47 



THE AUEICULA. 



BY JOHN WALSn. 



Ckaptee II. — Seeds and Seedlings. 



WISH I could begin this chapter by a faithful descrip- 

 tion or indication of the pleasure I have derived from 

 the raising of florists' flowers from seeds. It is a 

 recreation that thrills a florist with delight ; it fills the 

 mind with anticipations ; usually many of those antici- 

 pations are realized, and rarely, very rarely, are they wholly disap- 

 pointed. The more experience that is gained, the greater certainty 

 attends the pursuit ; but I banish at once and for ever from my own 

 mind, and I hope the reader will banish the thought, that we are 

 invariably to judge such a pursuit by its results. Suppose after 

 raising and flowering one hundred seedling auriculas, I have not 

 one worth a high place and an honourable name, it is very certain that 

 I have been amused; I have seen something of ]N"ature's ways, and 

 am possibly instructed ; and I have one hundred plants, that are 

 more or less beautiful, that have been bred up by my own hands. In 

 any hundred auriculas grown from cjood seed, there will be a large 

 proportion of exquisitely beautiful flowers, and there may be a few 

 remarkable for perfection, and every cultivator ha? a chance. But I 

 repeat that it is not fair to judge the case by tangible results ; there 

 is, perhaps, nothing to sliow as the result of a ramble in the country. 

 Yet none of us wou^M condemn rambling, because in our own last 

 ramble we neither found a rare fossil, nor dicovered a gold-mine. 



It is too much the custom of thousands of persons who practise 

 gardening as a recreation to buy plants instead of seeds. I do not 

 wish to raise the question whether an auricula is better thaii a 

 geranium, because I think it wrong to find fault with the recrea- 

 tions of any one provided they are harmless, but I will say that 

 irequently the amateur gardener would consult his or her own 

 interest in entering boldly upon the growing of plants from seeds. 

 Look, for example, at a great bed of Sweet Williams, what a 

 gorgeous mass of colour it presents. To have such a bed, we must 

 sow seeds in the first instance. Or look at a frame filled \\ii\\ poly- 

 anthuses in bloom, and how exquisite are their lacings of gold and 

 jet. Here, again, to fill the frame one packet of seed will suffice, 

 though if named sorts are preferred plants must be purchased. 

 Even common border annuals appear to me much more interesting 

 than the best of bedding plants, because we must grow them from 

 seed; they thus become our children; they seem to be dependent 

 upon us ; we have an interest in their life history, and these thoughts 

 and feelings make in the mind and heart an aggregate of delight. 

 But I say no more on the general subject, for the theme particularly 

 specified in the heading to this chapter demands attention. 



Eespecting seeds, all the first-class seedsmen supply good auricula 

 seed. The seed is carefully saved by cultivators who possess col- 

 lections, and if it is good it commands a high price. Those who 



