February 7, 1834. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Ill 
late years there has been no competition, so that even the 
Crystal Palace Company did not include it in their autumn 
show last year; and yet it was there that the best exhibitions of 
the flower have been held. As to the Auricula, it has never, 
perhaps, in its history been so largely exhibited as within the 
last few years; but I have come to the conclusion that a small 
grower like myself has not the ghost of a chance now-a-days. 
I cannot afford to grow the large battalions which so many 
possess; and although by a fluke one may take a prize, yet I 
hold that in the long run the chance of the small grower must 
be a small one. “ But why not grow a large collection P ” it 
may be said. “It is your own fault you don’t know how to 
propagate them, and hence when you complain of large growers 
it is simply a proof of your own incompetency.” It may be so ; 
but when we grow a- number of plants, as I do, where space 
is limited and money still more so, a couple of frames full are 
about all that we can attempt; and with this, although classes 
were expressly made for small growers, we find exhibitors who 
grow their thousand plants entering into competition with one 
who counts them by dozens only. But I hasten back to my 
former statement, and say that when one gets half way through 
the seventh decade a fair excuse may be put in for not under¬ 
going the fatigue and worry of exhibiting; in fact, I know but 
few exhibitors (amateurs) who do so continue. 
My reason for prefacing my remarks on work amongst 
florists’ flowers at this season with this statement is, that in 
anything I may say as what is to be done at any particular 
season, I shall have only the growing and not the exhibition of 
the flower in my mind. It need not be said that there is much 
difference in the two methods. If we “ go in ” for exhibiting, 
let us say, Auriculas when the collection is small, regard must 
be had to the state of the plants as to their time of flowering 
—the plants must be retarded or pushed forward, according to 
the circumstances of the season; while he who grows only for 
the love of the flower itself is perfectly indifferent as to when 
they bloom. He can see without dismay the plant of George 
Lightbody, which was the spes gregis, day by day losing its 
freshness, while the day of exhibition is still a week distant; or 
his “Lancashire,” which, had he that on exhibition, he would 
have hoped to be in, still remains with its pips unopened. When 
a grower has his twenty or thirty of each of these varieties he 
may be indifferent about it. Not so the small grower who has 
to depend on two or three; moreover, he may be more anxious 
about the size of his blooms—a fair-sized truss and pip will 
please him just as well as one of the orthodox size. I do not 
in the least write against exhibiting. I am persuaded that there 
is nothing which tends more to the popularity of a flower than 
its being brought forward as an exhibition flower; indeed, I 
daresay some will say that I am like the fox who lost his tail, 
and that on failing excuses for my own want of the caudal 
appendage, I am only looking out for reasons why it is so very 
desirable to be without one. Be it so; I must bear the reproach. 
The active season for florists’ flowers is now at hand, and fore¬ 
most amongst those demanding our attention is the 
Auricula. —The season for top-dressing has now arrived, 
and in both large and small collections this indispensable 
operation has to be gone through. In former days I have 
knowu the compost used to be very rich; but the older florists 
recognised, what I believe is the true state of things, that it is 
better to use a compost containing a little more loam than in 
that used for potting. Ever since the advent of that trouble¬ 
some pest the woolly aphis I have at the time of repotting 
turned the plant out, and when I found any of them on the 
roots have rubbed them off, and have been very particular about 
clearing them away from the collar of the plants. The surface 
should be removed to the depth of an inch or more, but the 
roots should not be injured—indeed, disturbed as little as 
possible. Care must be taken that the soil in the pots is not 
too dry before the top-dressing is put on, and then the top¬ 
dressing applied to be gently pressed down and a watering with 
a fine rose given, so as to settle the soil; taking care, however, 
to wet the foliage as little as possible. Of course, all withered 
leaves will have been previously removed. The pots may then 
be replaced in their frames facing the south; but care must be 
taken, notwithstanding the extraordinary weather that we are 
now experiencing, that the frames are covered up at night, for 
although frost does not injure the plant it is very injurious to 
the evenness of the blooms, making them rough and critnply. 
Where there is the convenience for so doing, their removal into 
a pit where the grower can walk in and see his plants, no matter 
what may be the state of the weather, is very desirable ; besides, 
they show better in such a position, and the pit can be after¬ 
wards utilised, as I have done mine for growing Tomatoes very 
successfully. 
Carnations and Picotees. —The same reasons (saving of 
trouble and expense) have determined me in future to grow 
these in beds instead of pots. It was the way in which I 
recollect in my boyish days that one of the finest collections I 
remember seeing in those days was grown, and in the north it 
is a very common practice. It has, of course, some disadvan¬ 
tages, notably in layering, as the person who performs that 
operation has to sit or kneel on the ground when doing it. Nor 
is there the same safety from wireworm that there is when 
grown in pots, for then the compost can be carefully hand¬ 
picked ; but this is not very easy when grown in beds. Happily, 
my own garden is not much infested by them, but it is a safe 
plan to put pieces of Potato or Carrot in different places in the 
beds just under the surface to trap them. My own plants are 
now in their winter quarters, and I do not ever remember seeing 
them more healthy, with less decaying foliage, and quite free 
from spot. I shall not plant them out until the beginning of 
March, and then place hoops and a calico covering over them 
for a short time. Care must now be taken that they are n ot 
allowed to get dry, and also that aphides are not allowed to 
increase. The frame should either be fumigated or the insects 
brushed off with a camel’s-hair pencil. 
Pansies. —The change which has taken place in the taste 
for these is very remarkable, the Fancy Pansy having to a large 
extent superseded the old white and yellow ground (Show varie¬ 
ties, and one can hardly wonder at it. They are hardier, more 
striking in colour, larger, and have been now so improved in 
form as to present that circular outline so dear to the florist. 
My own small collection is divided into two parts; one is in a 
bed, the other in pots. These latter I have recently transferred 
to their largest pots—that is, into 32’s, in a compost of two- 
thirds loam, one old hotbed manure, and a little sharp sand. 
They are now making vigorous growth in a frame facing the 
east, where they can be exposed to the morning sun but can be 
closed in at night. Where this operation has not been com¬ 
pleted it should be seen to at once. Sticks should be placed to 
the longer shoots, or else these should be pegged down, as long 
shoots straggling about are very untidy.—D., Deal. 
ELECTION OF CARNATIONS AND PICOTEES. 
T H E ELECTORS’ RETURNS. 
[The names of the raisers of the varieties in the following lists have been given in 
the preceding election returns.] 
Prom Mr. W. M. Hewitt, Chesterfield. 
CARNATIONS. 
Scarlet Bizarre). 
Admiral Curzon 
Fred 
Robert Lord 
Mars 
Master Stanley 
George 
Crimson Bizarre). 
Rifleman 
Master Fred 
E. S. Dodwell 
John Simonite 
Thomas Moore or 
Samuel Barlow 
Pink and Purple Bizarre s. 
Sarah Payne 
Mrs. Barlow 
William Sldrving 
Mrs. Anstiss 
H. K. Mayor 
Falconbridge 
Scarlet Flakes. 
Scarlet Keet 
James Cheetham 
Sam Brown 
Henry Cannell 
Clipper 
Sportsman 
Purple Flakes. 
James Douglas 
Squire Whitbourne 
Mayor of Nottingham 
Dr. Foster 
Mayor of Oxford 
Florence Nightingale 
Rose Flakes. 
Sybil 
John Keet 
Tim Bobbin 
Rose of Stapleford 
James Merry weather 
Jessica 
Heavy Hurple-edged. 
Muriel 
Mrs. Niven 
Mrs. A. Chancellor 
Zerlina 
Tinnie 
Medina 
Light Purple-edged. 
Clara Penson 
Mary 
Her Majesty 
Minnie 
Ann Lord 
Alice 
Heavy Red-edged. 
John Smith 
Brunette 
J. B. Bryant 
Mrs. Fuller 
Morna 
Master Norman 
PICOTEES. 
Light Red-edged. 
Thomas William 
Mrs. Bower 
Elsie Grace 
Violet Douglas 
Heavy Rose or Scarlet-edged. 
Mrs. Payne 
Fanny Helen 
Royal Visit 
Mrs. Rudd 
Mrs. Webb or Esther Minnie 
Lady Holmesdale or Edith 
Dombrain 
Light Rose or Scarlet-edged. 
Miss Flowdy 
Daisy 
Evelyn 
L’Elegant 
Miss Wood 
