JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
858 
[ Hay 4 1882. 
This system of growing Cucumbers for market is a good one, 
and saves much labour in thinning, stopping, and ventilating. 
But the question arises, Will the plants last as long under this 
heavy cropping and non-ventilating system as those grown 
under the system more generally practised in private gardens ? 
It is quite reasonable to suppose that the heavy crop of fruits 
and the rapidity with which they are produced must exhaust 
the plants sooner than if they were moderately cropped and 
judiciously thinned. But the objects of the two growers are 
so different that the systems can scarcely be considered from 
the same standpoint. 
It may be observed that nearly all these growers have a 
variety of their own, which is very free, and in every respect 
admirably adapted for the purpose.—W. Bardney. 
THE AURICULA EXHIBITION. 
To myself, and I believe to a great many more, the Exhi¬ 
bition on Tuesday last at South Kensington was a most agree¬ 
able surprise, and those who were responsible for the Exhibition 
may be heartily congratulated on the result of their labours. 
It brought back to me, as one of the older race of florists, 
thoughts of the glories of olden days ; but I am bound to say 
that it surpassed them in the number of plants exhibited, 
while the quality, owing to the introduction of many line varie¬ 
ties since those days, was better. Several causes contributed 
to this result. The season had very much to do with it; the 
mild, excessively mild, winter had been favourable to the 
northern growers. Their plants are generally (where fire heat 
is not supplied) ten days or a fortnight later than those in the 
south, but it had not been so mild as to drive the flowers in the 
south out of bloom altogether ; and although some of the 
earlier sorts had passed their best, yet the later ones were in 
good condition. Then the very wise alteration of the rules, 
which prevented growers who exhibited in twelves and sixes 
from exhibiting in the classes for fours and twos, brought to¬ 
gether a number of exhibitors who but for this would not have, 
most likely, put in an appearance. 
So full an account of the Exhibition has been given in last 
week’s Journal that it would be needless to go over the same 
ground again, and I shall therefore confine myself to such cri¬ 
tical remarks as the Show generally suggested to me. Mr. 
Horner, as usual, carried off the principal honours ; but I think 
the most remarkable fact connected with his exhibits was that 
in the class for twelve, in which he obtained the first prize, 
some were his own seedlings. It were needless to say that 
his plants were well grown, and his flowers, although large, 
were not, as in the case of some others, coarse. So successful 
has he been in the rearing of seedlings, that he expects ere 
long to dispense with the named varieties altogether. Yet 
when the Judges picked out the plants for the premier prize 
some of these were chosen, and the contest lay between Prince 
of Greens and George Lightbody, ultimately the latter, hero of 
a hundred fights, carrying off the palm. And notwithstanding 
all that has been done of late years, here is a variety raised 
nearly a quarter of a century ago distancing all competitors ! 
A good deal of chaff has been used with reference to the 
practice of growing the Auricula in glazed pots ; it was un¬ 
scientific, and I know not what. Let me say, then, that the 
two next collections, those of Mr. Woodhead and Mr. Pohlman, 
are so grown ; and although the very serious illness of the 
former gentleman has deprived his plants of much of his per¬ 
sonal superintendence and care, they ran Mr. Horner very close, 
and would have done still more so, I have no doubt, but for 
this cause ; in fact the northern growers carried off the greater 
number of the prizes, but I hope that this fact will be a suffi¬ 
cient answer to those who maintain that it is impossible to grow 
Auriculas well in glazed pots. Mr. Woodhead had also some 
very good seedlings, and if his health is restored (which I am 
sure all true florists will most earnestly desire) we may expect 
something from that quarter. 
The general quality of the plants and blooms was, as far as 
my judgment goes, excellent. Some collections exhibited in¬ 
deed very large and flabby foliage hanging over the sides of the 
pots, which were unsatisfactory to my old-fashioned notions of 
what an Auricula should be. Indeed, were I to have selected 
what I considered the best grown plants I should have named 
those of Mr. Penson, who has in the course of four years 
managed to get together a most excellent and extensive col¬ 
lection. They were stubby thick-foliaged plants, standing up 
well, and with the blooms thrown well up over the foliage 
and able to stand alone, which many of the trusses exhibited 
would not do. Let those who are commencing to grow take 
an old fancier’s word for it, that this is the type of plant to 
strive after, and that which will give the greatest satisfaction 
to the growers. 
Naturally a great deal of interest was excited in the seedling 
competition, although it is a Tantalus-like sight, for none of 
those who admire them are likely'- to be able to possess them 
for some years to come ; but it is a proof that with those who 
have time and inclination to hybridise scientifically and care¬ 
fully a fine field of excitement and pleasure is open. There 
are two classes in which improvement, or at any rate additions, 
are required—Green-edges and White-edges. Grey-edges and 
Selfs are both well filled, and it would be difficult to suppose 
that flowers such as George Lightbody, Lancashire Hero, and 
Alexander Meiklejohn are to be excelled, while there are many 
others of great merit; but in Greens it is not so ; the very best 
have faults. Colonel Taylor is angular, and shows too often a 
thinness on the paste, while Prince of Greens is weak in the tube. 
Booth’s Freedom hardly anyone can grow. Traill’s Anna is 
heavy, and Imperator angular and thin in paste. Whites are 
very restricted, and the newer varieties display a paleness on 
the tube which much detracts from their beauty. In Green- 
edges Mr. Horner lei off with a bold-looking seedling, Aga¬ 
memnon, tube orange, heavy ground, and pure green edge. It 
reminded me somewhat of Talisman, and, like it, is hardly re¬ 
fined enough. Mr. Douglas was second with Jumbo, more 
refined than his namesake. The petals are smooth, tube yellow, 
and paste dense. In Grey-edges Mr. Douglas was first with 
Mrs. Moore, a fine and round flower; and Mr. Horner second 
with Bluebell. It has what is not usual in this class, mealy 
foliage and a clear edge. Mr. Woodhead had an equal second, 
named after that good florist George Rudd, a very fine deep 
yellow tube, dark body colour, a fine truss, and altogether a 
refined flower; indeed, some questioned whether it ought not 
to have had a higher place. In White-edgo Mr. Woodhead 
took first prize with a flower of which I wrote last year, as it 
struck me as being the best White-edge I had ever seen, its 
only defect being a little paleness on the tube ; but in shape, 
edge, and in refinement generally it is first-rate. Mr. Horner’s 
Rev. Godfrey Horner, which was second, had a better tube, 
but in other respects was not equal to the preceding. Mr. 
Pohlman, already well known as the raiser of Garibaldi and 
Helen Lancaster, exhibited a splendid Self called Brunette, 
deep maroon, almost black, very vigorous, and with a fine truss. 
Mr. Douglas’s Duke of Albany is a fine flower, dark in colour, 
with white paste and a golden tube. 
As to varieties, it is still remarkable how sorts which have 
been not only like George Lightbody twenty-four years, but 
others, such as Blackbird, Smiling Beauty, Lancashire Hero, 
of much older date, were in the very front of the battle. I 
do not think I have before seen Prince of Greens so good. 
Were it not for its weak eye it would be the finest Green- 
edge in cultivation ; the truss is a little straggling. What 
an extraordinary proof of good culture and of a large stock 
was the fact that Mr. Penson took all the prizes in the Grey- 
edged class, eight in number, with seven George Lightbodys 
and one Alderman Brown. But the colour of the edge is so 
lovely, equalling Colonel Taylor at its best, that one over¬ 
looks this one defect. Acme (Read) was another flower that 
w T as very well shown, and is a most desirable flower in the 
scarce class of White-edges ; it is better than Frank Simonite, 
which has the defect of so many of our newer flowers, weakness 
in the tube. Amongst Selfs Horner’s Ringdove and Pohlman’s 
Brunette are excellent smooth varieties, but of course it 
must be some time before the general mass of Auricula growers 
can speak of them from personal experience, although some 
of the newer varieties seem more ready to increase than the 
older sorts. 
One thing was very much to be regretted—the unfavourable 
state of the weather, as the more that these lovely flowei's are 
