July 28, 1881. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
79 
some of the roughest portion of the compost to keep the soil from 
being washed down amongst the crocks, and over this a little 
finer soil. Shake all the old soil from the roots and cut the tap¬ 
root well back, leaving only a few new fibres near the neck of the 
plant. Dust the cut part with pounded charcoal or quicklime to 
stop bleeding, spread the roots evenly over the soil, and fill up to 
the collar of the plant, pressing the soil rather firmly. 
As the plants are potted they should be placed in frames under 
a north wall, and be kept close for a week or so until they have 
taken to the new soil. Give no water until the third or fourth 
day, to allow time for any roots that may have been bruised to 
heal. If water is given as soon as the plants are potted it washes 
the soil to a close compact mass—a condition in which the Auricula 
does not delight. When they have become established admit 
plenty of air ; in fact the lights should be removed in the daytime 
except during rain. 
The only attention they require during the summer months is 
careful watering, keeping down green fly, and the removal of such 
leaves as are quite dead or have turned of a slimy nature. 
In November the plants should betaken to their winter quarters, 
where they will remain until the bloom is over. If in frames 
these should have an eastern or'southern aspect; but if a small- 
span-roofed house can be devoted to them they will be more en¬ 
joyable and can be attended to in all weathers. Give abundance 
of air all through the winter months, closing only in hard frost. 
As the year draws to a close apply water very sparingly, but on 
no account let the soil become dust dry, or the fine roots will 
perish. By the end of February growth will have commenced if 
the weather is open, and a little more water should be given. It 
will now be necessary to provide protection of some description 
for the house or frames in case of hard frost. For this purpose I 
employ thick sacking placed double on the roof, with rollers to 
wind it up the same as for shading during summer, for it must be 
borne in mind that if the truss is frozen the bloom will be crumpled 
and imperfect. 
In March a top-dressing of rich compost should be given ; this 
should consist of one-half loam and half old sheep or cow dung. 
Gently stir the surface and remove the soil, adding the fresh com¬ 
post. As growth advances the buds should be thinned, so that an 
even head of from five to eleven pips may be secured according 
to the size of the plant. As the pips commence expanding a light 
should be placed on the lights during bright sunshine, or the bloom 
will be speedily destroyed. 
Propagation. —The Auricula is propagated by seeds and off¬ 
sets : by the former to obtain new varieties, and by the latter to 
perpetuate existing fine varieties. To obtain seed the flowers 
should be artificially fertilised. To do this take a small camel-hair 
pencil and collect the pollen from the small anthers that grow 
round the tube of the flower, and apply it to the pistil of the one 
it is desired to take seed from. In crossing it is best to keep the 
classes separated— i.e., green edges should be crossed with greens, 
greys with greys, whites with white edges, &c. 
By the end of July the seed will be ripe, and should be sown at 
once in 5-inch pots upon the same kind of compost as the plants 
are grown in. Fill the pots to an inch of the top, and press the 
surface firm, and scatter the seed evenly over the soil, but do not 
cover it with additional soil. Place a piece of glass on the top of 
the pot to prevent evaporation, and let the pots stand in saucers 
of water, which should be filled at intervals as the surface shows 
signs of becoming dry. The young seedlings delight in a close 
moist atmosphere in their early stages. I have no doubt many 
of the failures we hear of with Auricula seed is caused by burying 
the seed, or the surface of the soil being dry and wet alternately. 
In about three weeks some of the seed will germinate, but a 
portion will lay dormant until the following spring, so the seed 
pots should not be hastily put aside. When the young plants have 
made three pairs of leaves prick them out in other pots ; and if 
they cannot receive daily attention it will be best to cover them 
with a piece of glass the same as recommended for the seed pots, 
and as the plants become established give air by tilting the glass 
on one side. 
Offsets are the young growths formed in the axils of the leaves, 
and suckers are produced upon the tap-root. These when large 
enough should be taken off and potted singly in small pots, or 
several may be placed round the edge of a larger one. After¬ 
wards pot singly in small pots, and treat as recommended for the 
old plants.—B. Simonite. —( Bead before the Paxton Society at 
Wakefield.) 
Grasshoppers in Turkey. —Similar devastations to those 
which we reported from the Caucasus some time ago are now 
caused in Turkey by grasshoppers. The Turkish Government is 
compelled to employ extraordinary measures to overcome the 
plague. A particularly voracious species has appeared in the 
Bodirum district (Smyrna), and the whole population is employed 
to combat the insects. At Angora all business was suspended for 
three days by order of the Governor-General, and all the inhabi¬ 
tants were ordered to march out into the fields to destroy the 
grasshoppers. Every inhabitant was compelled to deliver 20 oka 
(about ^ cwt.) of dead grasshoppers to the officials. The swarms 
are said to emanate principally from Persia.— (Nature.) 
DAY’S EARLY SUNRISE PEA. 
“ Clericus,” on page 31, desires the opinion of growers as to the 
merits of this Pea. I sowed it alongside and on the same day with 
William I. and Dickson’s First and Best. It was ready to gather 
about two or three days after First and Best, and about the same 
time as William I. It is from 1 to foot dwarfer than these 
varieties, the pods are closer to the ground, and it is wonderfully 
prolific. The woodcuts of it published show eight peas in a pod. 
I find few pods with more than six peas, but as they are of large 
size and the pods produced in great abundance, mostly in pairs, 
the yield is heavy. It is good in quality, but not equal to the 
later wrinkled Marrows, such as Champion of England and 
similar sorts ; still I think its merits are such that it will become 
a standard early kind.—J. E. 
A correspondent on page 31 of the Journal of Horticulture 
makes some inquiries about this Pea. I may say that I tried it 
and another new variety, American Wonder, with Little Gem and 
Advancer. Sunrise was the first in flower, but it is slow in form¬ 
ing pods, and was not ready for use until three or four days after 
the other sorts. It is a white wrinkled Pea, and grows about 
2 feet high, but the pods are small and not well filled, and I 
certainly do not consider it equal to Advancer and should not 
recommend it. American Wonder is a very good dwarf early Pea. 
It grows about 9 inches high and is very prolific.— Experiment. 
In reply to the inquiry made by “ Clericus” upon the above, 
I hope the following account will be of some use to him and 
others. Having grown it this season, I find it has a very good 
habit, being short-jointed and strong and a good cropper. The 
pods are well filled, having nine and ten peas in each, and the 
flavour is all that can be desired. But I find it is not so early as 
Dickson’s First and Best. The two sorts were sown on the same 
day, the 19th of February, and Dickson’s was ready fully ten 
days before Day’s Sunrise.— Journeyman. 
Adverse circumstances prevented the sowing of this Pea until 
April 6th, William I. and Alpha being sown at the same time. 
The first pods of William I. were gathered July 5th ; Early Sun¬ 
rise and Alpha, July 15th. Early Sunrise commenced to form 
pods at the fourth joint, or at most the fifth, 8 or 9 inches 
from the ground, bearing its pods mostly in pairs, from thirteen 
to fifteen joints on a length of haulm of 3 feet 6 inches, the 
average number of peas in a pod being five, and of pods per 
haulm twenty-one ; peas per plant 105. William I. had twelve 
pods from seven joints, commencing to form pods at 2 feet 
4 inches from the ground, height of haulm 4 feet 3 inches ; the 
number of peas per pod six, and those per plant seventy-two. 
Alpha commenced to form pods at the seventh joint, 2 feet 
4 inches from the soil, producing them mostly singly from fifteen 
joints, eighteen in number on a haulm 7 feet in length ; the num¬ 
ber of peas six, or 108 per plant. The best examples of each were 
taken for comparison. William I. filled well, Alpha good in that 
respect, but Early Sunrise filled very indifferently, frequently not 
more than half its possible number—seven or eight, some pods not 
having more than four peas. The peas are much larger than 
either William I. or Alpha, and the quality is excellent. The 
plant is very robust, the crop lasting some time.—G. Abbey. 
It may interest your readers if I supplement the observations 
of your several correspondents in your last issue by giving you 
my experience of the above Pea. My gardener sowed one pint of 
seed very sparsely in ordinarily prepared ground under a south 
wall on the 16th March in seven rows (each 20 feet long) in a 
common drill 2 inches deep, and the crop is the largest I have 
ever seen—the haulms 5 feet high, and loaded with pods of full 
size from top to bottom. I cannot say when they came into 
bloom, but we commenced picking about the 20th June, and have 
continued almost daily ever since, there being still plenty more to 
gather, besides leaving sufficient for seed. In addition to this, 
which is equally important, the quality and flavour have been 
