156 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[June 13. 
I F we wished to produce the most powerful evidence of 
what the florist’s skill may effect in the course of some 
ten or fifteen years, we think we should select The 
Cinerama, and exhibit drawings of what were considered 
first-rate flowers even as late as 1840, by the side of the 
best specimens of the present day, such as Madame 
Miellez, from a sprig of which our illustration is 
taken. 
The Cineraria cruenta, or Bloody-leaved Cineraria, 
was introduced into England as long since as 1777, from 
the Canary Islands; and this, we have little doubt, is 
the parent of the beautiful varieties which are now 
the most unfailing ornaments of our greenhouses in the 
winter and spring months. Cineraria lanata, or Woolly 
Cineraria, a single and larger-flowered species, intro¬ 
duced from the same islands in 1780, and Cineraria popu- 
lifolia, or Poplar-leaved Cineraria, probably had some¬ 
thing to do with the parentage. The two first-named 
have purple, and the Poplar-leaved has red flowers. 
Would not a still greater diversity of colours be obtained 
among the offspring if Cineraria geifolia, which has 
yellow flowers, and Cineraria gigantea, or some other of 
the white petaled species, were one of the parents ? 
The earliest raiser of varieties of the Cineraria was 
Mr. James Drummond, Curator of the Botanic Gardens 
at Cork, in 1827; and he then stated that he annually 
cultivated many. Cinerarias were his great greenhouse 
favourites; and he says, “except in cases when it 
becomes desirable to preserve any particular variety for 
its superior beauty, I prefer raising the Cineraria cruenta 
every year from seeds, which the plant perfects with me 
in the months of April and May. Care should be taken 
to select the finest varieties, and those which produce 
the largest and finest heads of flowers. The plants 
must be attended to daily when ripening their seeds, as 
the flowers retain their beauty until the very day the 
seeds are scattered with the wind,—a remarkable and 
valuable property in this fine winter flower.” 
It is needless to follow the steps of the various florists 
who soon crowded the market with varieties, for they 
were all more or less star-like, thin, pointed-petaled, and 
in other ways inferior. Mr. Glenny, somewhere about 
the year 1844, was the first to point out the characteristic 
excellencies the flower can be made to attain; and which 
excellencies if not possessed by a specimen should 
exclude it from the prize list. 
1. The petals should be tliick, broad, blunt, and 
smooth at the ends, closely set, and form a circle without 
much indentation. 
2. The centre or disk should rise boldly, and almost 
j equal to lialf-globularly, above the petals, and be not 
| much more than one-fifth of the diameter of the whole 
flower: in other words, the coloured circle formed by the 
petals should be about twice as wide all round as the 
disk measures across. 
3. The colour of the petals should be brilliant, whether 
shaded or self; or if it be a white, it should be very pure. 
That of the disk should harmonize with that of the 
petals. 
4. The trasses of flowers should be large, close, and 
even on the surface,—the individual flowers standing 
together with their edges touching each other, however 
numerous they may be. 
5. The stems strong, and not longer than the width 
across the foliage; in other words, from the upper sui face 
of the truss of flower to the leaves where the stem starts 
