Cyclamens will soon throw up their pleasant flowers that droop their heads in modesty and blush to the tips of their lengthened ears, as if conscious of their own admired beauty. It may not be amiss to call attention, at this time, to a well-known fact in the physiology of flowers, which I found to be quite marked in the case of Cyclamens. That is, if flowers are fertilized, either naturally or artificially, the strength going to the flower is entirely utilized in developing the ovary and ovules; and consequently the minor parts, generally those possessing beauty, wither or fall away in a very short time after such fertilization.

On the 5th of February last I selected a number of good flowers of Cyclamen Persicum, all of which had opened the previous day, labeling them in three divisions. Of the first division the flowers were all carefully fertilized; those of the second I immediately deprived of stamens and stigmas, tomakefer-tihzation impossible; those of the third were left undisturbed. On February 18th the corollas of the flowers in the first division had all fallen; those of the third were gone by the 20th inst.; while those of the second division did not begin to fade until March 10th. Because of the favorable position of stigma and stamens every flower is more or less fertilized, although not always maturing seed. As a matter of fact, the pods of the first division above matured an average of sixteen seeds, while those of the third division, only five.

It is no trouble, considering the great economy in beauty, to take a pin and break away the anthers as soon as the flowers open. Thus, we can prolong the life of the individual flowers to twice the length of their natural existence.