BOOK II. 



AURICULA. 



847 



is permitted. The operation is therefore generally performed in July and the beginning 

 of August. Eromerton says, the Lancashire growers will not take off, or sell a slip be- 

 fore the 5th of August, on which day they begin to execute orders for young plants. 



6343. By seed. Haddock says, " the surest and best method to obtain fine auriculas from seed is to 

 provide young, healthy, and strong plants, of capital high-colored sorts, possessing first-rate properties ; 

 these, on the approach of bloom, should be detached from the rest to a remote part of the garden, and 

 there exposed to the sun, air, and rain, when the last is in moderation ; but if in excess, they should be 

 preserved from it by mats on hoops, or small hand-glasses may be placed over them. In dry weather, 

 they must be regularly watered, as often as they appear to require it ; for much depends on a due at- 

 tention to this particular point." Emmerton is a warm advocate for raising the auricula from seeds, and 

 says, any one who will follow his directions may be certain of raising very fine sorts. He selects the 

 flowers he intends to breed from, according to the properties he desires in the offspring. Thus, he 

 advises to procure the following sorts, sufficiently well known to the London and Manchester florists, and 

 to plant them in pots ; six plants of two sorts in each pot, viz. 



Bearless's superb, 3 of Chileofs 

 king. 



For breeding fine white-edged teedlingt. 

 Pots with six plants in each, viz. 

 3 of Schooley's Mrs. Clarke, 3 of 

 Taylor's Incomparable; 3 of Schoo-. 

 Ity's Mrs. Clarke, 3 of Crompton's 

 Admiral Gardner; 3 of Schooley's 

 Mrs. Clarke, 3 of Popplewell's con. 

 queror ; 5 of Schooley's Mrs. Clarke, 

 3 of Wild's black and clear. 



6344. Each qf these pots is to be set apart, and at a distance from all other auriculas, before the flowers 

 have expanded, to prevent accidental impregnation, and to be kept so detached till auriculas in general are 

 out of flower. They may then be placed on a platform ofr scoria or tiles, there to remain till they have 

 ripened their seeds. 



6345. A simple mode is to impregnate the stigmas of one sort with the anthers of another, in Knight's 

 manner : or even without castrating the female parent. Nicol tried this last mode with the greatest suc- 

 cess both in thfe primula and dianthus genus. (Caled. Hort. Soc. Mem. iii. 276.) 



6346. The seed will commonly ripen in June arid July, and is to be gathered in single capsules as it ripens, 

 and kept in them till the sowing season, which is January or February, according to Maddock ; and from 

 the middle of February to the 10th or 12th of March, according to Emmerton. Maddock sows in boxes, 

 covers as lightly as possible, and sets the boxes in a hot-bed ; preserving a moderate and equal degree of 

 warmth both day and night, admitting fresh air occasionally. The advantage of this mode is, that it forces 

 every live grain into vegetation in about three weeks, if the warmth of the bed be properly kept up ; 

 whereas, by the more usual mode of exposure to the open air, the greater part does not vegetate till the 

 second year ; and the weaker seeds, which are probably the most valuable, seldom vegetate at all. 



6347. The earth and seed must always be kept moderately moist, but never very wet ; the best method of 

 watering it is by means of a hard clothes-brush, dipped into soft water, which has had its chill taken off 

 by standing in the sun, the hair side being quickly turned upwards, and the hand rubbed briskly over it, 

 will cause the water to fly off in an opposite direction, in particles almost as fine as dew ; a sufficient water- 

 ing may, in this manner, be given in a few minutes. If the surface of the earth in the box is inclining to 

 become mossy or mouldy, it must be stirred all over very carefully with a pin, about as deep as the thick- 

 ness of a shilling. At the expiration of three, four, or at most, five weeks, the young plants will all make 

 their appearance ; it then becomes necessary to give them very gradually more air, in order to harden and 

 render them fit for an entire exposure to it, which they will be able to bear in a fortnight or three weeks 

 afterwards ; at which time the box should be taken out of the frame, and placed in rather a warm situ- 

 ation, though not too much exposed to the sun, till towards the end of April, when it may be again re- 

 moved to a cooler aspect, where it can only receive the sun till nine o'clock in the morning ; and in May, 

 if the weather is hot, it should be placed in the most cool and airy part of the garden, not neglecting, at 

 any time, to keep the earth moderately moist ; but at the same time preserving it from violent rains when- 

 ever they occur. As soon as any of the plants appear with six leaves, such should be taken out from the 

 rest, and transplanted into other boxes, filled with the compost, about an inch and a half or two inches 

 asunder ; and when they are again grown, so as nearly to touch each other, they may be a second time 

 transplanted into larger boxes, or round small pots, at the distance of three or four inches, where they 

 should remain till they blow, which will generally happen the following spring, perhaps before they have 

 acquired any considerable size ; and then such as appear to be possessed of merit should be marked, and 

 the inferior ones destroyed. As soon as the bloom is over, such as have been marked should be taken up, 

 and planted separately in small pots, and be taken the same care of as other auriculas, till they blow 

 again ; at which time their respective merits and properties may be ascertained with more accuracy. 

 Such weakly plants as are not able to blow the first or second year, ought nevertheless to be carefully pre- 

 served ; for amongst these it often happens that the most valuable flowers are found. A great proportion 

 of the seedlings, although the seed was saved from the best flowers, will be plain-colored, or self, which, 

 unless possessed of excellent properties in other respects, or being singularly beautiful m their colors, are 

 of no value, but as common border-flowers, 



6348. Emmerton sows in small pots, about six inches over the top, and six deep, filled half full with coal- 

 ashes or cinders, for the sake of drainage. He covers as thinly as possible with the auricula-compost, then 

 puts on a bell-glass, and places the pots in a situation quite excluded from the sun, except in the morning. 

 The bell-glass, he says, will cause the seed to vegetate much sooner, and by pouring the water over the 

 top of it, the earth in which the seeds are will receive sufficient moisture, so that there will be no occasion 

 to remove it. " If convenient," he says, ' I would recommend the front of a green-house, or a cool-frame, 

 for the seed-pots to be placed in, but by no means a hot-bed ; or if not that accommodation, a hand-glass, 

 having tiles or slates placed underneath, to keep the worms out of the pots ; great care being taken to keep 

 the earth in a regular moist state. In about four or five weeks, perhaps three weeks, if in a green-house, 

 the seeds will break ground ; and when the leaf begins to appear, you must take care by degrees to admit 

 air." After this, his treatment of the young plants till they flower is essentially the same as that recom- 

 mended above by Maddock. All pin-eyed flowers, or such as show only the stigmas and not the anthers, 

 he throws away as of no value, either as border-flowers or select sorts. 



6349. Hoes says, auricula-seed maybe sown either in pots, or in the open air, about the 1st of March, and 

 covered with a hand-glass. When the plants will bear transplanting, he removes them into pots of the 

 smallest size, one in a pot 



6350. Soil. The different composts used by florists in growing this flower are almost 

 as numerous, Hogg observes, as the florists themselves. " Persons often take extraor- 

 dinary pains, and incur unnecessary expense, to injure, if not destroy, their flowers. 

 Weak minds are soon misled by quackery and novelty, having no sound judgment of their 



