15 



is hardy, and takes up but little room, even when re- 

 quiring shelter, so that it is suitable for petting by 

 those who love floral beauties, yet are restricted in 

 the means for gratifying the taste. Auricula shews 

 are now to be found in many villages of almost every 

 English county ; and it is gratifying to be able to 

 say, with truth, that the patient concentrated practice 

 of the poor man usually distances, at these exhibitions, 

 the more scienced efforts of the professional gardener. 

 It is gratifying, because we would always have him 

 the best cultivator who watches nature most closely. 

 It is a wholesome lesson to us ; and how successful 

 have been the humble cultivators of this flower in the 

 neighbourhood of Manchester, we have already no- 

 ticed. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERS. 



Primula Auricula — the garden Auricula, or 

 Bear's-ear — belongs to the Pentandria Monogynia 

 class and order of the Linnsean system, and to the 

 Natural Order Primulaceae. 



Leaves, obovate, fleshy, succulent, with the edges 

 mealy ; the young leaves are entire, the adult ones 

 serrate above the middle. Petioles leafy or winged. 

 Leaflets of the involucre unequal, wide, lanceolate, or 

 blunt. Stalk, many flowered, about the length of 

 the leaves. Flowers, very sweet, four or five, in an 



