HERBACEOUS FLOWEES. 



75 



white, red, and violet, plain or striped, single or double. 

 Propagated by seed or root-division. A. Sibirica and 

 glandulosa have handsome blue flowers ; ordinary soil ; 

 protection of litter in winter ; apt to degenerate it* raised 

 from seed. 



Asclepias — Swallow- Wort. — American plants, of doubt- 

 ful hardihood in British winters. Soil, half light loam, 

 half heath-mould. Try A. Cor?iuti, erroneously named 

 by Linnaeus Syriaca ; roots of very vagabond disposition, 

 flowers white, dashed with red, sweet-scented. Try, also, 

 A. amoena with reddish purple, and A. tuberosa with 

 brilliant orange-red flowers. 



Auricula — Primula Auricula. — The florists' Auricula is 

 a flower of old-established merit and ancient respecta- 

 bility, whose varieties are exceedingly numerous, and 

 whose special culture and the secrets belonging to it, 

 with the rules and tricks of practised fanciers, would fill 

 a voluminous treatise. Such Auriculas are grown in 

 pots, in light soil in damp climates, in somewhat stiffer 

 where the atmosphere is drier. The compost is made 

 up of sandy loam and leaf-mould, with varying propor- 

 tions of rotten cow-dung, rabbit-dung, sheep-dung, 

 thoroughly decomposed hotbeds, and other mild manures, 

 according to the local recipe. Auriculas are Alpine 

 plants ; therefore they suffer not only from severe frosts, 

 but from sudden changes of temperature and humidity. 

 During heavy rains, it is usual to lay the pots on their 

 sides ; they should catch only the morning and the even- 

 ing sun. Auriculas, if even of only ordinary merit, re- 

 quire and deserve the shelter of a cold frame to protect 

 their blooms from injury. Propagate by offsets, taken 

 off after flowering, or in autumn ; for new varieties, by 

 seed sown as soon as ripe in shallow pans of heath-mould, 

 slightly covered. Protect the young plants in a frame 

 till they have five or six leaves, when they may be pricked 

 out in separate pots and treated as adults. The common 

 border Auriculas are usually called Bears 1 Ears, and only 

 require a somewhat moist and shady situation, with 

 occasional division of the root. 



