Much 15, 1877. J 



JOURXIL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



MiRCH 15-21, 1877. 



TemoeratuPenear S"° ^nn Moon Mooo Moon's 



London! *'''^'- ^'"- '"'"'=■ ' ^^''' ' ^K^' 



Royal HorticuUnral Society — Fnii», and Floral Com- 

 [ mittees at 11 A.ir. Boyal Botanic Spring Sliow. 



5 J. 8 

 i 51.4 

 I 19.9 

 50.3 

 51.S 

 51.4 

 50.7 



Night, 

 I 33.9 

 ( 34.8 

 I 32.6 



Mean. 

 42.3 

 42.9 

 41.2 

 41.8 

 42.2 

 42 6 

 41.5 



6 8 



6 9 



6 11 



6 18 



Glook 

 before 

 Sun. 



6 37 I 9 17 



8 15 1 20 



From obserrations taken near London daring forty-three yeare, the average day temperature of the week is 50.1^ ; and its night temperature 



AUEICULAS. 



^C^"" *''*' florist's Alpiuc? Am-icnla the two great 

 ?^*^lb^- pi'0P<'i'ti<'s iu oolourins are — first, the shaded 

 '^i jKi'n petal; secondly, the golden centre. This is 

 '^i^'.:.llpiKJ the old-established rule, and it holds good 

 stiil, and is not to be lightly set aside. 

 'Sj Flowers possessing both these properties in 

 tS'^V* perfection must, as regards colour-points, 



r" P rank as first-class Alpines. Those which 



possess the fii-st, but are weak in the second, 

 are comparatively second-class varieties. 

 They are represented by a number of shaded flowers with 

 cenh-es pale in colour, like so many custards more or 

 less short of egg, and sometimes of the washiest whitey 

 yellow. 



A third division has sprang up, possessing indeed the 

 golden centre, but completely wanting in the leading 

 point of shading. They have been called " Self Alpines," 

 which although to florists a contradictory term, yet ex- 

 presses them exactly. They combine the solid body 

 colour of the self proper with tlie golden centre of the 

 proper Alpine, and so do not really belong to either, but 

 are a mixture of tlie two. If they are shown in either 

 class they should be on an equality with the flowers of 

 the class, or their position becomes a foregone and de- 

 pressing conclusion ; and if they are exhibited on an 

 equality with either selfs or Alpines (being as much one 

 as the other), then that established class, hitherto dis- 

 tinctly defined and thoroughly understood, has to be 

 altered, diluted, loosened, and pulled down from its high 

 standard to accommodate a perplexing and most prolific 

 laxity. This should not be the spirit of the times. 



The shaded flower is undoubtedly the truer "Alpine;" 

 and shadiag combined with the golden centre is the 

 strongest f jrm of the flower. Where it is judged by com- 

 petent judges and by recognised rules all its weaker types 

 must cause some anxiety. At the least, the shaded petal 

 is a point, an addition ; it must go for something ; I have 

 stated its worth. It seems that flowers without it should 

 be relegated to a separate class whose position we must 

 leave Alpine growers to determine. These yellow-centred 

 selfs need not be lost tight of ; but the question is whether 

 it is right that they should be made to confuse existing 

 well-known class distinctions in florist sections of the 

 Anricula. My friend Mr. Douglas also asks us what right 

 we have to make such a distinction ; and I might ask, 

 What right have our brethren in the south to confound it? 



If an Alpine may or may not bo shaded, or a self may 

 or may not have dense white paste, and any new com- 

 bination between the two may rank with either, the 

 worth and virtue of the best flowers are unprotected. 

 " Self Alpines " are exceedingly pretty, but then there is 

 not a member in the whole family they belong to other- 

 wise than beautiful. This being so, we must, for distinc- 

 tion and honour, mark out certain combinations of beauty 

 more or less difficult to obt.ain, in order to have rank and 

 contrast, in order to have pull and resistance enough to 

 give us steerage way. 'With no right to make distinctions 



No. 8S3'-Vol. XXXn., New Siwis. 



and no obligation to abide by them, all florist law and 

 order are at an end, showing and judging helplessly con- 

 fused, and the encouragements to produce seedlings of 

 rare merit gone. 



Mr. Douglas as a true florist will, I am certain, feel this. 

 I am sure he understands that every stern point demanded 

 in a classic flower adds to the grace and beauty of that 

 flower, and Nature works with us and lor us to bestow 

 each gift. Who obtained the first approach to an edged 

 Auricula is probably a fact never to be recovered from the 

 oblivion of prehietoric floriculture ; but the history repeats 

 itself in every batch of first-rate seedlings where some 

 are selfs with just a tip or fringe of green or white round 

 the petal edges. 



And why do we discard the pin eye but for this, that 

 the flower is infinitely fuller of sweet expression with 

 a tube well-furnished with golden anthers than with a 

 hollow throat out of which the naked pistil protrudes 

 almost like a serpent's tongue ? In the one case there is 

 the hght of a bright eye full of life, in the other the cold 

 stony stare of a sculptured one. I think we have the 

 right to draw and maintain these distinctions, small and 

 unintelligible as they may seem to the uninitiated. 



I am sorry to see now and then those who are certainly 

 not florists themselves, nor presumably conversant with 

 florist flowers, undertake in various floral papers to 

 find fault with the florist and to hope he will grow less 

 particular. Why ! they owe to those very principles 

 which florists work upon that they have Eibston Pippins 

 for dessert and not Crab Apples. 



Mr. Douglas invites an explanation why we should let 

 one class of flowers override another and equally beauti- 

 ful one. Well, the one may be much more difficult to 

 obtain than the other, through having more points of 

 merit. The greater the time and skill required to gain 

 an object the higher the value of the thing attained. I 

 think' this is why green edges in Auriculas override the 

 selfs, and why a feathered Tulip overrides the plain 

 " breeder." They are the higher and more honourable 

 forme, though the preference casts no slur upon the less- 

 gifted flowers. All are full of beauty in then: way, but 

 you cannot say there is no difference in degree, no reason 

 why one should rank before another. 



Auriculas are to be shown in London with sticks to 

 the trusses. I concede cheerfully that Alpines with then- 

 slenderer stems may require this, but not the Auricula 

 proper. The insuperable objection to sticks is that they 

 hide that important property of the plants, the possession 

 of a firm, elastic, self-supporting stem, and they also con- 

 ceal a sin against good culture ; for a careless grower may 

 draw his plants, and a stick save him from tlie penally. 

 How anyone can fancy a support, the crutchiuess of which 

 cannot be hid, improves an elegant plant able to carry 

 gracefully it.s own head erect I cannot tell. However, 

 our brethren down south rather admire wooden legs than 

 otherwise, and their courteous recommendation to use 

 them at their show will of course be gracefully complied 

 with. But to see the plants thus is like seeing a friend 

 sitting in exhibition form for his photograph— sticked like 



No. 1485.- Vol. LVII., Old Seeieb 



