3SG 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
the few blooms that come. Thinning out 
judiciously the spindling weak shoots that are 
incapable of sustaining a fine bloom, and re- 
moving all the buds not wanted a9 soon as we 
di -cover they are useless, is beneficial ; but the 
Dahlia derives too much benefit from its foli- 
age, to render it desirable to lose too much of 
it. If the plants are growing vigorously, and 
indicating that they are in soil they like, it is 
not desirable to water them with anything but 
pure water; if, however, they are weakly, give 
liquid manure once a week. 
Auriculas should be prepared for their 
winter quarters. The drainage should be 
examined, and if imperfect, should be made 
good ; for the stoppage of water in the soil, 
for want of the means to run off, soon rots 
the fibres and cankers the root. Those 
which have been potted anew, and placed in 
their frame, may remain there ; but the 
frame must, before the month is out, be 
placed where it is to remain all the winter, 
which, for reasons long since exjflained, should 
be on a hard dry bottom, such as rain, or the 
water which runs through the pots, should not 
soak in but run off; for this purpose, it should 
be sloping a trifle. The object of keeping 
them in frames after potting in August, or 
placing them there now, is to protect them the 
more easily against the violent or excessive 
rains of autumn ; for as they are pretty 
nearly in a dormant state by the end of the 
month, they are better without much wet than 
with it, and are so all the autumn and winter. 
It has been thought by many old florists, that 
by having a pit deeper than ordinary frames 
are made, and placing shelves away from the 
bottom and up near the glass, the plants get 
the benefit of a free circulation of air. There 
is no particular harm in having shelves away 
from the bottom, as they are dry at all times, 
but they do not remove the mischief unless 
other points are also attended to : for instance, 
if the ground at the bottom of the pit be damp, 
which it must and will be, unless it throws 
off instead of soaks in the water that comes 
through the pots, the damp is as mischie- 
vous as if the pots were on the bottom 
itself. The damp which cankers the Auricula 
may rise to the shelves which are three feet 
above the bottom, as well as so many inches. 
The perfection of a bottom would be stone or 
asphalta laid sloping, or if flat, having sloping 
grooves that would carry off every drain of 
water that went through the pots; but no freer 
circulation of air is wanted than can be given 
with a common garden frame and light. There 
is not height enough to make the air stagnant 
among the pots, and when the light is off 
they do as well as in the open air. Another 
great source of damp and its evils, may be 
found in the careless practice of throwing the 
dead and dying leaves that are picked off into 
the frame, instead of outside ; it is a very bad 
practice, for nothing creates more, nor a worse 
description of damp, than decaying vegetation. 
Seedling Auriculas require watering while 
they are growing, and want all the air that 
can be given in dry mild weather, though 
they must not have the burning sun. If 
they are in their seed pans, their young roots 
have hardly made way enough to bear the 
scorching heat of the midday fine weather ; 
and if they are in their single pots, the sun 
would bake their young fibres and greatly dis- 
tress the plants, which, instead of growing, 
would have to make new ones, or die for want 
of nourishment altogether. The various modes 
of making a hard dry bottom to frames are 
not all equally good. The regular asphalta is 
a good bottom, but not always to be had ; 
mostly, however, we can get at lime and gra- 
vel, which form a very good concrete ; and 
when mixed up, and laid level about three 
inches thick, the consistence of thick mud, 
and smoothed down, do well. Many lay down 
bricks or tiles, and they make a sort of shift 
for want of better ; but, unless they are laid 
down with good mortar or cement, the wet 
soaks between them instead of running away. 
And if we are very particular upon this one 
subject, it is because all the diseases which 
have defeated the Auricula grower, and sick- 
ened hundreds from attempting them at all, 
may be attributed to that which has never 
been half guarded against — a stagnant damp 
floor. Let this object, therefore, be the first 
that you secure ; next look to your stock, 
and buy any good ones that you have not 
got. Now is the time to buy reasonably, and 
we like to see a frame well filled during 
winter. 
Carnations and Piccotees. — These are 
occupying almost every florist's attention, not 
only for their beauty and fragrance, but from 
the competition which is being created in most 
parts of the kingdom. Now is just the time 
to pick up plenty of the best flowers, before 
people take the trouble of potting for the win- 
ter ; but some growers have not yet got layers 
fit to take off. The taste in these matters is 
rapidly advancing, and Piccotees and Carna- 
tions that were esteemed years ago, for want 
of better taste in some respects, and better 
flowers in others, are thrown out of good col- 
lections. Where the layering was done well 
last month, they will have struck root, and be 
fit to pot by the end of this, about six weeks 
being sufficient for the most difficult and reluc- 
tant of the varieties. When they are well 
struck they are better cut off the plant, even if 
not potted off directly ; but the sooner they 
are potted, after being well rooted, the better 
in every respect. The best plan of potting the 
