132 CULTIVATION. 



moderately with hot lime and salt, and fre- 

 quently turned and exposed to frost. Some im- 

 portance is attached to the time they have been 

 mixed ; some authors advise them not to be used 

 in less than two years. It certainly seems neces- 

 sary that the crudities of the different ingredients 

 should be somewhat neutralized, or at least qua- 

 lified by frequent turning and exposure. Every 

 flower-grower should have at command an abun- 

 dant store of such matters, either separate or 

 mixed up, to which he can have recourse on all 

 occasions. 



Shifting. — There is a difference of opinion 

 relative to the time of shifting the auricula. 

 Maddock thought, and many other florists think, 

 that the best season is that immediately after the 

 flowering ; because this, following the great effort 

 of perfecting their bloom, finds the plants in a 

 state of exhaustion or rest, and consequently 

 better fitted to undergo such an operation. This, 

 however, is an argument founded on their arti- 

 ficial, rather than on their natural character ; be- 

 cause it is obvious that the ripening their seeds 



