184 



JOtJENAL OF HORTICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( Harsh 9, 1876. 



shading. Many devices are used to protect the blooms, the 

 most common of which is, I believe, the garden pot supported 

 on a piece of board. The best shade I have ever used or seen 

 is a round board with a projecting piece with square hole for 

 the stake to pass through, moving upwards and downwards at 

 pleasure, with stiff pasteboard, about 8 inches or so deep, 

 nailed round the circle, and painted white inside ; this keeps the 

 flower dry and cool, and protects from the sun's rays, while 

 being open below the blooms obtain a sufficiency of air. A 

 simple and useful mode of protecting the blooms is also shown 

 by the accompanying figures. Fig. 45 (1) represents a piece of 

 pasteboard (old hat-boxes will be quite as good) about 8 inches 

 by G, less or mo^e. By bringing the two bottom comers 

 together, so as to overlap a little, the pasteboard can be nailed 

 top and bottom to a thin lath of wood, as in (2), which can 



Fanci/.^Butterflv, Bessie Wyatt, Carnation, Fanny Sturt, 

 Flossie Williams, Flora Wyatt, Gem (Stafford's), Harlequin, 

 Hero of York, Leopardess, Mrs. Bunn, Mrs. Saunders, Mrs. 

 Joy, and Prince of Wales.— J. B. S. 



Fig. 45. 



be tied at the required height upon a tall flower-stick, which 

 shotild be squared a little to make it set firm ; or it may at 

 once be tacked to the stick as shown in (3). These shades 

 will endure heavy rains if the pasteboard be moderately stiff, 

 and will last several years. They have been used for T'ulips, 

 Ranunculuses, Carnations, Roses, Pinks, and Dahlias. A dili- 

 gent search must at all times be kept up to prevent the ravages 

 of the earwig, the greatest pest the Dahlia-grower has to con- 

 tend with. Small pots with dry moss. Bean-stalks, or what- 

 ever may suggest itself to the grower, must be used and looked 

 over daily. As a further protection against earwigs I have 

 occasionally enveloped the flower stems witli wadding; for, 

 notwithstanding that earwigs are winged insects, they do not 

 generally fly from flower to flower, and the wadding greatly im- 

 pedes their ordinary movements, and preserves valuable blooms. 



There is also another class of plants that are most useful to 

 the gardener who has broad borders to plant — I allude to the 

 dwarf Dahlias, of which there are many colours from white to 

 bright scarlet, &o., the plants growing from 18 inches, or less, 

 to 2 feet high, and bear their flowers in the greatest profusion. 



After the frost has cut down the plants the next care is to 

 prepare the roots for keeping over winter. Cat the plants down 

 at a few inches above the ground, to which fasten the name of 

 each variety. Dig them carefully up, not breaking the roots, 

 and place in flat baskets roots upwards to dry, so that they 

 oan be placed indoors at night, and on damp days ; when fairly 

 dried they may be stored away where frost cannot reach them. 

 The most successful way of keeping DahUa roots I have ever 

 seen is to pack them in dry soil ; it keeps the roots from 

 shrivelling, and they come out plump and fresh in spring. Of 

 course they should be looked over occasionally to see that 

 none of them are damping. 



Appended are the names of a few new and old varieties that 

 I consider well worth growing. 



Sliow. — Andrew Dodds, Alexander Cramond, Acme of Per- 

 fection, Annie Neville, Criterion, Charles Backhouse (rather 

 small but good). Crown Prince, Fanny Purchase, Gipsy King, 

 Golden Drop, H. J. Quilter, Herbert Turner, James Service, 

 James Cocker, Leah, Lord Derby, Mr. Sinclair, Miss Heu- 

 shaw, Mrs. Boston, Ne Plus Ultra, Paisley Panl, Tom White, 

 Walter Eeid, W, Keynes, W. P. Laird, and Willie Austin. 



NOTES FROM MY GARDEN IN 1875. 



FLOWERS.— AURICULAS. 



Among the disappointments of the last season was my Auri- 

 cula bloom : not that I had a bad one, but it was so uncom- 

 monly late that I was unable to have any appreciable number 

 of them in bloom for the show, held in connection with the 

 Botanic Society's Spring Show, of our (I fear almost defunct) 

 MetropoUtan Floral Society on April 28th. Indeed, in all my 

 experience of Auricula-growing I never knew so late a season, 

 and I have grown them on and off for forty years. For weeks 

 they seemed almost to stand still, and no amount of coaxing 

 could move them on. 1 remember a few years ago being twitted 

 by some person who had never grown an Auricula for asserting 

 that the date of a show was fixed too early. Why did I not 

 push them forward as other flowers were treated ? But they 

 will not stand the treatment that other flowers pass through. 

 Keeping the frames close and putting the plants into the green- 

 house does not seem to influence their opening, and certainly 

 does not improve the plants. I know that various plans are 

 proposed for the purpose, but although I have tried them I 

 never saw that they made any appreciable difference. 



1 adhered to the same plan of growing them as I did last 

 year — viz., not using so rich a compost for the winter season, 

 and then top-dressing with rich stuff (sheep manure) in the 

 spring, and was very well satisfied with the vigour of my plants 

 and their general healthiness. I see, however, in a contem- 

 porary, that a very experienced grower in the north recommends 

 top-dressing with not over-rich stuff, nor so old as some people 

 advise. I always thought that this was a cardinal doctrine 

 amongst Auricula growers, that it could not be very well too 

 old or too rich ; but it is evident that there are differences of 

 opinion even in this. We have broke away from all the quack- 

 eries and nostrums that used to be recommended for these 

 beautiful plants ; but I very much question whether it would 

 be wise to go to the opposite extreme and refrain from using 

 manure at all in top-dressing, as seems to be almost the idea 

 embodied in the article to which I refer. The amazing progress 

 which the plants make when top-dressed might be perhaps 

 attained if plainer compost were used, although I doubt it. 

 However, I may, perhaps, give it a trial this season by treating 

 a few in the manner recommended. 



As far as the value of the varieties is concerned I have seen 

 but very Uttle to make me alter my views. There are some 

 seasons when particular varieties come out prominently, as 

 will be the case in all flowers and fruits, while there are some 

 which in all seasons hold their own. And we have to remem- 

 ber that it is not with the Auricula as with other florists' 

 flowers. You do not grow a batch of new plants every year, all 

 of which, with the exception of two or three, you discard a 

 few years afterwards ; but you may perhaps get hold of one 

 new one in the course of a year or two which may perhaps be 

 better than flowers that have been sixty or seventy years in 

 cultivation, but it is very doubtful. There has been a good 

 deal of discussion, for instance, in the Journal lately as to the 

 merits of two very old flowers — Page's Champion and Taylor's 

 Glory. Does it not seem strange that these flowers, which 

 were' in cultivation before many of us were born, should still 

 hold such a prominent place ? Mr. Glenny has been quoted 

 as an authority, although his authority has been repudiated. 

 I should, by-the-by, not have liked to have done so if G. G. 

 had been alive. I should like to quote one whose authority is 

 second to none, my deeply mourned friend the Kev. G. Jeans ; 

 and although it was written fifteen years ago and I am referred 

 to, yet 1 cannot forbear quoting it. After enumerating the 

 varieties in growth he says, " And now to conclude. Where 

 are we to look among them all for the type of a green edge 

 such as we want ? I confess I know not. Is not Page's Cham- 

 pion the best we yet possess ? ' D.' of Deal thinks it is. 

 ' Q' (the Rev. John Bramhall) says it is, and I am forced to 

 admit that it is ; and therefore it is the best, for who in the 

 Auricula world would pit his dictum against such a trio ? But 

 this I say. Shame to seedling raisers if it is ; but I beUeve it 

 is notwithstanding." As to Glory, the following in his descrip- 

 tion in " Gossip for the Garden " for I860—" The best of 

 Taylor's then, and perhaps of all white-edged Auriculas. Pip 

 a circle, flat; edge pare white; colour light purplish plum, 



