1870.] MY EXPEEIENCES WITH THE AURICULA. 253 



central and northern Asia. The leaves are deeply heart-shaped, the 

 lobes overlapping. Flowers in June, July, and August. 



A", nitida, Shining -leaved White Water- Lily. — The leaves are 

 roundish oval, heart-shaped ; the lobes open, deep, and spreading. 

 Flowers in July and August. Native of Siberia. Not often seen in 

 gardens in this country, but worthy of extensive favour. 



N. odorata, Sweet White Water-IAly. — A North American species, 

 of which I have no experience in the north, but which succeeds well 

 along with other hardy Water-Lilies in southern counties. The leaves 

 are round, deeply heart-shaped, with open spreading lobes. Flowers in 

 July and August. 



MY EXPERIENCES WITH THE AURICULA. 



Strange to state, though I find myself a cultivator of the Auricula, 

 I am wellnigh at a loss how to explain the reasons that induced me 

 to take this flower in hand in the first instance. I had always pos- 

 sessed a love for flowers — and where " breathes the man with soul 

 so dead " that does not love them in some form or other 1 — but my 

 wishes in the early part of my career as an amateur florist had not 

 gone out towards the Auricula. Now, I confess, I am a cultivator of this 

 once popular but now sadly neglected flower, and I find it to be a plea- 

 sant pastime. It unfolds to me, in the flowers I at present grow, 

 forms of beauty as curious as they are captivating ; and they, by the 

 seed they yield me, and the young plants I am enabled to rear from 

 it, give me an earnest of new joys in the years to come. 



As a cultivator of the Auricula I occupy a somewhat isolated posi- 

 tion, residing as I do in a populous district, where, besides myself, 

 there is, to my knowledge, only one other lover of this flower. I hope 

 this will not always be so, as I lose no opportunity of exhibiting my 

 Auriculas ; and I already find the production of my flowers has begun 

 to excite some interest in their behalf, and to bring out inquiries as to 

 my method of growing the same ; and with these there will also come, 

 I trust, some anxiety to emulate my doings, and perchance reach a 

 higher level of cultural skill. 



When I have been asked for " my experiences," I have rather chosen 

 to refer my questioners to some old standard works on Auricula cul- 

 tivation, but this answer has not afforded general satisfaction. So 

 now I attempt to write them down for perusal ; and when next I am 

 asked the same questions, I shall be able to refer all further inquirers 

 to the pages of the ' Gardener.' 



