CYCLAMEN CULTURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6136, 24 March 1898, Page 4

CYCLAMEN CULTURE.

♦ (American Gardening.) The value of the cyclamen to the florist as a plant to sell in bud and bloom may be seen from this fact : Several vases of cut cyclamen blooms were seen for the first time at a recent flower show, notwithstanding the fact that thesebulbs have been grown in quantity for at least one or two decades. It is doubtful whether another plant could be named which has the value of the cyclamen in flower to both florist and amateur. In the first place it is a clean plant ; it is also a handsome one, especially in the giganteum forms, with their beautifully marked foliage. It is a compact grower, and besides being clean from insects as a rule, it is so easily freed from the little dust which may settle on the glossy, but broad leaves. All this praise maybe given it before mentioning the fine blooming qualities of the plant, or the beauty of the blooms. Add that it does not require much sunshine, and you have a category of good qualities unexcelled, if approached. ■ The small and narrow petalled form of C. persicum, which we once thought so: delightful, has been superseded, in favour by the far finer giganteum forms, but the cyclamen is a perpetual monument to the patience and care of the florist in that all the newer forms have been evolved by selection and culture from the original C. persicum. The butterfly, or fringed form, the crested ones, and the doubles may or may not prove more beautiful and popular than the older cyclamen as we have known it for a decade past; but in any case, it is worth while to secure the knowledge of this plant's susceptibility to change of form, and that knowledge is a prophecy of interesting and probably useful things to come. When all- this has, been:said, it is remarkable indeed that we may go further, and affirm that the plant is one of the easiest to grow from seed, the only qualifying phrase needed being to the effect that a good stock of patience must be laid in with the stock of seed. The bulbs are extremely slow of growth, and it is probably this fact which has given rise to the idea that they are difficult of management. We have never found them in the least difficult ; but there are two points to be noted; which are quite likely to be overlooked by the general grower. One of these is that the best season for sowing the seed is not that usually most devoted to seed sowing, viz, early spring. Even at the most rapid rate of growth, it is rare to get these bulbs in bloom under fourteen or fifteen months, and in order to bring them on when bloom is most wanted, the seed is best sown in late summer or early autumn. The other most frequent cause of failure comes from a misinterpretation of the directions concerning the resting period. The bulbs are not -to be dried to the point of severe shrivelling, but merely not to be encouraged in any way to growth during the period when they ought to rest. They may. be planted outside during summer, after having bloomed, and have been known to flourish for almost a decade of years under this treatment, growing better with each passing year. It is the more general custom, however, to procure new corins every second ov third year, either from seed or by direct purchase. Some failures with this favourite have been due to the fear of injuring the bulbs by the use of fertilisers. Care in selection is certainly necessary, but weli decayed cow manure is good for cyclamens, and soot water may be used in reasonable quantity after the buds are well started, if not before. Rough bits of coarse gravelled mortar^ known as mortal rubble, from old masonry, are considered a good addition to the sandy soil used foi potting the cyclamen.