THE AURICULA. 153 



The seed, if good, and kept moist, and the wea- 

 ther prove favorable, will strike root and make its 

 appearance in a month, but sometimes not under 

 six weeks. When the seed is up, I then recommend 

 you to take away the striking glasses, and place 

 squares of window-glass over the pots in their stead, 

 for you must be careful not to confine them too long, 

 and so draw them up weak, as you would mustard 

 and cress. Give air gradually, and harden them to 

 it by degrees. The young plants, when beginning 

 to sprout, will sometimes throw their roots out of 

 ground, which must be carefully put in again, by 

 making a small cleft, in the earth, and closing the 

 soil round them ; this may be done with a long flat 

 bit of ivory or smooth wood, thin at the end, and 

 about one-eighth of an inch broad, or they will come 

 to nothing. 



As soon as the plants are fit to handle, transplant 

 them carefully into store pans or pots, an inch apart, 

 filled with proper compost, which ought to be raised 

 in a convex form, one inch and a half higher in the 

 middle than at the sides ; water with the brush as 



H 5 



