348 THE PLEASURE, OR [April 



Compost for Auriculas. 



The compost proper for auriculas, should consist of the following 

 ingredients in the annexed proportions, viz: 



One half rotten cow-dung, two years old. 



One sixth fresh sound earth of an open texture. 



One eighth earth of rotten leaves. 



One twelfth coarse sea or river sand. 



One twelfth moory earth. 



One twenty-fourth asljes of burned vegetables. 

 These ingredients should be well incorporated, and placed in an 

 open situation, perfectly exposed to the action of the sun and air; 

 it should be laid in a regular heap or mass from fifteen to eighteen 

 inches thick and turned frequently: in this state it should remain 

 a year or six months, turning it once every two months, and keep- 

 ing it always free from weeds: before it is used, it should be passed 

 through a coarse screen to free it from stones, &c. and to incorpo- 

 rate it more effectually. 



New Polting Auriculas, and increasing than by Slips, 



The most adviseable time to transplant, or to slip auriculas, or 

 as it is usually termed to pot them, is immediately, or very soon 

 after their bloom is over; and this should be repeated annually, for 

 it preserves the health and constitution of the plants, by affording 

 them a fresh supply of nourishment, and affords an opportunity of 

 curtailing the fibres if grown too long, or if any are decayed and 

 mouldy; or of cutting oft' the lower part of the main root, if in a 

 rotting or decayed state, which is frequently the case. By this 

 treatment, the plants are brought into a state of action and fresh 

 vegetation, which will cause a continued circulation of the juices 

 during the summer. 



The pots should be hard baked, and for blooming plants ought 

 to be seven inches in diameter at top, four and a half at bottom, and 

 about seven deep; but smaller plants and oft'sets should have shal- 

 lower pots, and of a proportionate size, and very large plants must 

 have pots in proportion. These before being used, if new, should 

 be immersed in water for five or six hours or more. 



In potting or transplanting auriculas, the plant ought to be care- 

 fully turned out of the former pot, and the earth shaken from its 

 fibres, which should be trimmed if found long ami numerous, and 

 also any part of the old main root that appears in a sickly or de- 

 cayed state must be cut clean out, whether on the lower part, or 

 side; and if near the leaves, a cement should be immediately ap- 

 plied, consisting of bees wax and pitch, in equal quantities, melted 

 together and laid on when soft, but not hot, to make it adhere more 

 firmlv. Place a hollow oyster shell, or the like, over the hole in 

 the bottom of each pot, with the convex side upwards, and then 

 more than half fill it with the compost; let it be higher in the mid- 

 dle than at the sides: the plant is next to be placed thereon, with 

 its fibres regularly distributed all around, and the pot filled up, 



