May 3,1895. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
375 
the time is ripe will be done to-day, which may be too late 
to-morrow. 
True, it often means working at high pressure to cope with 
all a day brings in its train ; but it is a duty we owe to others, 
to ourselves, and to the dignity of the art in avoiding the hurry 
and bustle of being always a little behind. Now and again we 
may notice some writer giving really sound practical informa¬ 
tion on the same principle. We are advised to-morrow as to what 
we should have done to-day. In addition to the evils exposed in 
the text I would say this phase of the subject makes readers sorry 
and editors vexed, for to be advised when too late is “ like the 
wrong medicine, nasty to take and sure to disagree.” 
Besides these sins of omission, many of which entail a long 
penance for a small error, obviously the text is capable of further 
extension. We may at the right time wrestle with and overcome 
mildew and rust, and make the aphides laugh on the wrong side of 
their faces, yet stave off the meeting of some disagreeable facts of 
the same insidiousness of growth. Keenness of competition for 
places or prices in private establishments or the open market is so 
patent to all and so acutely felt by many at the present day that 
we may take the question in the broadest sense, and ask ourselves 
what are we doing for to-morrow to palliate the disorder which will 
then have reached a more acute stage, whilst the climax is vet 
remote. 
At first sight the question, which here resolves itself under two 
heads, appears to be neither amenable to prevention or cure. But 
is it not just possible that the very magnitude of the evil is a means 
to the end ? Taking gardeners first, we see luxuries of one genera¬ 
tion becoming necessities of the next. Now, luxuries may be 
dispensed with, as they are only controlled by sentiment, whereas 
necessaries stand on a very different basis. The gardener, as the 
producer, does not generally come under the head of luxuries ; yet, 
too often I fear, has he been considered to be one, and felt his 
position dependent on the fortunes of his employer, A turn of 
the wheel inimical to the welfare of the one has brought disaster to 
the other. In the process of retrenchment the gardener has been 
weighed in the balance and found wanting, possibly and probably 
, through no fault of his own, but rather of a long-established 
system he or his employers have been diffident to change. Yet 
men duly impressed with their responsibility cannot ignore the 
power they possess nor the urgency of making it known. The 
practical spirit of the age pervading all sorts and conditions of men 
resolves itself into the question of counting the cost—will it pay ? 
And when the gardener shows that his work can and does pay—of 
which there are many practical examples to-day—then his position, 
as a class, is fixed on the firmest possible basis, for a paying concern 
needs no props. 
On the other head of this question, as to what pays to grow 
from a business point of view, and that is the most practical of all, 
some prominence has of late been given to it in these pages. It is 
to be hoped that the prize medal essay when it comes will settle the 
matter, at least for to-day. Granted that such desirable results are 
arrived at, it would not be safe to assert, “It will do to-morrow.” 
Our transatlantic cousins, with their proverbial smartness, anticipate 
what the world is likely to want to-morrow, and by the exercise of 
their creative faculties furnish the article and the necessity for it 
contemporaneously ; reaping the benefits of being first in the field. 
Necessity is not invariably the mother of invention, rather is it at 
times the offspring of it. The world was neither clamorous for 
sewing machines nor bicycles until they were invented, now each 
goodwife’s needle flies by mechanism, and all the world (and his 
wife) go on two wheels. Can we not, with glutted markets and 
falling prices work on parallel lines; off the beaten track where 
follow my leader is so much in vogue ; let the world wake up 
to-morrow with a new want already supplied from some hitherto 
obscure source ? The public at large are very much like children ; 
do not ask them their wants to-day, but judiciously place a supply 
before them to-morrow. 
A whole nation wants Tomatoes when acres of glass erected for 
their production pour tons of the fruit into the market. “ Mush¬ 
rooms for the Million ” are provided all the year round, and growers 
rush in at this game of “ follow my leader ” until but the narrowest 
margin of profit rewards their efforts. Men who have made their 
mark (and their dollars) in these or similar phases of culture, see 
the dangers ahead, and honestly warn intending competitors. From 
the broad and liberal lines of political economy we may look beyond 
the market area and note the enormous advantages conferred on 
the people by a cheap food supply of high quality. Armies and 
navies may wax and wane, but in spite of present depression there 
are great natural laws protecting our food producers, for a nation 
must eat, whether it fights or not. War is a luxury, food a 
necessity ; and the progress of education raises the standard of 
living so that a fresh dish is looked for in the menu to-morrow. 
The recent article in the Journal of Horticulture on “Express 
Grape Growing’’ must have created a deep impression on thinking 
men. With some it should be a lasting impression. Already I 
(figuratively) see this literary seed thus sown springing up through 
the length and breath of the kingdom, producing such fruit,at such 
prices that the artisan will share in the dish hitherto confined to 
the tables of the wealthy. Express Grape growing will of course 
yield quick returns and correspondingly smaller profits, but the day 
of small profits is at hand, and to ensure them will demand ail the 
considerations expressed in our text. 
“ It will do to-morrow ” has, I fear, to answer for many short¬ 
comings. That day in the distance dimly seen enveloped in its 
nimbus of possibilities, which some find to be but the blight of 
privation, of poverty when revealed at the last stage of life's 
journey. To all the pleadings for, and expoundings of the objects 
of our benevolent and benefit societies are disregarded, and another 
wrinkle is eventually added to the brow of care. This is unsatis¬ 
factory, yet must we hope to see it overcome. Happily we 
are imbued with the thirst for perfection. It is an innate 
attribute of man. Progress is progress though by easy stages, 
and “We are a stage too, not the end, others will come our 
work to mend.”— Nemo. 
AURICULAS. 
Those who knew anything of this beautiful spring flower 
anticipated that after the very severe weather through which we 
have passed that neither in quantity nor quality would the 
exhibition be up to the mark of former years. It is quite true 
that frost will not kill the Auricula, and indeed in many cases 
during the past winter the pots have been frozen completely hard, 
but notwithstanding this the plants do not come out of the battle 
uninjured. The blooms even though they may not have risen 
above the foliage become crumpled and never open flat and smppt^ 
while the long continuance of the severe weather so retarded their 
expansion that one felt that unless where heat had been applied it 
would be well nigh impossible to place an exhibit on the tables 
nor were these anticipations falsified. 
In the chief class of twelve show Auriculas there were only 
four competitors, and consequently only four out of the six prizes 
were awarded, and when it is remembered that last year Messrs. 
Horner, Douglas, and Simonite were amongst the exhibitors, and 
that this year not one of them put in an appearance, it' will be at 
once seen what a falling off there was ; nor was this all, as some 
of the collections bore unmistakeable marks of having been forced 
into bloom. Now, although the Auricula will stand a certain 
amount of heat judiciously applied, it will not endure forcing. 
Where heat is used simply to prevent the inroads of frost, and so 
preserve the flowers from injury, the Auricula will not only stand 
it, but rather rejoice in it ; but where something more than this is 
done, the exhibitor, finding that his flowers are late and will not be 
ready for the exhibition, applies heat to force them on, then the 
plant rebels, and refuses to submit patiently to a proceeding so 
entirely at variance with its requirements. The flowers then become 
drawn and weakened, and the blooms themselves are quite out of 
character. It is curious, for instance, to see how the body colour 
of the flower is affected. From all these observations mtfst be 
exempted the collection shown by Mr. T. E. Henwood of Reading, 
for this I consider to be the perfection of Auricula growing. I 
know Mr. Henwood’s little Auricula house, and can only say that 
it is nothing but intelligent skill and constant attention that 
could produce such results. 
There is another error into which Auricula growers have fallen. 
In order to produce larger flowers they have stimulated their plants 
by the application of a quantity of manure, the result of which 
is coarseness and loss of character in the flower. There is no 
doubt that many persons, even amongst those who ought to know 
better, attach a good deal of importance to size. It is so in all 
flowers ; big Roses, Pansies, and Carnations are regarded with 
more favour than more moderate sized ones. Now, of course., 
where size can be combined with refinement there can be no 
objection to it, but too frequently size implies loss of refine¬ 
ment, and yet a large Paul Neyron Rose or Carnation of the 
Souvenir de Malmaison type, oftentimes finds more favour than the 
smaller and more refined varieties. I have often stated, and ana 
more than ever convinced of its truthfulness, that rejecting not 
only the filthiness which older generations of florists used to put 
into their composts, but also the applications of simpler manures, 
those growers will do best who would confine themselves in the 
main to good fibrous loam. I believe that a compost conrpo-ed of 
three parts of this with one part of leaf mould ^nd a little sand, 
will be just such a mixture as the Auricula will rejoice in. 
This love of size is nothing new, although the rigid florist sets 
bis face against it; but on looking back to some fifty-five year? 
