542 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 18, 1884. 
introduction, in habit, size, with brilliancy of flower, and 
purity of colour, and this I believe to be due almost entirely 
to careful cultivation. We have all heard of Veitch’s strain, 
Williams’ choice strain. Carter’s superb strain, Sutton’s 
prize strain, and the Aigburth strain, and I believe they are 
all very good, comprising, as they do, good habit and large 
flowers of various shades of colour, from purest white to deep 
crimson. 
Cyclamen persicum and its varieties may be had in flower 
from the begining of September until the end of March, or 
even the end of April. In order to grow them successfully 
very careful treatment is required. The seed should be sown 
in September in shallow seed pans, and the pans placed on 
a shelf close to the glass in a warm greenhouse or cool stove, 
where the temperature will be about 60°, shaded from the 
sun, and the soil kept constantly moist. The seed will 
germinate in about six weeks, and as soon as the first leaf 
is developed the seedlings should be placed singly in 2-inch 
pots, and still kept in the same temperature close up to 
the light, but shaded from the sun. They may remain in 
these pots until the beginning of February, when they should 
be shifted into 3^-mch pots, and still kept in a similar tem¬ 
perature, and sprinkled occasionally in the mornings of bright 
days; and as the season advances the young plants will make 
rapid growth, which must be encouraged, and great care 
must be taken to avoid giving them a check in any way. 
The plants will do in these pots till about the beginning of 
June, when they may be placed into warm pits for ten days 
or a fortnight, and then transferred into 5 or 5|^-inch pots. 
After potting they should be kept close, syringed, o^ 
sprinkled with a fine-rose watering can, and shaded for a 
time until the roots have taken to the new soil, when air 
may be admitted freely. They should still be shaded from 
the sun, syringed twice a day, and the house closed at night. 
The larger size pot will be a good one to flower them in, but 
if extra large plants are required the best and largest of them 
may be potted again about the end of July or the beginning 
of August, this time into 7-inch or 8-inch pots. By the end 
of October the plants in the smaller pots will be 10 inches 
across, and those in the larger pots 15 inches across, carrying 
from 100 to 200 flowers each, provided the plants have done 
well. Thus by following the course I have indicated. Cycla¬ 
men persicum can be grown 15 inches in diameter in thirteen 
months from the time of sowing seed. To flower them well 
they should be placed in a light airy house with the tempera¬ 
ture from 50° to 55°. 
If Cyclamens are required to be kept and grown for more 
than one year they should be allowed to rest for about two 
months after flowering, and they might be either planted 
out or stood out in the pots in a partly shaded position. 
In this latter case the soil should not be allowed to become 
dry, but be watered regularly though sparingly. If planted 
out they will be less trouble in this respect; and as soon as 
they show signs of starting into growth again they should 
be potted without reducing the ball much, placed in a cold 
frarne, and shaded from the hot sun, at the same time plenty 
of air should be admitted. They must be kept perfectly free 
from insects, and if the plants can be induced to make free 
growth they will be exceedingly fine, and produce an 
abundance of flowers ; but if they have been subjected to the 
high cultivation I have recommended they will barely be 
worth counting on after the first year, as the corms will be 
much exhausted, consequently they seldom start freely into 
growth, and young seedlings are much more reliable for 
making good plants. 
The soil I have found to suit Cyclamens best is a mixture 
of three parts good fibrous loam, two parts good leaf mould 
—the latter not too much decayed—and a sprinkling of 
silver sand, with the addition of a little Clay’s Fertiliser, 
say, a 5^-inch potful to a barrow-load of the compost. 
Cyclamens, like most other plants, are subject to several 
insect pests. Green fly, red spider, and thrips are the most 
troublesome. Red spider will be kept down by free unchecked 
growth. Green fly and thrips may be kept under by fumi¬ 
gating with tobacco paper, or if the plants are in shallow 
pits where fumigating will be difiicult and hazardous, the 
plants should be constantly syringed with a weak solution 
made by boiling quassia chips, and mixing softsoap with 
the liquor. Wo are told that Cyclamens are the favourite 
food of the wild boars of Sicily, hence] the English name 
‘ Sowbread.” 
RENOVATING EXHAUSTED VINES. 
Op the different causes that occasion the exhaustion of, or 
decline of vigour and fruitfulness, in Vines, probably the most 
common one is to be found in the system of training the rods 
too c osely together, or, in other words, overcrowding the wood 
and foliage. Overcrowding and overcropping are unfortunately 
too often combined. Examples are sometimes seen where one or 
two small houses are devoted to Grape-growing, the objects 
evidently being to secure as much fruit as possible from the 
limited space at command, with no regard to the permanent 
vigour of the Vines. The crops, too, it need hardly be added, 
whether as regards size of bunch and berry, flavour or finish, 
are always inferior to the crops of such Vines as are allowed 
sufficient space, all other details being attended to. 
What adds very materially to the weakening effects of over¬ 
crowding is the strain put upon Vines suffering in this way 
when they are started into growth eai'ly in the season with fire 
heat. Early forcing is necessarily weakening to the strongest of 
Vines, and it is on this account that the system of forcing per¬ 
manent Vines has, in many large places, been discontinued, the 
early supply being kept up from pot Vines. 
In some cases, when means are being used for the renovation 
of Vines which have become exhausted by overcrowding, it is to 
be feared the real cause is not recognised. In one instance I 
know of the border was renewed, while the branches or rods, 
which were only some 18 inches apart, were left undisturbed. 
A year or two afterwards nearly half of the old rods were re¬ 
moved by a new gardener, and forthwith the Vines improved 
rapidly, simply because the increased vigour of the top growth 
was accompanied by correspondingly vigorous root-action. De¬ 
spite the advantage of a new border, the improvement in these 
Vines could never have been so marked had the overcrowding 
system been continued. I have known Vines wonderfully reno¬ 
vated in the course of four years without resorting to the usual 
remedy of renewing the border, by a careful system of removing 
old and training up young rods annually. Not only was the 
improvement very remarkable at the end of the time referred to, 
but a supply of fairly useful fruit was maintained from the time 
the renovating process started. With reference to the border, it 
was often remarked thatitmust have beencomposed of thoroughly 
good material, and also well constructed mechanically. The 
Vines were thirty years old at the time to which the above 
remarks refer, and with the exception of covering the border 
in winter nothing had been done to it from the time they were 
planted. 
There are two large vineries in the gardens on the ancient 
estate of Enterkine, near Ayr, which afford a striking example 
of the recuperative powers of old exhausted Vines. According 
to information furnished by one of the oldest gardeners in this 
county, these Vines are upwards a century old. As to their 
history for the greater part of that time I have no knowledge, 
but the present gardener, Mr. Hill, informed me that when he 
took charge of them about eight years ago, so overcrowded and 
neglected was the appearance of the houses that they reminded 
him of a Bramble bank. Nothing daunted, however, Mr. Hill, 
with characteristic energy, addressed himself to the task, if 
possible, of putting them into a more satisfactory condition. 
In renewing the borders the roots were not disturbed, but were 
simply laid bare, so that they might readily lay hold on the 
compost of which the new border was made. Young wood has 
been encouraged and trained up, and the old wood removed. 
During the last few j^ears, so great has been the improvement on 
these Vines, that Mr. Hill’s employers remarked that he had 
wrought a miracle on them. On visiting the gardens last summer 
early in June, the earliest house was far advanced, a few of the 
bunches being ripe. The Vines were carrying a very creditable 
crop, and no trace of red spider was visible. Overcrowding is 
not tolerated, Mr. Hill’s idea being that every leaf on the Vines 
should be exposed to the light. 
The effect of regular top-dressings in producing surface 
roots, which greatly promote the heaTh of Vines, is noteworthy. 
Shortly after the subject was brought before the readers of the 
Journal last January by one of the most reliable authorities on 
