May 5, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Larger seeds will require more common treatment ; but from want 

 of attention to minutiee, we have known seeds saved from the 

 same plant distributed to several people, and some would raise 

 plants from almost every seed, and others would not succeed in 

 obtaining a plant. 



Annuals to be sown in a gentle hotbed, hardened-off, and 

 finally transplanted. 



Antirrhinum majus and varieties will bloom in autumn. 



Argemones, of spe:ies, must be planted young. 



Blumenbachia insignia, blue. 



Chrysanthemum, annual varieties, as tricolor, aureum, Bur- 

 ridgii. 



Dianthus, as chinensis, and varieties of Indian Pink, &c. 



Gaillardia, such as picta, nana, &c. 



Helianthus, double Sunflower. 



Holeus saecharatus, for foliage. 



Impatiens, garden Balsams, which thus treated make fine 

 bushes. 



Lophospermum, of sorts. Climbers ; better, however, in pots. 



Myosotis palustris and azorica, common and Azores Forget- 

 me-not. 



Nolana sub-ccerulea and other varieties. 



Mathiola, the best German and large-flowering Ten-week, and 

 other Stocks. 



Pentstemons, different species and varie'ies, as gentianoides, 

 Murrayanus, which thus will bloom as annuals. 



Phlox Drummondi, many varieties, all beautiful. 



Salpiglossis, many varieties. Make telling beds. About 2 feet 

 in height. 



Salvia coccinea and Rcemeriana are the chief kinds that will 

 bloom freely the same season from seed. 



Zinnia elegans, varieties, would make beds or rows of them- 

 selves ; and the scarlets, crimsons, and purples, are exceedingly 

 beautiful. To these may be added the Pfeony and Chrysan- 

 themum-flowered French Asters, and the Quilled German Asters, 

 African and French Marigolds, and German Wallflowers, which 

 come mostly double and semidouble, to flower in mild winters 

 and the succeeding spring. Most of the above should be sown in 

 the beginning of April, and a batch of them are a good resource 

 to fall back on when a vacancy occurs. 



I have taken np so much space that I must be satisfied in 

 thus referring to some of the best annuals for ornamenting the 

 flower garden, leaving those for the greenhouse for some other 

 opportunity. The article, written by snatches, has many short- 

 comings ; but I shall be glad, if by its perusal some of our 

 enthusiastic gardeners in small places receive any hints as to 

 how certain annuals may be best used for definite purposes. In 

 general, when sown on the ground the plants are left far too 

 thick. R. Fish. 



EARLY ARCHERFLELD MUSCAT. 



I tohwaed for your inspection (April 24th) a sample of 

 this Grape, which I think you will find to be quite ripe and 

 fit for table. It is cut from a Tine which, as Dr. Hogg saw, 

 has been forced under the following disadvantageous circum- 

 stances. 



On the 12th of November I put a bed of warm leaves on the 

 border of a Black Hamburgh-house, preparatory to its being 

 started for the supply of Grapes about this time. The plant of 

 Early Muscat from which the sample sent is cut, is growing in 

 the house next to this early Hamburgh-house. Being anxious 

 to put its early qualities to the test by trying it against the 

 Hamburgh, I removed a pane of glass from the division which 

 separates the two houses, and introduced the rod of the Muscat 

 through the opening. This was done cotemporaneous with 

 putting the hot leaves on the Hamburgh-border both out and 

 inside the house. The Muscat-house, in the border of which the 

 roots of the Muscat had to act its part against the Hamburghs, 

 was kept open at both top and bottom, as I did not want to 

 start it till nearly two months after the Hamburgh-house. To 

 prevent the cold current of air from acting more immediately on 

 the stock of the Early Muscat, I wrapped a hayband round it ; 

 but in all other respects the house and border in which its roots 

 arc, remained as cool as it could be kept till the 31st of 

 December, when the house was shut up and warm leaves 

 applied, the same as was done iu the case of the Hamburgh- 

 house on the 12th of the previous month ; so that in the matter 

 of heat at the root the Hamburghs had about seven weeks of 

 an advantage over the Muscat. 



On the 2-lth November the Hamburghs had fire heat applied, 

 while the house in which the roots of the Early Muscat were had 

 no fire heat till the 20th January. Under these circumstances the 

 race has been run. On March the 23rd the first faint sign of 

 colouring was discovered in the Black Hamburghs, and on the 

 30th of March I have the following entry in my diary : — 

 " Noticed Early Muscat changing soft and yellow." The 

 Hamburghs are now fit for table, and the first will be cut on 

 the 28th April, while the Muscats are as the sample sent, and 

 which I send for your opinion as to ripeness. I have no 

 hesitation in saying that tbis variety of Muscat will force as 

 well and as early as the Black Hamburgh. 



I may state that it is my intention to send a sample to the 

 Fruit Committee which is to meet on the 5th of May. Probably 

 I may send two bunches ; and if your acute correspondent and 

 able pomologist Mr. Rivers, or any other whose opinion is of 

 value, could be present it would be gratifying, as I am not aware 

 that in the ordinary course of forcing, Muscat Grapes of any 

 variety were seen so ripe at so early a season. — D. Thomson, 

 Archerfield Gardens. 



[The specimens to which Mr. Thomson refers were received 

 on the 25th of April, and were perfectly ripe examples of a pure 

 form of Muscat of Alexandria.] 



THE AURICULA IN 1863. 



Hating received several communications publicly and pri- 

 vately relative to my favourite flower, I must take this medium 

 cf answering my correspondents, while at the same time I am 

 enabled to have a chat on our prospects with regard to it. 



To our two great Societies we Auricula-growers are much 

 indebted for the stimulus that has been given to their growth, 

 the results of which are abundantly evident in the increased 

 number of exhibitors and the better quality of the plants pro- 

 duced at the spring shows. This applies especially to amateurs ; 

 Mr. Turner still holding the place of solitary grandeur and 

 dignity as the only exhibitor amongst nurserymen. When we 

 find that in one year only the number of amateurs exhibiting 

 has been more than doubled ; that plants which two years ago 

 might have received a first prize are now to be found nowhere ; 

 and that other flower-lovers are evidently preparing for the 

 battle, we may assuredly congratulate ourselves on the progress 

 that is being made. Nor is this all. Some of the most expe- 

 rienced plant-growers I have seen lingering over the collections 

 exhibited, and expressing their unqualified approbation ; while 

 ladies, to whom the flower has been a stranger, have so stopped 

 to gaze at the exquisite beauty and novelty of the flowers, that 

 it has oftentimes obstructed the thoroughfare — no difficult matter 

 in these days of distended garments — not that I think at first it 

 is a popular flower with the gentler sex ; there is not, perhaps, 

 enough of that gracefulness of appearance which they ever look 

 for as a sine qua non in Flora's domain, but it is one that is 

 sure to win upon them ; their neatness and refinement appealing 

 to their love of all that is elegant, and they become after a while 

 its most enthusiastic devotees. 



The demand for the Auricula has so greatly increased that 

 neither at SIough,Falkirk, nor in Lancashire, has it been possible 

 to obtain plants of any size; for the Auricula is not a plant that 

 can be propagated as one likes, you must bide its own time. All 

 these circumstances combined tend to make me believe that we 

 are on the eve of seeing the old days of poor John Dixon revived; 

 and that in and around our metropolis Auricula-growers will 

 soon be as numerous as they used to be in " days when I was 

 young," and " The Horns," Eennington, used to be the scene 

 of many a pleasant meeting. 



The opinion that I ventured to express, and for which some 

 northern growers were almost prepared to give me Lynch law — 

 that a National Auricula Show would never be again held, is, 

 I think, likely to be more near the fact than our northern friends 

 believed. They this week hold one called such ; and although 

 their rules have been somewhat modified, and three-legged Manx 

 Auriculas are not to be exhibited, yet few if any of the really 

 southern growers will venture so far north, or, indeed, as a 

 general rule, would they be able to exhibit at a time so far 

 advanced as the last day of April : and hence I imagine the 

 Show will be to all intents and purposes a northern one ; but 

 I hope and believe that ere long we shall be enabled to see a 

 southern or metropolitan exhibition. There is already a South 

 London Auricula Society, where the flowers are exhibited without 



