335 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 1, 1859. 
but have some indenting on the edges ; some more, other 
sorts less; some longer; some rounder; all of them 
strangely variegated, spotted, and circled with white ; 
green about the middle of the leaves on the upper side, 
but that side underneath is red.” Again, about their 
flowers, he says, all of them in five divisions, “some of 
them a bright, shining, reddish purple as the vernal one; ” 
this is vermnn with the “ strangely-variegated leaves 
and “ another that flowers in the spring is of a pale 
purple: there are also vernal white ones, singlo and 
double.” This last is the true hederafoliiim of Clusius. 
Gilbert does not mention any one like our Coum. Like 
the rest of vis, he says, “ they seldom increase by roots ; 
therefore, are raised by seeds. The head or vessel that 
contains them shrinketh down, winding the stalk in a 
scroll about it, and lieth on the ground hid under the 
leaves, where it groweth great and round, containing 
some small seeds, which must- he sown as soon as ripe, in 
good light earth, in pots or boxes.” After two year’s 
nursing, just as we do, he says, “ probably they may 
yield you some variety, cither in flower, shape, or marking 
of their leaves.” 
This very shape and size of Cyclamen leaves, without 
crossing, have been set up by living botanists a3 marks of 
botanical species. Look at Cyclamen Neapolitanum, 
under the name of macrophyllum, in the “ Flore des 
Serves,” which is identical with Africanum, of English 
nurseries; because the plant came from Algiers, and 
because the leaves grow broader there than they do at 
Naples, and much broader in Naples than in Kent or 
Suffolk. But in all these localities, and in Sicily, this 
same Cyclamen always blooms in the autumn; and is the 
Ivy-leaved Cyclamen of Gilbert’s “ Vade Mecurn,” and 
of most British gardeners. But Clusius pre-occupied 
tho name of Ivy-leaf; and Tenore, finding Gilbert’s plant 
without a name, called it the Naples Cyclamen, or Neapo- 
litanum : and Planchon first, and Dr. Lindley second, 
ought to have seen to that, and not to have added to tho 
mass of confusion which I have been looking through 
to see if I could catch vernum. 
But, about propagating Cloves and Carnations in the 
spring, Gilbert says, “ Indeed, both spring and autumn 
are good seasons for making out roots.” From the 
middle of February to the middle of March, he says, is 
the best time for spring cuttings. First of all, he cut off 
whole shoots, and put them in water for twenty-four 
hours; then lie cut them at a “joynt,” just as we do, 
trimmed off the bottom leaves, and cut the tops off from 
those he left; put them in, as we do, in sifted soil, and in 
the shade, and watered them, from time to time, in dry 
weather. His name for them is “ Caryophyllus hortensis, 
called July flowers from the month they bloom in.” 
I shall try his way of layering Boses, and also this 
plan of spring cuttings of some Cloves and Carnations ; 
but I waut many results to establish the practice, from 
the hands of many witnesses. D. Beaton. 
SHORT CULTURAL NOTES. 
HEDYCHIUM CORONARIUM. 
“Wile this thrive in a common greenhouse? The 
stems are gone; and the roots look as if they were de¬ 
caying.”—It may be kept in a greenhouse in winter, in a 
temperature not often below 45°; provided the shoots 
were pretty well ripened-off the previous autumn, were 
removed before winter, and the roots were kept dryish 
all tho cold, dull season, with merely as much moisture as 
would prevent the roots shrivelling and drying up. This 
is often best effected by setting the pot on a damp sub¬ 
stance ; and, perhaps, surrounding it for half its depth 
with some substance rather moist than dry. The pot 
will thus absorb as much moisture as the plant needs; 
and there will be less likelihood of making the roots too 
moist in such a cool temperature, as would be apt to 
result from a careless watering of the pot. If the roots 
are rotting, the best thing to do would be to repot the 
plant at once into a much smaller pot, in sandy heath 
soil, and fibry sandy loam, and plunge it at once in a 
gentle, sweet bottom heat. If the roots were sound, all 
that would be required would be to shake part of the old 
soil away in March or so; repot in heath soil and loam ; 
give a little bottom heat, if possible—or if not, hothouse- 
heat, at least, until the month of June, by which time you 
might expect the flowers to come with their delicious 
scent, and pure white colour at the points of the shoots. 
When done flowering, the plants should be kept in a high 
temperature, fully exposed to the sun, and a fair supply 
of water given for a month or so ; and t hen water should 
be gradually withheld, that the shoots may be ripened 
thoroughly. Except when in bloom, and for the purpose 
of prolonging it, and when in a state of rest in winter, I 
consider that the plant will not succeed well in a common 
greenhouse. 
HEDYCHIUM GARDNERIANUM. 
“My master bought this under the impression that it 
is hardy. It is now four or five feet high. 1 think it 
requires heat.”—You are so far correct ; but yet it is 
hardier than the one mentioned above. The word 
“ hardy ” is a relative and comparative term. When 
no data of comparison are given to us, we associate the 
word “ hardy,” as respects a plant, with its powers to 
exist and thrive under the usual changes of our climate. 
Taking the word in this meaning, I would say decidedly 
that the plant is not hardy. I cannot vouch for the 
fact; but 1 think it is just possible, that in some shel¬ 
tered nooks of Devonshire and Cornwall, and the south 
of Ireland, where a few degrees below the freezing-point 
are considered verv severe — that the plant, if kept dry 
at the roots, might survive the winter, and throw up 
strong shoots in spring, which would bloom in the end of 
summer and the commencement of autumn. Even if this 
supposition were confirmed, the hardiness of the plant 
would be by no means proved as respects our general 
climate. One gentleman last season brought me a list of 
a number of Cannas he saw blooming out of doors in 
France. Another directed my attention to the some¬ 
what-tropical aspect given to some of the flower-beds at 
the Crystal Palace, by having such large-leaved plants in 
their centre : and both contended that the plants must be 
hardy, or they would not be there. Now, with much 
more justice might we contend that the whole race of 
greenhouse and bedding plants are hardy. It is true 
that some plants prove exceptions to the rules we other¬ 
wise should have derived from the latitude and the 
position of their native habitats; and therefore it is well, 
for experiment, to leave out such plants as Hedycliiums, 
Cannas, &c., to see what our winter will do for them. A 
gentleman from India once told me that he had seen 
masses of this Hedychium in great splendour, growing in 
rich alluvial soil—exposed to great heat and moisture at 
one season, and great heat and dryness at another. I 
believe these facts will furnish the key that will open the 
secret to its most successful culture. As far as 1 recol¬ 
lect, Mr. Beaton told us lately that this plant was 
flourishing, this winter, in the cool greenhouse conser¬ 
vatory end of the Crystal Palace, so far as the healthiness 
of the leaves was concerned. I presume, however, the 
plant wa 3 in the soil, or plunged, and not exposed in a 
pot. This makes a matter of considerable importance. 
We have as yet had scarcely any winter. Such a 
house, moreover, encloses such a vast body of air, that it 
would be long before plants near the floor would be 
greatly cooled. I should be a little doubtful if such a 
plant, kept in the near neighbourhood of Rhododendrons, 
would have heat enough in summer to bloom and ripen 
its shoots sufficiently for another season; and, no doubt, 
our friend will be sure to inform us. Even if that should 
take place so as to surpass our expectations, I should be 
