38 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



One Auriculist (for the science deserves a separate ap- 

 pellation) has devoted a little volume to its culture. An 

 aspirant in this science is apt, however, to be startled on 

 learning that the object of his adoration has a singular 

 propensity for meat, and that a good part of its bloom is 

 actually owing, like an alderman's, to this consumption of 

 flesh. Juicy pieces of meat are placed about the root, so 

 that it may in some measure be said to live on blood. 

 This undoubtedly lessens its charms in some eyes. Its florid 

 aspect somehow becomes unnatural ; and the " shining 

 meal," with which Thomson says it is " enriched," being 

 no longer associated with vegetation, makes it look like a 

 baker covered with flour, and just come out from a dinner 

 in his hot oven. 



The Auricula does not flower the first year; but as it 

 is sometimes desirable to continue the handsome kinds, it 

 may be occasionally agreeable to sow the seeds at home : 

 directions are therefore given for that purpose. The 

 seeds may be sown at any time before Christmas, but the 

 best time is in August. They may at first be sown within 

 an inch of each other, not more than a quarter of an inch 

 deep. They should stand in a moderately warm room, and 

 be kept tolerably moist, by sprinkling the earth with a 

 hard clothes-brush dipped in water, warmed by standing 

 in the sun. At the end of four or five weeks, when the 

 plants are all come up, they must be gradually accustomed 

 to the air. As soon as any of the plants show six leaves, 

 transplant them into other pots, about two inches asunder ; 

 and, when grown so as to touch each other, transplant 

 them again separately, into small pots, where they may 

 remain to blow; and place them where they may enjoy 

 the morning sun. Towards the middle of March they 

 should be placed where they may receive the early, but 

 be screened from the noon-day sun. Exposure to a whole 



