74 



reducing the quantity of the pips, the rest are en- 

 abled to increase greatly in size as well as beauty, 

 room being given to all the pips to expand, and be- 

 come flat and level. {Hogg, 136.) 



Cupping. — This is the technical name given by 

 florists to the form assumed by pips of the Auricula, 

 when their petals turn up somewhat in the manner 

 of the Cowslip, instead of spreading back and form- 

 ing a level disk. 



Flowers, whose petals are of thick, firm texture, 

 are generally inclined to cup, and when this is the 

 case, they should be exposed for a few hours, during 

 two or three days, in the very face of the sun, under 

 a hand-glass, shaded with a piece of mat or gar- 

 dener's blue apron. This warm confinement under 

 the glass has the effect of gradually producing a 

 greater expansion of the petals, and of making them 

 pliable, so that with a little care, and a thin piece of 

 smooth wood, you will be enabled to lock the edges 

 of the pips under one another and bring them level. 



A piece of smooth ivory, with a hole in it, nearly 

 the size of the pip, if pressed lightly upon the pip, 

 will also help to bring it level. 



Stage. — That which we have already given, as re- 

 commended by Dr. Horner, is intended for this pur- 

 pose, and there is another recommended by Mr. 

 Henderson, of Delvine, N.B., who says his Auricula 

 frame answers all the purposes of frame, hand-glass, 



