Jane 10, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



449 



that could not carry its own head. Oar rnloB against sticks to 

 stems I have always read as rather a caution against leaving 

 Bome avoidable mark of identification during the judging than 

 as a prohibition of a practice calculated to help a top-heavy 

 tru83 against specimens to which every natural advantage had 

 been freely accorded in order to have them able-bodied. It 

 cannot be said that Auriculas require sticks because of a long 

 journey to the show. The plants can be so carefully packed 

 and bound up in damp mosa, and the stems can be so steadily 

 secured by a stick and cotton wool, that no drooping or strain- 

 ing of the stalk is possible. I have a very tedious journey with 

 my plants, and this is my experience. 



Mr. Douglas, remarking that stems will rise at almost any 

 angle from the plants, thmks sticks permissible to make them 

 straight. I will tell him a better plan than exhibiting this 

 contrivance at a show. Let the oblique stem be guided while 

 rising with a short prop behind, and then, before the bloom 

 is on, the stem will be set in better form. If it cannot possibly 

 be made erect ; the plant itself may at the show be potted 

 aslant, to bring the truss upright. The argument that a stick, 

 unsightly at the best, may be left in to save trouble of un- 

 packing and repacking is probably one that few florists would 

 think worth the using. B;tter take a few plants the less, in 

 order to be able to care well for all. 



You cannot give the Auricula any artificial support without 

 spoiling the strength and elegance of its beauty. The disposi- 

 tion of the foliage round the stem, which rises crowned above 

 it with a bouquet of wonderful flowers, often backed by a 

 guardian leaf that used to shield those flowers when buds, is 

 a form that nothing unnatural can improve ; and a stick by 

 the side of that stem is a mere wooden leg — is an ugliness 

 that cannot be hid. This plant had better carry less weight of 

 bloom than go upon crutches. For this, as for other reasons, 

 I trust that sticks will not be voted-in. I submit that a clear 

 field and no favour is here, as everywhere, the fairest play. 



My own plants will have said for me that I am no advocate 

 for cropping down to three pips such trusses as well could 

 carry more ; but in a head of incorrect pips, as well as good 

 flowers, care should be taken not to present to the keen eye 

 of a judge more ill-favoured than fine pips. Two bads will 

 never make a good or count at all, except against the exhibitor ; 

 and a small truss which is correct rightly wins before a great 

 truss that transgresses rules which are strictly the guide to 

 precedence. There is little virtue here in mere quantity, but 

 quantity of quality will be recognised everywhere, and nowhere 

 more freely tbau in our great florist shows in the north. 



Mr. Douglas was told that the premium white-edge at Man- 

 chester was a Catharina denuded to three pips. The plant 

 was mine, and Mr. Douglas misinformed. It never had more 

 than three, being a maiden bloom of correct properties ; and 

 the pips, though never large on Catharina, were nevertheless a 

 shade above shirt buttons, and not exactly like threepenny- 

 pieces. 



The question is more than onoe asked, " Why, in point of 

 body colour, is black so preferred in edged Auriculas ? and why 

 in Lancashire is this colour so far favoured as to make it 

 seem no other will do?" Contrasts of a velvet black with 

 snowy meal and the rich green edge are certainly very fine ; 

 but would not a violet or red ground colour be so too? Un- 

 doubtedly, and may we see them ! But think the Auricula 

 over, and it will be noticed that with black-bodied flowers are 

 associated other properties in their finest order ; that the 

 black grounds have among them the purest edges, the richest 

 tubes, the best-proportioned body colours. In them are green, 

 grey, and wh\te edges unruffled by rude inroads of colour 

 dashing through, and there is also a density of ground colour, 

 not faultily melting into some lighter shade before it reaches 

 its limits towards the edge. Fmd in a red, lilac, blue, or 

 violet body colour such a flower for correctness as Smiling 

 B3auty, and it will not lack lovers iu the north. But when 

 with such colours we have the disappointment of a weakly- 

 Coloured tube, or irregular and insufficient edge, these faults 

 must be laid to the flower and not at the door of a northern 

 florist. It is just when the body colour of an Auricula is not 

 uniform but shady, that the reproachful term of " chancy " 

 should apply with justice, and though such a flower may be 

 pretty, it is not so truly beautiful as that which is correct. 



I have not the pleasure of growing the Alpine classes. To 

 me their growth seems of a loose habit, and iu many the 

 stems are decidedly slender. Still, il even these could be 

 grown without requiring sticks it would surely be better. I 

 am loth to speak without the authority of experience or know- 



ledge, therefore say no mare with respect to these varieties. 

 But my humble opinion of the florist Auricula is, that it ought 

 to be shown with every feature and every outline free. — P. D. 

 HoRNEK, Kirkhij Malzeard, liipon. 



MUNEO'S DUKE OF EDINBURGH CUCUMBEE. 



Those who require a great number of small or medium-sized 

 fruit of good quality, rather than showy Cucumbers of great 

 length, will find the Duke of Edinburgh the best of all sorts 

 to cultivate. A fruit 12 to 15 inches in length is generally 

 sufficient to place on the table of most families, and with 

 even one plant, well grown, of the Duke of Edinburgh, there 

 will be no difficulty in cutting a fresh frnit every day for 

 months. 



I have lately seen a striking proof of the value of this Cu- 

 cumber in the attractive and well-managed garden of J. Sharp, 

 Esq., Fairsnape, East Sheen, Mortlake, where, in a small span- 

 roofed house, are growing six plants, three of Duke of Edin- 

 burgh, and three of Blue Gown. The whole of these plants 

 are in the fine condition which may be expected from such a 

 thorough gardener and excellent Cucumber grower as Mr. 

 Young undoubtedly is. In this house Blue Gown is showing 

 immensely, but fruit will not be ready to cut for a week to 

 come, but the Duke of Edinburgh of precisely the same age, 

 and under exactly the same treatment, has afforded a supply of 

 valuable Cucumbers for five weeks. The fruit which has been 

 out, with the numbers now hanging, may be safely counted by 

 hundreds. 



Plants of this variety planted-ont at the present time in 

 frames made vacant by the removal of bedding plants would 

 yield an excellent supply of Cucumbers during the late summer 

 and early autumn months. — A Sckret Gabdenek. 



FLOWERS AND FRUITS FOR THE SICK 

 POOR. 



Tou took such a kindly interest in the opening of our 

 Mission in March, that I am sure you will be glad to hear that 

 hitherto we have had great encouragement in the work. No 

 words can describe what the effect has been on the suffering 

 and sorrowing people to whom by thousands our little bou- 

 quets have been sent in workhouses, hospitals, and lonely sick- 

 rooms in East-end courts. A letter this morning from a fever 

 hospital says, " It is almost impossible to fully realise the 

 unspeakable joy with which the weekly gifts of flowers are 

 welcomed by the patients. May I venture to hope that we 

 may still be considered worthy objects of the solicitude of the 

 ladies of the Mission, and that our weekly flowers may be con- 

 tinued to us ?" 



It is with great regret, since the wild flowers have dis- 

 appeared, that the last two weeks we have seen our supplies 

 fall off so greatly, that though we have had more earnest ap- 

 plications than ever for them, we have been unable to give 

 them. To-day, having applications for several hundreds, we 

 have not one hundred tiny bouquets in hand. I therefore 

 venture to write to you, trusting your influence may induce 

 those who possess gardens and conservatories to remember 

 the poor suffering people in our gloomy stifling streets, and 

 send us for their use some of their brilliantly-coloured and 

 sweetly-scented flowers, and also as the season advances some 

 of the fresh Strawberries and common garden fruits which are 

 so refreshing to the parched lips of the painstricken, and to 

 the little pale-faced children who never see them growing, or 

 taste them but when half rotten on some costermonger's 

 barrow. 



We have not as yet heard anything satisfactory from the 

 railway companies concerning carriage. Our expenses are con- 

 siderable, and we are most thankful for any subscriptions. — • 

 E. A. H., Secretary, Floicer Mission, Conference Hall, Mild- 

 may, London, N., and Home of Industry, Commercial Street, 

 Spitalfields, E. 



THE HORTICULTUEAL CLUB. 

 An inaugural dinner took place at the Club house, 3, Adelphi 

 Terrace, on Wednesday evening the 2nd, and was largely at- 

 tended by the members. The chair was to have been taken 

 by the Hon. and Rev. J. T. Boscawen, but as he was detained 

 at the Bath and West of England Show at Croydon it was 

 taken at seven o'clock by John Lee, Esq. After dinner the 

 usual loyal toasts were given, and then the Chairman proposed 



