November 26, 1874. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



4C5 



main fixed between the interstices of the skeleton leaf it may 

 easily be removed by striking the leaf perpendicularly with a 

 clothes-brush. They will now only require bleaching ; this 

 may be done very effectually by placing them in a bandbox 

 with a small .vessel beside or under them. — J. H., Gardener to 

 hady Caroline Legge, Keston, Kent. 



CROCUSES WITH GEBANIUMS. 



In reply to inquiries respecting the statement in this Journal, 

 November 5th, of the growth of Geraniums in beds which pro- 

 duce Crocuses annually, and which are never removed, or 

 rather for nine years have been undisturbed, no over-luxu- 

 riant growth of foliage in the Geranium has yet been ob- 

 Berved, and the blooming has been all that could be desired. 

 The wet year (two years ago) most Geraniums suffered from 

 the cold and excess of wet, but mine were quite equal to any 

 I saw in the district, and no perceptible difference was there in 

 the beds that had been dug in the usual course. Those beds 

 have the manure applied every autumn on the surface and 

 grow Tulips ; therefore it is fully twelve months on the surface 

 before the taking-up of the Tulip bulbs commences, at which 

 time the ground is generally dug. 



It is a matter easily governed whenever overgrowth of foliage 

 occurs, for it only needs leaving the beds for one year unma- 

 nured ; but my opinion is that such a circumstance will never 

 occur, as the two crops. Crocuses and Geraniums, are both 

 exhausting crops, and need all the support, especially the 

 former, that can in reason be given. At present (mid-Novem- 

 ber), my beds have got on their winter coat of manure as 

 usual, and the Tulips are all planted, being treated the same. 

 Occasional Crocuses were seen springing before the manurial 

 application, and now they are thoroughly protected from the 

 frost whenever it comes. 



You ask ■B'hether the Geranium blooms better in the beds 

 dug in the usual way. There is little difference, but in an ordi- 

 narily fine summer the undug beds produced the earliest and 

 largest blooms. Certainly they bear drought much better. — 



yOBKSHIKE. 



AUBICULAS.— No. 3. 



I TRUST that a few words more upon these flowers will not be 

 thought too much of one thing at a time. Perhaps this third 

 issue of notes may seem like a gleaning of Grapes when the 

 vintage is done ; but I have purposely left out so far a notice 

 of some desirable Auriculas, especially in green edges, in order 

 that the leading flowers, kept a little apart, might stand out 

 the more conspicuously, like winners at an exhibition from 

 among the mass of competitors passed by. Moreover, intend- 

 ing growers of the Auricula are making eager inquiries, wisely 

 of course seeking the best flowers. Some of these, however, 

 money is valueless to buy, and others it will be a work of time 

 and patience to obtain from the few growers who will sell. It 

 must be a great discouragement to a beginner to find that, with 

 all the heart to take a flower up, he cannot procure the plants. 

 I would therefore hope that a brief mention of some fair and 

 more plentiful sorts may in some degree be useful. They shall 

 be kinds which certainly have their beauties and their points 

 of merit, which are grown as florists' flowers, and will sometimes 

 compete with those of greater fame — sorts which a beginner 

 may hope to obtain without much difficulty, and with which 

 he wOl be well contented through the less-exacting days of his 

 early love until, like some of us, he has worked his slow way 

 to the possession of the worthiest, and become old, accustomed, 

 and severe. And while yet a "colt" (expressive Lancashire 

 for a young hand), let him put himself in the way of the 

 National Auricula Society's April Show in Manchester, of 

 which the pages of the Journal will give due notice. Among 

 the many growers gathered there, there is a good chance of 

 meeting some who may have plants either to exchange or part 

 with ; and I hardly need to add that it is always a wise thing 

 to bravely face the best flowers although we possess them not 

 ourselves, and may go homo again a little out of conceit with 

 OUT own. 



Among green edges are two which are not common, and are 

 well worth having — PoUitt's Highland Boy, and Trail's Eev. 

 George Jeans. The former is a true green edge with reddish 

 chocolate ground colour, a very neat and good flower, though 

 the pip would be considered small. The latter has a round 

 flat pip ; sepals beaded on the rim with meal that sometimes 

 trespasses across the light green edge ; body colour pretty 



light lilac. Very " chancy." Beeston's Apollo, a great breeder, 

 is one of the accessible sorts. Pip not large, often " mouse- 

 eared ;" edge fine full green ; body pure and black ; paste good; 

 not a large trusser, and always blooming in autumn. Camp- 

 bell's Lord I'almerston is another easy kind, " not unlike a bad 

 Booth's Freedom," as a keen critic, " Iota" (Rev. G. Jeans), 

 used to say. Admiral Napier is out of the same seed-batch, 

 a pod-fellow probably, and not so lasting in the bloom through 

 growing out of form. OUier's Lady Ann Wilbraham is com- 

 mon, but a good flower, though the cheapest ; petal more or 

 less pointed ; edge dark green, not always pure, and faithfully 

 perverse in autumn-blooming. Gain's Lady Eichardson is 

 distinct; edge glaucous, like "green tea," not always pure; 

 Sower lively, and when in character altogether very fair. 

 Lightbody's Fairy Queen, green edge, with red or maroon body 

 colour ; not constant to purity of edge, but tube fine yellow ; 

 paste and ground colour correct ; good increaser. Trail's 

 Napoleon is another red-grounded green edge ; petal broad and 

 edge sufficient, and of a dull, dead, dry green. Morris's Green 

 Hen and Simpson's Commander have edges pure, but the petals 

 are generally pointed, particularly in the last named. Like 

 the two first on this list, they are not common sorts, neither is 

 Lightbody's Inkerman, which is often a bold, dashing, taking 

 black ground with me. I wish I could say something definite 

 about Trail's George Lightbody ; but with me the plants have 

 the tiresome habit of blooming small heads from small hearts, 

 which afterwards split up into several ; so I have not yet had 

 a strong bloom from it. Edge and colour are very good ; tube 

 too large ; paste good. Lovely Ann comes at times green- 

 edged, and is plentiful. So, too, is Imperator of my first list. 

 General Neill is plentiful also, and a good flower when pure. 

 I think among these I shall have named some green edges that 

 might be much more readily obtained than the champion few, 

 and which I grow for the sake of variety. 



In grey edges Robert Trail is a free and abundant sort. It 

 is often also white-edged, and no Auricula has a richer golden 

 tube or greater brilliancy throughout. The flower is small, 

 and, worse still, has often a cramped appearance because of 

 the comparative narrowness of colour and edge. The plant is 

 of inordinate size, like a Cos Lettuce, and the best blooms 

 come from moderate maiden plants. Jeffrey's Sir H. Have- 

 lock is at times a good flower, often rough on petal edge ; 

 Smith's Lycurgus too uncertain ; edge undecided, body rich 

 black and too broad. Trail's Mayflower, in habit rather like 

 Lovely Ann, is a bright flower; and Simpson's May Morning 

 will do sometimes. Lightbody's 125 is a beautiful violet, 

 ground grey or white, but a very bad plant-maker, always 

 splitting-up. This and Walker's Peveril of the Peak are the 

 only difficult ones to get of those I now name. Peveril can 

 be a very fine black-ground flower, but it remains to be seen 

 whether it is very constant. Smith's Britannia, a violet 

 ground ; Reade's Miss Gidding, and Lightbody's Robert, ma- 

 roon grounds, are prolific kinds, but apt to come wild. 



In white edges I have not much to add beyond apologising 

 for the oversight of two or three flowers I should have noticed 

 before. Taylor's Incomparable, though it is inferior to his 

 Glory, is worth growing, but the ground colour, a dark walnut, 

 is too broad. Ashton's Bonny Lass is a bonny sort, true edge, 

 and violet body colour ; Trail's Beauty not always white 

 enough, or the edge is nevertheless pretty; body black. I do 

 not think any of the white edges so easy to meet with as the 

 other classes ; and Taylor's Glory, Favourite, Incomparable, 

 Smiling Beauty, Bright Venus, NeP'las Ultra (Smith's) Countess 

 of Wilton, Regular, Lady Sale, and Trail's Beauty, decidedly 

 difficult. The rest might be much less so. 



In sells I am very sorry I overlooked the claims of Mrs. 

 Sturrock, a clarety maroon, for fifteen years ago she was our 

 best self, and stands very high yet. A great number among 

 seedlings turn out to be selfs, so we shall both hope toraise 

 some grand ones, and be able to be very strict over the faUiiigs 

 common to this lovely class. 



In concluding these notes I have only to express my regret 

 that the Auricula is yet so rare, and that some may read these 

 brief descriptions and wish to test them for themselves, and 

 be tantahsed to find the flower almost beyond their reach. 

 But it is coming round again in a few careful hands, and will 

 be more and more seen. But it is not on the exhibition table 

 that the Auricula looks its best. With the exception of the 

 groups in the pans the flowers are not arranged to best ad- 

 vantage. The single classes stand in masses of green, grey, 

 and white-edged flowers, unrelieved, for the sake of easier 

 judging, and there has been no time to re-arrange them in the 



