OCTOBER. 291 



THE AURICULA. 



The Parthians of old used to hit hardest as they retreated ; and I 

 cannot but hope that " D. " of Deal will be found to have made a 

 successful hit in retreating from his untenable position as an opponent 

 of the present system that obtains among Auricula growers. His 

 notion of a National show I like well, for the very reason that I dissent 

 from him on the subject of the fusion of classes. If a National show 

 can be organized, we may hope to see an advance in the prevailing 

 notions respecting that flower, as we have in all others that have been 

 subjected to that ordeal, whereas fusion is by its nature retrograde. 



1 think it most probable that I shall not be able to compete for a 

 prize, except the chief of all, namely, the show itself. But I willingly 

 put my name down as a subscriber for a guinea towards the objects in 

 view. With an expressed hope, however, that the day may not be, as 

 unintentionally suggested, so early as to suit southern growers only. 

 Should the proposition take, and the funds admit of it, I think it would 

 tend to show the comparative merits and demerits of Lancashire and 

 London ideas respectively, if besides class showing, and prizes for 

 premier trusses, and perhaps also pips, prizes were also given for 

 collections, say of twelve or twenty-four. It seems to me that for want 

 perhaps of mutual contact, the two systems are diverging farther 

 asunder instead of assimilating, and each to its loss. London is growing 

 more careless of " properties," Lancashire more exclusive. If Lanca- 

 shire makes a pet of the " long-legged " Imperator, London at least 

 has no right to laugh at it, while it strides into the lists with Duke 

 of Wellington for its cognizance. Surely Imperator is better than that. 

 Let both these be seen in company, with better flowers in the same 

 stand, with Booth's Freedom from Dr. Plant's stages, and with some 

 more of his "Cauliflowers ;" and the discussion on comparative merits, 

 with picked specimens under the eyes of the disputants, will speedily 

 work a change for the better in all our notions, perhaps including those 

 who think the Auricula a tame and uninteresting flower. 



Regarding the proposal for fusion, I have called it a retrograde 

 movement. I will explain what I mean. Precision and definite ideas 

 are just what we most, and most evidently, want. Now, we are taught 

 that the first step to precision is to arrange and classify; to disentangle 

 from the rest, and to separate into groups whatever are distinguishable 

 from other groups by natural marks common to themselves and wanting 

 in others, is the legitimate province of scientific classification. Growers 

 have come to the conclusion that four such classes may be distinguished 

 in the cultivated Auricula. Are these distinctions existing in nature, 

 or are they not ? If they are, to throw them together again is to 

 confuse, and to go backward instead of forward. Now, I think no one 

 will deny that there are pure examples of each of the four classes ; and, 

 if so, it is no answer to say that many of the best flowers are not pure 

 examples of any of them. As well may you scratch out of your 

 vocabulary the words " child, boy, youth," because many good specimens 

 of human nature are in a transition state between two of these conditions, 



