CULTIVATION OF AURICULAS. 



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out cold as heat, and so should be let down over the glass on frosty nights of March 

 and April. For, though the plant itself is hardy, yet its buds and flowers are inexpres- 

 sibly tender, and alike impatient of severe cold and high heat, both of which have one 

 effect, that of checking the opening blossoms. 



"Watering. — No hard-and-fast line of " when " and " how much " can be laid down. 

 It depends on atmospheric conditions, retentive powers of the soil, porosity of pots, and 

 largely upon the extent of evaporative leaf surfaces on the plant. The plants will 

 naturally require more a good deal between March and October than between November 

 and February. But for the sake of the roots, which are never at rest on the Auricula, 

 and which are highly provided with "root hairs" that live unusually long on these 

 plants, the soil should never be too dry to keep all these delicate vital organs in health. 

 The soil may be kept quite nicely moist all the year round, provided that no water is 

 ever allowed to lodge in the heart of a plant, especially if dormant. 



Ventilation. — This cannot be too full and free. The plants should feel practically 

 in the open air. The only exception is when frosty or cutting winds prevail, and 

 during that difficult spring weather when the sun is bright and the wind bitter. In 

 that case the shading should be let down and the ventilators open only on the roof, or 

 in the best way to avoid cold draughts catching the plants. 



Eepotting. — This has ever been regarded as the most particular annual operation 

 in the Auricula year. There are two chief customary periods for it ; both are safe and 

 sound. One is as the plants pass out of bloom in May, the other when they begin their 

 autumnal growth in August. A plant carrying seed had better not be disturbed till the 

 seed vessels ripen in July. But at any time that a plant seems to be going wrong, it 

 should be turned out of the pot, have its roots and stem inspected, diseased parts cleanly 

 cut away, and be repotted, generally into a smaller pot. Young plants should be given 

 more pot room accordingly as they grow to require it. 



Compost. — Probably no plant has had so many mixtures prescribed for it, or had 

 more nostrums played off upon it. With the exception of rank manures, chalk and 

 peat, many mixtures of cool, sweet, porous ingredients suit it well. The compost may 

 safely consist of fibrous loam, rather "fresh" than "rotten," and of medium to heavy 

 nature ; leaf-mould, flaky and free from mycelial threads of fungus, and white sand as 

 rough as can be got — no sand so good as the crystalline large grained white, from the 

 wear and tear of the " millstone grit " formation. One-half of the loam, not riddled 

 fine, and one-quarter each of the leaf-mould and the sand, is a compost in which the 



VOL. I. RR 



