256 THE GARDENER. [June 



GO-pots, I had not too much room, but the entire stock passed safely 

 through the trying ordeal of the recent severe winter. Of course, from 

 such a number of plants I have had a considerable variety of flowers, 

 all of which are pretty, though many are deficient in colour and form ; 

 these I shall get rid of or turn out in my flower-beds, and so make 

 room for the next batch of seedlings that are now coming in. I feel 

 that I should forego one of my greatest delights were I to leave off 

 raising from seed. To watch the opening flowers of the little strangers, 

 affords one so much interest that I trust I shall continue to enjoy 

 that pleasure for years to come. The best time to sow seed is almost 

 as soon as possible after it is ripe, in some shallow pans filled with 

 finely-sifted sweet loam, leaf-soil, and sand ; cover over with sheets of 

 glass, and place in a frame, watering with care. By the end of the 

 autumn these seedlings will be ready to prick out into other pans, in 

 which they may stand the winter, and in the next spring will be large 

 enough to shift into sixty-pots ; then they should have a cool situation, 

 slightly sheltered during the summer, and in the autumn another shift 

 into 48-sized pots, using a good rich compost of loam, rotten dung, and 

 sand. After passing through another winter, the plants will bloom 

 freely and abundantly; and if the strair be good, a lot of very hand- 

 some flowers will result. Lest what I said previously about purchased 

 seed should deter any from buying, I may add that I got some from 

 another source last year, and it has come up admirably. I have no 

 present intention of extending the space or material at my disposal for 

 the cultivation of Auriculas. I can now house and grow with compara- 

 tive ease some 300 to 400 strong plants, and as I shall continue to 

 weed out bad ones, it will be some time hence ere I shall be quite full. 

 Having now quantity, I shall aim at the possession of quality, and 

 trust to kindly hints from brother growers, and growing experience, to 

 enable me to secure this desideratum ; and if in the course of my 

 labours I can infuse into my friends and neighbours a love for the 

 Auricula and its culture, I shall be amply repaid. Let no one imagine 

 that I am not in truth an "Auricula Amateur:" I leave my suburban 

 home every week-day morning at half-past eight, and walk three miles 

 to the performance of my daily duties, where, absorbed in books, 

 figures, quantities, and calculations, I have little time to think of my 

 pet plants at home. But when the day's labours are over, and I once 

 again return to my domicile, depend upon it I seldom take rest or 

 refreshment till I have cast a glance of anxious care over my humble, 

 but to me very precious, collection of "Alpine Auriculas." 



R. M. S. P. C. S. 



[We are thankful for this record of " Experiences " as an amateur cultivator of 

 the Auricula from our correspondent, and wish him good-luck in the time to 



