610 THE PLEASURE, OR [DEC. 



SOWING AURICULA, POLYANTHUS, AND CYCLAMEN SEEDS. 



The surest and best method to obtain fine auriculas from seed, is 

 as follows : In the first place the seed should be saved from young, 

 healthy, strong plants, of capital high-colored sorts, possessing the 

 first-rate properties : these, on the approach of bloom, should be' de- 

 tached from the rest, to some distant part of the garden, for fear of 

 the farina of indifferent sorts contaminating them, and there exposed 

 to the full air, the sun (except when too violent), and moderate rains ; 

 from an excess of which, the plants are to be protected by mats laid 

 on hoops, or by small hand-glasses. In dry weather these plants 

 must be regularly watered, as often as they appear to require it : 

 much depends on a due attention to this particular point. 



The seed will commonly ripen in June ; it is advisable frequently 

 to visit the plants at that season, and carefully to gather such pods 

 or heads of seed as appear perfectly dry, brown, and begin to open ; 

 if -all the pods on the same stem are ripe together they may be cut 

 off with part of the stem to which they are connected; but if some 

 of the pods are not sufficiently ripe, such as are, should be carefully 

 picked from the rest as they become so. The seed thus collected, 

 should remain in the pericarpiums or seed-vessels, in a dry room, till 

 the season of sowing. 



In the last week of December, any time in January, or in the early 

 part of February, the seed may be sown with every prospect of suc- 

 cess, provided you have the necessary conveniences. The early sown 

 seeds, if well managed, will vegetate better, and the plants raise more 

 numerously than the late : besides, it will be of serious importance 

 to give the plants the advantage of a long spring vegetation, that 

 they may be as strong as possible before the summer heat sets in, 

 which to seedling auriculas and polyanthuses is very destructive, and 

 even to the full grown plants ; but if there is not a suitable conve- 

 nience, and an opportunity of paying the necessary attention, it will 

 be better to defer the sowing till February. 



A hot-bed must be prepared, as for early seedling cucumbers, and 

 a good frame and glass-light set thereon, with five or six inches of 

 fine earth laid all over the bed, to keep down the steam. Provide a 

 box or boxes about five or six inches deep, with several holes on the 

 bottom ; fill it with compost, and gently shake and strike it against 

 the ground, till the earth settles a little ; make the surface perfectly 

 smooth and even, and sow the seed with the utmost regularity; then 

 sift through a fine wired sieve a little compost or vegetable mould 

 upon it, sufficient only to just cover the seed, and place the box in 

 the frame on the surface of the bed ; the glass must be set on im- 

 mediately and the bed so managed as to preserve a moderate and 

 equal degree of warmth both day and night, but must be occasion- 

 ally opened, or the light raised up at the higher end, to admit fresh 

 air, and to suffer the exhalations from the bed to pass away, which is 

 a very essential point. 



The earth must always be kept moderately moist, both before and 

 after the plants appear, but never wet ; the best method of watering 



