82 A DIALOGUE ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE AURICULA. 



spring frosts. If the weather be promising, you may let them have a 

 gentle shower of rain, should there be any, but not for more than an 

 hour or two at a time ; and as I like to see the white powder on the 

 leaves, such plants that have it I place over a small glass made on 

 purpose to fit within the pot, and yet not to prevent the rain from 

 getting to the root; such plants as the following I cover in that way, 

 — Taylor's Glory, Hughes's Pillar of Beauty, Dixon's Apollo, and 

 the like, but never let them be exposed to any heavy dashing rain at 

 any time. At this season of the year, if the wet is permitted to 

 remain in the heart of a plant, it will probably injure it ; and should 

 there be a frost at night or early part of the morning, it will certainly 

 kill those pips which are formed. Either blow the wet out through 

 a tube or extract it with a syringe. In the month of March they 

 will require constant attention in regard to air and water ; give them 

 all the fresh air you can, to prevent the flower stems being drawn up 

 weakly, and moisture must be given according to the state of the 

 atmosphere. In frosty weather, such as we had in the spring of 

 1837, they will require but little, and that should be given them about 

 eleven o'clock, in order that part may be absorbed and the rest some- 

 thing warmed by the sun, so that when at night they are properly 

 covered over, they will not receive such a check from the sharp frosts 

 which often prevail at this season of the year. 



L. How do you cover them? 



Inf. With a strong thick rug, a horse-cloth, or a blanket, thrown 

 over the glass, and covered with a tar sheet to throw off the wet. If 

 you wish or intend to have a fine bloom, remember this covering 

 must not be omitted for a single night from the first of January till 

 they are declining in bloom. In this month the flower stems will 

 shoot up and enable the cultivator to thin out the supernumerary 

 pips, leaving five, seven, nine, or eleven, according to the plants. I 

 remember reading somewhere in the Cabinet, what I have often re- 

 marked, that " green and grey edged flowers are seldom so fine and 

 tme, when produced from a stem rising from the centre of the plant, 

 as those produced from one rising from the side of it, and that white 

 edges are the reverse. The most perfect flowers generally being 

 produced from a stem rising from the centre." 



L. That's strange. 



Inf. Yes, but it is nevertheless true ; and this is the month to give 



