200 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t March s, isss. 
charcoal—one-third each of the two former, and the two latter 
combined in similar proportions. If grown in pots good drainage 
is essential. Plants in small baskets or pots may have a shift into 
larger, but avoid too much root space. Those in large baskets or 
pots should have all the old sour fibre removed and fresh supplied, 
yet there must not be any attempt at disrooting. 
Nepenthes like a strong heat, plenty of atmospheric moisture, 
and shade from powerful sun, otherwise keep them well up to the 
glass. A night temperature of 70°, and 75° by day from fire heat, 
and 80° to 85" from sun heat, will suit them well. The best pitchers 
are produced on young growths, and to get new growths from 
the base and additional shoots most plants will require to be 
shortened back, as they break freely from the ripened growth. 
This gives the plants a fresh appearance, keeps them dwarf, and 
is the way the best pitchers are obtained. The tops removed may 
be made into cuttings— ie., the ripe brown parts, but the green 
unripe soft tops are of no use. Three joints are ample, cutting 
them transversely below the lowest, and removing the leaf and 
shortening the others to economise space, or tie them up loosely. 
These may be inserted singly in thumb pots in cocoa-nut fibre 
refuse or sphagnum and small crocks. Plunge in a propagating 
frame where there is a brisk heat until rooted, which requires some 
time, as they do not root very quickly, and ventilate a little so as 
to prevent too great an accumulation of moisture. When rooted 
remove them, but not to a dry atmosphere, and after they have 
been inured to the temperature and atmosphere of the stove they 
may be placed in peat fibre in small baskets or a larger size of 
pot, and allowed to make as much growth as they will the first 
year, and afterwards be cut back to induce branching from the 
base. 
For decorative purposes N. Chelsoni, N. Hookeriana, N. Eaffles- 
iana, and N. sanguinea are admirable. N. ampullacea vittata, 
N. albo-marginata, N. Domini, N. hybrida maculata, N. intermedia, 
N. gracilis major, and N. Sedeni are very useful. N. distillatoria 
succeeds in an intermediate temperature. For furnishing damp 
walls N. ampullacea, N. hybrida, N. laevis, and N. phyllamphora 
are well adapted. Amongst the new forms N. Mastersiana is 
especially promising, and will undoubtedly become a great 
favourite. Thrips are their greatest enemy, which is best kept 
under by affording plenty of moisture. In order to keep the 
pitchers fresh as long as possible, those fully developed should 
have a little water in them, as if allowed to become dry they 
sooner become brownish. — G. Abbey. 
CROSS-BREEDING PRIMULAS AND AURICULAS. 
{Continued from page 170.) 
Let us look now for a moment at the florist at work. He 
wishes to raise nothing but thrum-eyed flowers ; but Nature will 
not be so coerced, for although he employs only thrum-eyed 
flowers, Nature struggles to restore the balance necessary to the 
natural perpetuation of the species, and for all his care pin-eyed 
flowers appear. But he obtains a few seeds, because he takes 
pollen from long stamens to apply to short pistils. He obtains 
some seed because the strength of pollen grains varies greatly, 
and occasionally weak grains, throwing out weak tubes, too weak 
to burst the ovules, furnish the operator with a scanty return, 
which produce weakly plants that have to be coddled and petted 
in frames and in pots, and often at last fall victims to insect 
enemies, dwindle, and die. When such seed is sold to the ordinary 
lover of flowers, who is no florist, who wants beautiful flowers 
and plenty of them, but has no time for growing Auriculas in pots, 
or even no frame, he is greatly disappointed. He little knows 
the trouble with which good seed is raised. 
But why should not all such grow border Auriculas? The 
answer is that these, though they are attractive enough, want the 
brightness and beauty of the beautiful Alpine varieties seen at 
shows. Then we ask, “ Why not grow Alpine Auriculas without 
frames, but outside in beds and borders ? ” Those who have tried 
will probably answer that they are not hardy enough, that they 
die in winter, and besides grow so weakly and produce such 
unsatisfactory flowers that the game is not worth the candle. 
Their price, too, is a drawback. 
Auriculas may be produced from fine florists’ kinds possessing 
all the beauty of the Alpine section, with all the robustness and all 
the floriferousness of the very hardiest border kinds, if only some 
pains be taken to raise seed, not according to the artificial plan 
followed by the florist, but by Nature’s plan, which produces 
vigour and hardiness. “ But,” the reader may ask, “ is not this 
theory only ? Has it been done ? can a really hardy robust race be 
raised from such tenderlings ? ” The writer of this has produced 
such results, and he feels confidence in promising anyone else the 
same, and really good Auriculas are such beautiful plants that it 
will repay the trouble of anyone who will undertake to produce 
them. 
Convinced of these facts, but not having proved them, and 
enamoured of the beauty of Alpine Auriculas as seen in a good 
collection, but having neither plants nor frames at his disposal, the 
writer some years ago bought a half-crown packet of Alpine 
Auricula seed from a well-known firm in order to try what could 
be done. The packet was small and the seed germinated badly, 
so much so that some dozen or so weakly plants was the result. 
These, by careful nursing, flowered the spring after sowing. One 
was discarded because of its washy colour, and one or two because 
the stems were so weak that the weight of the truss bent them 
over, thus allowing the flower to be spoilt. The others, all 
different, were as bright in colour as any named Alpine, if not so 
exquisite in form. Some were thrum and some were pin-eyed, 
and all produced seed freely. Anxious to improve their constitu¬ 
tional vigour, and not trusting wholly to natural fertilisation for 
that result, all weakly pods were removed from each truss, and 
the plants supplied with a little weak liquid manure. The result 
was about half a teaspoonful of clean plump seed, not at all like 
the almost invisible grains we bought. This was sown in heat in 
the following spring ; the plants pricked off as soon as they had 
four leaves, using light loam, leaf soil, and sand ; finally planted 
out 3 or 4 inches apart in a bed well enriched with thoroughly 
decayed manure forked into the surface only, and protected by a 
frame light, shaded when necessary till June, and then left to 
take care of themselves till the following spring. The winter was 
exceedingly severe, the temperature falling more than once below 
zero, but not a plant was injured. Every plant flowered, and 
there were hundreds of them, and hardly one had to be discarded. 
They were all the shades imaginable, and the individual trusses 
and pips were extremely large, much larger than are ever seen in 
named varieties. About one half were thrum, and the other pin¬ 
eyed, and so good were the former that none but a florist could 
have pointed out in what they were inferior to the others. The 
pin-eyes would have all been rejected, but we are bound in truth 
to say that in brightness and beauty they were not a whit behind 
any named Alpines ever seen, while in floriferousness and vigour 
they were far before them. 
Selection on the same principle as before was carried out, and 
the chosen one planted in a border prepared as the bed had been. 
There they grew amazingly—so much so as to both delight and 
surprise us. The following winter was wet, and this district is 
an exceptionally wet one, and sometimes very frosty. The border 
was fully exposed to all weathers, but not one succumbed, and 
when spring came each plant produced from six to twelve trusses, 
producing such a show as was never seen in any collection of 
named Alpines. As there were two or three hundred plants an 
enormous amount of bloom was the result, and there was enough 
for glasses, for friends, and to spare. 
Again seed was selected, again sown, again the plants flowered 
the year after being sown, and again with the same satisfactory 
results—indeed even more so, for an even greater variety was 
produced—shades and shaded flowers of rare beauty, such as we 
had never seen before, and all possessing a constitutional vigour 
surpassing any ordinary border varieties (these latter we have 
now wholly discarded). Having now hundreds to choose from 
our selection became severe, and many flowers, more beautiful 
than at one time was hoped for, combined with hardiness and 
vigour, were given away, for very numerous were the applications 
that were made for “ one or two plants.” These a florist, a pos¬ 
sessor and lover of florists’ varieties, saw when in bloom, and was 
constrained to say that never out of doors had he seen such fine 
Auriculas. This we took to be real praise, for so fond of them is 
the individual referred to, that he has made pilgrimages hundreds 
of miles to see famed collections. 
About two tablespoonfuls of seed was saved last summer from 
our best varieties, and this my late employer has kindly allowed 
me to do what I like with ; he has enough and to spare of fine 
plants, he says. This seed I intended to sow, and secure if possible 
still greater improvements, but this, owing to my illness, I am 
afraid I shall not be able to do. Auricula seed does not keep well, 
and as it is now fresh, and perhaps some of your readers fond of 
Auriculas, but without time or appliances to grow the more delicate 
named varieties, may be inclined to begin where I left off. I shall 
be glad to forward packets on the terms mentioned below to all 
who may apply for them as long as the supply lasts ; and I may 
add, Now is the best time to sow, and by all means in heat, as the 
plants are all the more likely to flower next spring ; in fact, are 
certain to do so if properly treated. When no heat is at com¬ 
mand they may be sown under a handglass in April; but they 
will come in quicker under glass, even though it should only be a 
greenhouse. Sow in a box, the soil becomes dry less quickly, than 
