THE AURICULA. 131 



THE LANCASHIRE SYSTEM. 



I HAVE had some conversation lately with a Lan- 

 cashire florist concerning their mode of growing 

 them. He told me that they were not half so parti- 

 cular as the London florists were, or at least as they 

 pretended to be. It must be admitted that they are 

 entitled to great credit for the improvement they have 

 made in this class of flowers, as well as in that of the 

 Polyanthus ; they have undoubtedly in this respect 

 evinced much radical knowledge on the subject ; we 

 are also chiefly indebted to them for most of our 

 finest gooseberries. They use horse-dung and cow- 

 dung indiscriminately, sometimes mixed, sometimes 

 apart, the dung of poultry most frequently, and old 

 decayed willow wood, when they can get it, with the 

 mould cast up by moles, taking care that the same 

 be properly mixed, sweetened, and pulverized. 



In winter they throw it up in narrow ridges, and 

 when the top of it is frozen, they take it off, and 

 so continue to do, till the whole of it has been frozen : 



