0N~TIIE AURICULA, — ITS CULTURE, PROPERTIES, ETC. 127 



be removed and potted in compost similar to that used for the old 

 plants. This allows them time to get established before the approach 

 of winter, and is the best season for repotting the old plants also when 

 they require it. This, however, should only be done every other 

 season, as it is absurd to imagine that an Auricula plant can com- 

 pletely exhaust the soil in the pot in one season, as many cultivators 

 suppose. By removing the offsets at this season, the old plants will 

 be less liable to sustain injury than at any other period of the year, 

 as the warm weather of summer is approaching, and they are just 

 entering upon their dormant state, and, consequently, they will not 

 be so apt to bleed at the incisions made in removing the offsets as at 

 other times when the plants possess more vigour. These incisions 

 will dry and heal up in the warm summer weather, and the plants, 

 when left with only one heart, will bloom again the next season with 

 undivided vigour. Every care should, however, be taken not to put 

 the compost too high up the necks of the plants having such inci- 

 sions, as they are very apt to imbibe moisture at these places, and 

 damp off in the winter season in consequence, which misfortune can 

 only be prevented by attention to this. 



As soon as the wet and cold weather of the latest months of the 

 year sets in, the Auricula again demands our best attention and care; 

 and it is always of the greatest importance to preserve them from a 

 superabundance of moisture. It is an easy matter to supply the 

 deficiency when they are likely to get too dry ; but it is very diffi- 

 cult even to preserve them after they have been bleached by long- 

 continued rains. 



Properties. — The properties of a first-rate Auricula are, in the 

 opinion of modern florists, as follow : — The flower should consist of 

 four principal parts, — the tube, the eye, the ground colour, and the 

 border. The diameter of the tube should be one-sixth of the whole 

 diameter of the corolla ; the eye, including the tube, one-half; the 

 velvety ground colour should occupy a quarter ; and the green edge, 

 including the white powdery border, the remaining quarter. The 

 ground colour should be a deep rich velvet, quite distinct from the 

 exterior circumscribing border, as all those whose ground colour runs 

 into, and infringes upon, the outer border are to be considered run 

 and imperfect flowers. The mouth of each tube should be well 

 filled with the anthersc'; the eye should be a little sunk below the 



