

ays in- 



A U 



1 . "The ft em of the flower flmdd be lofty and ftr 



2. The fcot-ftalk of the flower fhould be floor t^ 

 timhel may be regular and clofe, 



3. 'The pipe or neck of each flower fhould be _/Z 

 the fliowers largey and regularly fpread^ being no 



cllnahle to cup. 



4. That the colours are very bright^ and well mixed, 



5. That the eye of the flower be large ^ rounds and of a 

 good whitCy or yellow ^ and that the tube or neck be not 



too wide. 



All the flowers of this kind that want any of the 

 above-mentioned properties, are now rejefted by every 

 good florill ; for as the varieties every year increafe 

 from feeds, the bad ones are turned out to make 

 room for their betters ; but in fomie people the paffion 

 for new flowers fo much prevails, that, fuppofing the 

 old flower greatly prefex**able to a new one, if it is of 

 their own raifing, the latter mufl: take place of the 



old one. 



In order to obtain good flowers from feeds, you mufl: 



make choice of the befl: flowers you have, which fliould 

 be expofed to the open air, that they may have the 

 beneflt of fliowers, without whica they feldom pro- 

 duce good feeds : the time of their ripening is in 

 June, which you will eafily know, by their feed-vefll?l 

 turnino; to a brown colour, and opening ; you mult 

 therefore be careful lefl: the feeds be fcattered out of 

 the veflx^l, for it will not be all fit to gather at the 



fame time. 



The time for fowing this feed is commonly in Au- 

 guft, but if it be fown any time before Chrift:mas, it 

 will be time enough. 



The befl: foil for this feed is good, frefli, light, fan- 

 dy mould, mixed with very rotten neats dung, or very 

 rotten dung from die bottom of an old hot-bed : 

 with this you fliould fill your pots, boxes, or baflcets, 

 in which you intend to fow your feeds \ and having 

 levelled the furface of the earth very fmooth, fow 

 your feeds thereon, covering it very lightly with rotten 

 Willow mould taken out of the fl:ems of decayed hol- 

 low Willow-trees \ then cover the box, &c. with a 

 net or wire, to prevent the cats, birds, &c. from 

 fcratching out, or burying the feeds too deep ; for 

 whenever this happens, the feeds will remain a year 

 in the ground before the plants appear, if it fliould 

 grow at laft: ; for which reafon many perfons never 

 cover thefe feeds, but leave them upon the furface 

 of the earth, in the boxes, for the rain to wafli them 

 into the ground, which is often the befl; method ; 

 let thefe boxes, &c. be placed fo as to receive half 



i 



March 



only have the morning fun till ten of the clock \ for 

 the young plants will now foon begin to appear, 

 which, if expofed to one day's whole fun only, will 

 be all deftroyed. 



During the fummer feafon, in dry weather, often re- 

 frefli them with water, but never give them too great 



quantities at once 



July 



will be large enough to tranfplant, at which time 

 you mufl: prepare a bed, or boxes, filled with the 

 above-m.entioned foil, in which you may plant them 

 about three inches fquare -, and (if in beds) you mufl: 

 fliade them everyday, till they are thoroughly rooted, 

 as alio in very hot dry weather •, but if they are in 

 bafl<ets or boxes, they may be removed to a fliady 

 place. 



Wlien the feedling Auriculas are planted in beds, 

 tliere fnould be fome rotten neats dung laid about ten 

 inches under the furface, and beaten down clofe and 

 fmooth : this will prevent the worms from drawing 

 the young plants out of the earth, which they gene- 

 rally do where this is not praftifed. This dung fliould 

 be laid about half a foot thick, which will entirely 

 prevent the worms getting through it until the plants 

 are well eftabliflied in the beds ; and the roots of the 

 Auriculas will fl:rike down into the dung by the fpring, 

 v/hich will make their flowers fl:ronger than ufual : 



tlieie beds fnould be expofed to the eaft, and fcreened 

 from the fouth fun. 





R 



H 



When you have taken all your plants, which are now 

 come up, out of your boxes or pots, level the earth 

 gently again ;^ for it often happens, that fome of tlie 

 feeds will lie in the ground two years before they ap- 

 pear, efpecially if they were covered too deep when 

 fown, as was before obferved. 



The fpring following many of thefe flowers will 

 fliew, when you may feledl fuch of them as have good 

 properties, which fliould be removed each of them in- 

 to a pot of the fame prepared earth, and prefervcd 

 until the next feafon, at v/hich time you will be capa- 

 ble to form a judgment of the goodncfs of the flow- 

 er \ but thofe that produce plain-coloured or fmall 

 flowers, fliould be taken out, and planted in borders 

 in the out-parts of the garden, to make a fliew, or 

 gather for nofegays, &c. the' others, which do not 

 produce their flowers the fame year, may be taken 

 up, and tranfplanted into a frefli bed, to remain till 

 you fee how they will prove. 



The manner of propagating thefe fiov/ers when ob- 

 tained, is from offsets, or (lips, taken from ihe old 

 roots in April, vv^heh the flowers are in bloom : thefe 

 offsets muii: be planted into fmall pots filled with the 

 fame fort 'of earth as Vv'as before direfted for the feed- 

 lings, and, during the fummer ic?.lbn, fliould be i^t 

 in a fliadyplace, and mufl: be often (but very gently) 

 refreflied with warei' ; but in the autumn and winter 

 fliould be flickered from violent rains. The fpring 

 following thefe young plants will produce flowers, 

 though but weak ^ foon after they are paft: flowering, 

 you mufl: put them into larger pots, and the fecond 

 year they will blow in perfection. 

 But, in order to obtain a fine bloom of thefe flowers, 

 you mufl: obferve the following direftions. 

 Firfl:, Preferve your plants from too niucli wet in 

 winter, which often rots and fpoils them \ but lee 

 them have as much free open air as poflible^ nor 

 fliould they be too much expofed to the fun, which 

 is apt to forward their budding for flower too foon -, 

 and the frofly mornings, which often happen in March, 

 thereby deft:roy their buds, if they are not protedted 

 therefrom. To prevent which, thofe who are very 

 curious in thefe flowers, place their pots in autumn 

 under a common hot-bed frame, whei*e, in good wea- 

 ther, the plants may enjoy the full air, by drawing 

 off^ the glafl^es ; and in great rains, fnow, or frofl:, the 

 plants may be fcreened by covering them. Where 

 this method is praclifed with judgment, the flowers 

 will be much ftronger, and the plants will increafe 

 fafl:er than when they are expofed abroad. 

 Secondly, In the beginning of February, if the wea-? 

 ther is mild, you mufl: take off" the upper part of the 

 earth in the Auricula pots, as low as you can without 

 difturbing their roots, and fill up the pots with frefli 

 rich earth, which will greatly fl:rengthen them for 

 bloom ; as alfo prepare your ofl^sets for tranfplanting 

 in April, by caufing them to pufli out new roots. 

 Thofe plants which have fl:rong fingle heads, always 

 produce the largefl: clullers of flowers \ therefore the 

 curious florift:s pull off* the oftsets as foon as it can be 

 done with fafety to their growing, to encourage the 

 mother plants to flower the fl:ronger -, they alfo pinch 

 off the flowers in autumn, where they are produced, 

 and fuflfer them not to open, that the plants fliould 

 not be weakened thereby. 



Thirdly, You muft cover your pots with miats in 

 frofl:y weather, during this time of tlieir budding for 

 flower, lefl: the fliarp mornings blight them, and pre- 

 vent their blowing. 



Fourthly, When your fiower-fl:ems begin to advance 

 and the bloflbm buds grow turgid, you mufl: protect 

 them from hafl:y rains, which would wafli off then- 

 white meally farina, and greatly deface the beauty of 

 their flowers ; but at the fame time obferve to keep 

 them as much uncovered as pofi;ble, othcrv/ife their 

 ft:ems will be drawn up too weak to fuppcrt their fiov/- 

 ers (which is often the cafe w^hcn their pots are placed 

 near walls) give them gentle waterings to ft:rengthen 

 them, but let none of the water fall into the center 



/ 



of the plant, or among the leaves. 



Fifthlv,- 



