Part 19

A Talk About Cyclamens and Oxalis.

Next to Primroses, and by no means below them in value, we place the Cyclamen. The leaves, a deep green with white embroidery, are very ornamental, but when surmounted with a wealth of bloom, what can be more charming? Two of mine have begun to blossom--a white and a pink--and the buds are numerous. Others will bloom later. They continue in bloom for a long period, and are easy of culture, though where there is over-dryness of atmosphere, they are apt to be infested with the red spider. They need to be frequently sprayed and it is well to immerse occasionally the entire plant in water so as to wet the under surface of the leaves. The water ought to be tepid, and indeed for all plants in cold weather. To keep the dirt from falling out when the plant is plunged top downward, something can be wrapped around the pot. A mixture of turfy loam and sandy peat is best, but when not available, leaf mold or a rich mellow soil mixed with silver sand will do.

There are several varieties of Cyclamen, but the most common is persicum, and many catalogues name no other. One of mine is gigantium, an improvement on persicum, the flowers being much larger and finer in every respect. Among many catalogues I find this named in only one. Persicum, white and pink, is a sweet scented variety from Cyprus; Africanum, white and rose, from Africa; hederæfolium, from Britain. Other rare and expensive sorts are Atkinsii, white, crimson and rose colored; Europeum, red, and Coum, which in the early spring months bears above its very ornamental leaves "a profusion of small bright, rosy, crimson and snow-white turbinate blossoms of a roundish recurved outline, blotched with violet-crimson at the base, very beautiful."

The bulbs of all Cyclamens, except Coum, should be placed on the surface of the soil, covered half an inch, and water given moderately till the leaves are fully developed, and the flowers appear, when it may be applied more liberally. Do not make a mistake and plant your bulb upside down as did a lady I know of. "I have an idea that it is put in wrong, as the leaves seem to come from the under side," she writes. It is difficult to tell sometimes which is the right side to put down.

Persicum, with its dappled green and silvery gray, rounded, heart-shaped leaves, embroidered margins, is a fine ornament, but when these are surmounted with a profusion of pure silvery white oblong lanceolate petals, blotched with violet-crimson at their base, borne on slender flower-scopes, the plant is very beautiful. It varies in color from snow-white delicate peach and rosy crimson. Some are delightfully fragrant. During the growing and flowering season the plant should have a full exposure to the light, but not to the intense sunshine. After blooming, the bulbs may be allowed a time of rest, removing them to a cool and shady place in the border, if desired, watering rarely. In early autumn repot, and after a few weeks of growth, water more freely. It does not, however, injure the plant to keep it constantly growing, and the best florists have very generally abandoned their former method of letting them rest during the summer. Cyclamen autumnale flore alba, white, and rubra, red, blossom in the autumn.

OXALIS.

The winter blooming varieties are admirably adapted for hanging-pots, and being cheap and very easy of cultivation, they ought to be in every dwelling. There are one hundred and fifty known varieties, though our catalogues rarely name half-a-dozen. Some are strictly winter bloomers, others flower only in summer, and some blossom the year round. The floribunda varieties belong to this class of perpetuals. Ortgiesi also, which is a wonderful bloomer, and on account of its erect growth, is admirably adapted for pot culture. It is a new and somewhat rare species from Brazil. It often grows eighteen inches high, and in good form. The upper side of the leaf is rich olive green, and the under side bright violet purple. The flowers are quite small, yellow, and borne in clusters. The special beauty is in the foliage.

Floribunda alba and rosea have tuberous roots. The foliage is very strong, and the clusters of bloom are borne on long foot-stalks starting directly from the tuber. A single small tuber will often have a hundred open flowers at a time. They are from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. This variety can be obtained and planted at any time of the year. It is admirably adapted for baskets or a hanging-pot.

Oxalis acetocella is the true shamrock of Ireland. Flowers are white, borne on stalks two to four inches high. Versicolor is a winter bloomer; color white, with bright pink margins to the petals; requires sunshine; the flowers will not expand in cloudy weather. Floribunda has no such freaks, but smiles in the storm, as well as the sunshine. A lady writing to Mr. Vick becomes enthusiastic over her Oxalis. She says: "The sixth of last October I planted a bulb of Oxalis versicolor, and it is just beginning to bloom. And oh! what lovely flowers; delicate and perfect in form, pure white, with just the faintest tinge of yellow in the center, and beautiful crimson stripes on the outside. The plant also is of a very graceful habit, bearing its tuft of small leaves, and clusters of flowers on the top of a short, slender stem. It seems strange that so small a bulb can produce such beautiful flowers."

Of Bowii she thus writes: "A year ago last October I planted a bulb of Oxalis Bowii in a small bed. The bulb was so very small that I did not believe the flowers could amount to much, but was soon most agreeably disappointed. Such a mass of flowers on one small plant I had never seen before, and such large, bright-colored flowers! Many stopped to admire it, and ask its name. It continued to produce a mass of flowers the entire winter and part of the spring, until the sun became very hot. From this one bulb I obtained eight, which I wrapped in paper and kept in a dry place. About the first of August they commenced growing, and so I planted them, and the first of September they were in full bloom, though the flower grew large as the days became less hot, until they were nearly as large as Petunias. The soil in which they grew was mostly sand and rich surface earth from the woods, and I sometimes watered them with weak soap-suds."

Mr. Vick, to whom we are indebted for the most of our information on this subject, says that this variety has large, thick, fleshy leaves, and large, bright, rose-colored flowers, the largest, indeed, of any of the cultivated kinds.

In his illustrated article he gives an engraving of one named Cernuus plena, the flowers of which resemble double Portulacas; erect, borne in clusters. We regret that he gives no reference to this variety whatever. It must be a rare sort, probably not in the market here.

A Talk About Lilies.

"CONSIDER THE LILIES."

Thus spake one wiser than Solomon, even He whose hand created and beautified the Lilies with a glory surpassing that of the greatest of Israel's kings.

This department of the Floral kingdom is too vast for us to explore; we can only make a selection of a few of the numerous varieties for consideration, gathering our information from the various sources at hand, and adapting it to our present use.

The Lily is the rival of the Rose, and by many is considered far superior. They certainly are far more easily cultivated. They are hardy, elegant, gorgeous sometimes, and sometimes of snowy purity. Many of them are of exquisite fragrance. There are early and late bloomers, and one can have these desirable flowers in succession for several months, by a right selection. The earliest bloomers are the Pomponiums, natives of Siberia, and are perfectly hardy. The Lancifolium or Speciosum is the autumn blooming Lily, native of Japan. Lancifolium Album, a fine sort, with pure white petals and a pea-green stripe, very fragrant. Lancifolium Rubrum, and Roseum, though catalogued separately, are the same with different shadings. Some purplish crimson, others a faint blush of rose. Some have a red stripe, others a dark dull green, but all are specially recommended. Lancifolium Punctatum verum is a late bloomer; color, clear white with soft rose spots and green stripes. Finest of the species, Lancifolium Praecox; flowers white with a purplish-blush at the tips. Lancifolium Monstrosum or Corymbiflorum rubrum, bears its crimson flowers in large clusters. Grows to a great size.

The Lancifolium Lilies are of special value for their hardiness and varied beauty, and their cheapness places them within general reach. They are classed under the head of MARTAGONS, or TURKS CAP.

Auratum Imperial is the Golden-banded-Lily of Japan which has become so extensively known and popular since its introduction from Japan by Mr. Gordon Dexter. It was first exhibited in July 1862, at the Massachusetts Horticultural Exhibition. It first bloomed in England same year. It was for sometime considered too tender for the Canadas and New England states, but it proved to be hardy. We have had ours twelve years, and give it only a slight protection. The petals of the Auratum are snowy white with a golden band running down the center of each, and freely spotted on the sides with deep carmine red. They are very fragrant. Being of somewhat slender growth, they need support. It does best in a warm sandy soil that has been well manured and dug deeply. It is easily propagated from the scales of the bulbs, each scale producing a small bulbet. They should be planted in a box about a foot deep, in good friable soil about three inches deep, and one inch apart. Sink the box in some out of the way place in the garden, and water frequently. In a short time small bulbs will be found forming on the base, which rapidly grow, and must be transplanted out the second year in the bed; the third or fourth year it will bloom. The little bulbets which form on the mother bulb blossom a year earlier. They should be renewed in the fall, after the foliage is dead. Plant in a bed about four inches deep, and let them remain undisturbed for two years; then they are large enough to bloom and should be transplanted into a permanent bed, if required.

LONGIFLORUM LILIES.

These trumpet-shaped Lilies are charming in appearance, quite hardy and fragrant. They bloom in July or August, and continue in beauty for a long time.

Longiflorum Japonicum blooms in July, and is a fine dwarf bedder; color pure white, with occasionally a greenish tinge outside. Increases rapidly. Eximium bears a longer flower, from six to nine inches in length, and is more open at the mouth than the common Longiflorum. Pure white and very fragrant. Brownii is a native of Japan, and is a grand Lily of rare beauty. It resembles Longiflorum in shape, but is larger and more expanding; color white inside, exterior brownish-purple; stamens rich chocolate, which forms a distinctive feature in this species. It has been frequently confounded with Japonicum, but the difference is very marked in the illustrations of the two, and are thus noted in Messrs. Hallock & Thorp's "Catalogue of Lilies."

"JAPONICUM (Odorum, Japonicum Colchesterii). One of the most beautiful and rarest Lilies in cultivation. It differs from Brownii and all the forms of Longiflorum in many respects. Note the following marked differences: Its broader, fewer and more spreading leaves, the shape of the entire flower and broader claw of its divisions, its shorter anthers with pollen tinged with red. The flower is solitary and large, interior pure white, exterior of a pinkish-brown color, tubular, bell-shaped, with spreading revolute tips; the bud shows a rich golden tint. Bulb white, or whitish-yellow, never red or brown, broad at the base, the scales which are somewhat narrow and acute at the tip, the outer ones terminate at about two-thirds of the height of the inner scales, whereas in Brownii the scales are broad, and all pass up, overlapping, and terminate together at the apex of the bulb, thus making the base much narrower than the apex."

It is a native of Japan, and is so exceedingly rare that it is priced at $7.00, more than double the cost of any other in the list. Brownii was priced, when a novelty at $4.00, but is now offered for $1.75.

Candidum, sometimes called Easter Lily, is one of the best known and commonly grown of all the Lilies. It has been in cultivation for about three hundred years. Bears a profusion of pure white fragrant flowers in a compact head.

The double Tiger Lily is a very great improvement on the old single variety. It is very double, and very showy. Wallacei is a new Japanese variety, said to be magnificent; color, buff, spotted with black.

Chalcedonicum or Scarlet Martagon is supposed to be the "Lily of the field" mentioned in the Gospel. "It is magnificent, and its intense scarlet is one of the finest shades in the whole vegetable kingdom. A full bed is a most magnificent sight, and if suddenly looked at on a bright day, has nearly the same effect for a moment as if looking at the sun. It is much scarcer than it should be, and requires careful culture, to be planted about six or eight inches deep, and watered in the summer time. It pleases every one who is capable of being pleased."

Lilies, as well as many other bloomers, are greatly improved by thinning out the overplus, thus concentrating the sap to fewer blossoms, which being thus liberally nourished, greatly increase in size, and amply repay, by their superiority, for the loss in numbers. Although this is a demonstrated fact, yet few have the courage to prune where flowers are not very abundant, and many will not when they are.