I would not 
advise the Commercial Florist to sow 
before July as the plants are rather 
difficult to carry over during the hot 
summer weather. Seeds sown in July 
will make flowering plants by February 
and March. Sow the seed in well 
drained pans or shallow flats in light 
soil composed of equal parts of loam 
and leaf-soil with a little sand added. 
The soil in the pans or flats should be 
leveled and pressed moderately firm 
June, 1920 
then well watered, after it has drained, 
the seed should be sown thinly and 
evenly over the surface, enough soil 
should then be sifted over the seed to 
just barely cover it, then press lightly 
with a piece of board. The pans or 
flats can then be covered with a pane of 
glass to prevent too rapid drying out. 
As soon as the seedlings appear the 
glass should be removed and the pans 
or flats removed to a cool part of the 
greenhouse and given a light shade, as 
soon as the seedlings are large enough 
to handle they can be pricked off in flats, 
and later potted into three inch pots. 
The soil should consist of good loam 
and about one-fourth of well rotted 
manure. The plants should never be 
allowed to dry out, nor should they be 
over watered. 
They should be kept as cool as pos- 
sible and shaded from the direct sun, 
a suitable shade can be made of cotton 
cloth tacked to a frame or a frame made 
of builders’ laths spaced about one inch 
apart. The shade should be removed 
during dull weather, on all bright days 
the foliage of the plants can be sprayed 
over, also damp down between the pots. 
Do not allow them to starve in small 
pots but repot as soon as well rooted to 
four or five inch pots, when potting 
into larger pots use a coarse unsifted 
soil with one-third of well rotted cow 
manure and add a four inch pot of bone 
meal to every bushel of soil. Cinerarias 
flower well in five or six inch pots but 
to get large specimen plants they should 
be repotted into eight or ten inch pots 
never allowing them to have a check of 
any kind. The pots should be well 
drained with plenty broken crocks and 
coarse ashes to make sure they never 
become waterlogged. Cinerarias are 
very subject to green fly and should be 
sprayed with an insecticide and have a 
regular weekly fumigation to keep them 
clean. Tobacco stems spread on the 
bench between the pots and renewed 
every two or three weeks helps to keep 
down green fly and other insect pests. 
Two varieties are commonly grown 
Cineraria Grandiflora and Stellata. 
Catalogues and Price Lists. 
“ Rain for the Asking ” is the title of the catalogue 
of the Skinner Irrigation Co., Troy, Ohio. It consists (| 
of 28 pages and cover and is an exceptionally compre- 
hensive. complete and well illustrated catalogue of the 
Skinner Irrigation System. The illustrations espe- 
cially convey information, which, in connection with 
the reading matter, give a very clear idea of the de- 6 
tails of the Skinner System as installed for various j j 
purposes, This system is adaptable not only to out- 
door irrigation, but to greenhouse irrigation as well. 
A copy of this catalogue will be sent on request and 
it will prove useful for reference purposes. 
H. E. Meader, Dover, N. H.,— Retail catalogue and 
pricelist of Gladioli. The Kunderd varieties are espe- 
cially prominent and descriptions particularly good. A 
very select list of the best foreign and home originated 
varieties are also given. A list of five of Mr. Meader's 
seedlings are offered for the first time. 
Carlson's Dahlia Gardens, 2526 Fourth St., Boulder, 
Colo.— A very complete and well classified retail cata- 
logue and price list of Dahlias. 
Lester B. Lindsley, 608-2nd Ave., West Haven, 
Conn.— Retail catalogue of Dahlias. The descriptions | 
are especially good. 
u 
Orchadotte Nurseries. Franklin Brunt. Prop., 
West Point. Montgomery, Co., Pa.— First edition of 
Brunt's Garden Guide 20 pages and cover. Very 
complete catalogue of Herbaceous Perennials and 
Gladioli. 
