307 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRA GENTLEMAN, February 15, 1859. 
that. Nature made no difference, that I know of, between 
species and varieties of Cyclamens. When any one of 
them comes to he long under cultivation, the seedlings 
from it vary in the leaves, and sometimes in the shade of 
colour, both of tire leaf and flower. But the common 
Oak and Scotch Fir do the same in their way. However, 
the charge was made against what I said, lately, about 
the right names of Cyclamens. That story has brought 
up one Cyclamen vernum, as I believe, without seeing it; 
and that letter put me on my metal, to see who was right. 
I spent hours in the library of the Horticultural Society, 
tracing out the names aud the figures of all the race of 
Cyclamens. C. litorale seems, indeed, a wild species, 
belonging to the same section as Coum and vernum, and 
a larger flower than either of them, which is a pale red ; 
but it may be a seedling from Coum, or Coum from it. No 
one now can possibly decide that point; and Coum earneum, 
which is now in bloom before me, is as like litorale as 
any two plants can be in looks, where these two plants 
grow wild. They have been favourites, in cultivation, for 
more than two hundred years, and could only be had from 
seeds; so that I can see no possibility, or any use at 
all, for making out what is called a true species of more 
than one of-them. 
But vernum must be a distinct species from the rest. 
Sweet had it in cultivation at Colvill’s Nursery, and 
figured it among the first plants in his “ British Flower 
Garden.” He says the plant is stronger than Coum; 
“ and the leaves and flowers are produced on a kind of 
short, flat stem, that branches from the tuber, not directly 
from the crown of the tuber, as in Persicum and Coum.” 
No other Cyclamen makes these “short flat stems,” 
from which leaves and flowers issue. 
About that time (1825), the practice at Colvill’s Nur¬ 
sery, and other places, was to put up bulbs and tubers, 
and the gouty-stemmed Geraniums, on dry shelves to 
rest; and to repot them when they showed a disposition 
to grow. Plant-houses were then kept much drier than 
they are now; aud under those circumstances, this 
Cyclamen vernum did not bloom till the beginning of 
March : but that circumstance, or the “ short, flat stems,” 
has not been mentioned by any subsequent writer. 
Sweet also says the style of vernum is exerted, and that 
the plant seeds freely if it is dusted with its own pollen. 
Then it follows that it may be retarded to meet, for 
crossing, the spring Cyclamens, or be pushed on to 
bloom at the end of the autumn, to cross with late 
specimens of Neapolitanum, the latest in the autumn. 
PLepandum has no vestige of a title to be called a species. 
Sweet gives a figure of it from a cultivated plant; but 
long before him a better and more true representation 
of it, was given by Sibthorp, in his “Flora Greeca,” 
where the name is first given to a weak plant of the now 
hedercefoliuni. Bindley’s Cyclamen Clusii, is just the 
same as C. Puropceum, but not the then-supposed 
Pur op (cum; for Sweet figures the true Puropceum, and 
remarks on it, that “ the plant sold in British nurseries 
is nothing else than the British hederafolium.” Also, 
that “ the fragrans exceeds almost that of every other 
plant with which he was acquainted.” Dr. Bindley makes 
the same remark on the same plant,—his Clusii. It 
“ emits so delicious an odour, that no plant can be better 
calculated for ornamenting a lady’s boudoir.” 
With the single exception of litorale, about which no one 
can ever be quite certain, I see no reason to alter a single 
syllable of what I formerly said about species and false 
names among Cyclamens. 
In conclusion, allow me to register my vote in favour 
of keeping the most valuable library of the Horticultural 
Society, at whatever sacrifice. I know of only one other 
copy than that which i3 there of the “ Flora Graeca,”— 
the most expensive of all the books in any of our own 
public institutions,— the Botanic Garden at Oxford, 
where I first consulted it with Mr. Baxter, the curator. 
D. Beaton. 
PEAS: THEIR CHBTURE AND THEIR 
MIBDEW. 
Perhaps there is no other vegetable in such general 
esteem as the Pea; none, I think, that most persons 
can partake of so frequently during the season without 
satiety, unless it be the Potato. "The latter is a sort 
of second bread, scarcely to be termed a dainty; but 
the Pea is rather a luxury ; and I have known persons, 
particularly fond of them, eat them at breakfast, dinner, 
and supper, for a w r eek or two continuously. No wonder 
that such encouragement is given to the raising of new 
kinds. In the descriptions given of the latter, much is 
claimed on account of their fine flavour ; but, I would 
here ask, has any advance been made in the flavour of 
Peas since the introduction of Knight's Wrinkled 
Marrow —the original, I mean, which first appeared 
nearly fifty years since ? I w ell remember first tasting 
them, boiled together with bacon, about that period, 
and have never tasted richer Peas since. No: the real 
progress has consisted in producing a clwarfer class of 
the Marrowfat section ; aud this is no small boon to the 
gardening world. A plaguing question with most gar¬ 
deners, even in places of consideration, has been the pea- 
stick affair, for if they can be readily obtained, the time 
of dressing them is very considerable, or appears so, 
where there is deficiency of labour. It is somewhat re¬ 
markable at first thought, to consider the fact, that almost 
any decent soil that will produce a good Cabbage, will also 
give pretty good crops of Peas of the earlier sections ; yet, 
that many of these soils will not produce good late crops 
of the same or any other kinds. I have heard very 
sapient persons argue in high sounding words, about the 
cause of mildew; one insisting it is in the soil itself; 
another, that the atmosphere had to answer for it. It 
must be solely one or the other, or neither disputant 
would be triumphant. But, surely in considering about 
mildew, we may take both into consideration ; and whilst 
admitting that heat, and, more especially, aridity in the 
atmosphere, are peculiarly favourable to the spread of 
mildew, inquire also whether there are not conditions 
of soil favourable to this pest, whilst others are averse to 
it. My notion of this mildew, the Prysiphe communis, 
is, that an over-high elaboration of juices, through heat, 
much solar light, and, consequently, aridity of atmo¬ 
sphere, changes the character of the sap ; and that certain 
exudations produce a character of epidermis, just suitable 
to the mildew. Now, I hold also, that admitting such 
to be the ease, the only means at command are to pro¬ 
mote a much greater degree of absorption by the roots, 
and increased activity. In addition, if the soil in the 
vicinity of the Peas could be damped over by an engine, 
or otherwise, every morning early, it would, doubtless, 
be a benefit. As to root-watering, for my part I am 
somewhat jealous of it, and think it best so to prepare 
the soil as scarcely to need it. Those who sow in weak 
and hot soils, will, of course, be driven to watering : but 
it should be weak liquid manure, and of the temperature 
of 80°. 
Our readers in the main, are, perhaps, aware that the 
Pea is liable to what is called shanking; and that the 
stem, at the very surface of the ground, is tender. Every 
means, therefore, should be taken not to injure this part; 
and I think it not unlikely, that water applied in hot 
afternoons in summer, when the soil and all around it 
breathe a temperature of some 80°, perhaps, and the 
water only 60° to G0°, is productive of some injury at the 
tender part alluded to. 
It becomes me now to talk about the proper prepara¬ 
tion of the soil so as to avoid mildew, if possible. In the 
first place, I am all for deep digging, or trenching, in 
kitchen gardens. Few gardens get more of this than 
ours; few produce a greater abundance of superior 
vegetables—Carrots alone excepted. Give me a deep l’oot, 
with a nourishing and moist medium below, and I give 
