44 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ March, 
guard-leaves. Pip large, strikingly bold, round 
and flat. Tube good yellow, which lasts, bold 
and circular. Paste dense, smooth, broad and 
bright and circular. Body black, of very solid 
volume, with bold blunt dashes into the area 
of the edge, on which, however, it does not 
trespass. Edge a pure rich green, of sufficient 
width. 
I think among the Green-edges these few 
will suffice to stand as foreground-figures repre¬ 
sentative of their class. Other known varieties 
of less prominent position and so less coveted 
may, if need be, stand in less full outline behind 
these foremost ones; while seedlings as yet 
unknown away from home may hereafter form 
a group of themselves, when they shall have 
given sufficient earnest of a brilliant career.—■ 
F. D. Horner, Kirkby Malzeard, Rip on. 
MARKET PLANTS.—II. 
Cyclamens and Mignonette. 
Persian Cyclamen is one of the 
iest autumn-flowering plants sent 
i market. It is grown in enormous 
quantities for this purpose, and it is valuable, 
in that it supplies charming pot-plants, as well 
as an abundance of cut flowers. During the 
past fifteen or twenty years, quite a revolution 
has taken place in the treatment of the Cyclamen 
persicum , and one of many advantages resulting 
therefrom is that it has now ceased to be a 
spring-flowering plant merely, but is to be 
had in flower as early as October, while by 
means of successional sowing, relays of plants 
can be had up to April and May. Two old 
practices have passed away into the limbo of 
exploded notions ; one was the roasting pro¬ 
cess,—that of placing the bulbs out-doors 
fully exposed to the sun, for the purpose of 
ripening them off, as it was supposed ; the other, 
of dividing the bulbs, or conns, as they are 
termed, for propagating purposes. This was 
always a risky and unsatisfactory, as well as a 
slow mode of increase. 
The grower of Cyclamens for market sows 
his seed in August, soon after it is gathered. 
It is said the seed will germinate much 
more quickly and more regularly when sown 
directly after being gathered than if kept to 
the following spring; be this as it may, 
August sowing is a great advantage in 
point of time. At sowing-time a large 
number of 48 or 5-in. pots are prepared, well 
drained, and filled with a good light soil, of 
which leaf-mould and silver-sand form a good 
proportion. From a dozen to fifteen seeds are 
sown in each pot, and pressed down firmly into 
the soil. The pots are then placed in a low 
span-roofed house, where there is a gentle 
bottom-heat, the house being devoted entirely 
to Cyclamen-raising. The surface-soil is kept 
moist, and pieces of glass are placed over the 
pots containing anything of more than usual 
value. The pots are stood on high level stages, 
bringing them as near the glass as possible. By 
the end of September the seed-leaves are 
visible, and through the autumn and winter the 
young plants are kept gently moving on in a 
warm, moist atmosphere, and green-fly is kept 
down by constant attention. 
As soon as the turn of days is reached—say 
the third week in January—the plants are 
carefully lifted from the seed-pots and potted 
singly into small 60-pots, and kept in a warm 
and somewhat close temperature for a time. 
By the end of February they are brought nearer 
the light and also to the glass, but still keeping 
them close and warm. The first three or four 
leaves, being the seed-leaves, soon fall away. 
Then the corms swell quickly, and put forth leaves 
showing the peculiar markings of the variety. 
During April and May the most forward plants 
will be potted into 48 or 5-in. pots, the usual 
blooming size; and these are grown on to 
flower in October following, being kept during 
the summer in cold frames, kept freely watered, 
shaded from the sun, receiving plenty of air, 
and being grown as sturdy as possible. As 
some of the seeds will be quicker to start into 
growth than others, a batch of seedlings will be 
certain to provide a good succession. At the 
end of September, as the plants open for bloom, 
they are taken into a span-roofecl house, where 
a nice equable temperature is maintained, and 
they soon throw up and expand their flowers. 
In this way Cyclamens are had in flower in 
from fourteen to fifteen months from the time 
of sowing. In all its stages of growth the 
Cyclamen needs constant attention, and it well 
repays it. It is very subject to attacks of 
green-fly, which cluster about the buds ; but 
this pest is quickly subdued by fumigation 
with tobacco-smoke. The extent to which 
Cyclamens are grown for market is shown by 
the fact that a large cultivator like Mr. H. B. 
Smith, of Ealing Dean, rears annually from 
15,000 to 18,000 plants. 
