•432 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
■found in the Tabernfemontana coronaria flore-pleno, this when in good 
health producing a profusion of pure white semi-double and sweet- 
scented flowers, but not quite so large as Gardenias. Some E ucharises 
that have been in bad health are under treatment. All the best bulbs 
are placed singly into 5-inch pots, and four smaller ones are placed in 
the same sized pots. All are plunged in a brisk bottom heat, and with 
plenty of top heat, shade, and moisture in the atmosphere should soon 
become well established. Bulbs thus treated frequently start vigorously, 
smaller side bulbs being formed in a few months, and if they are 
gradually shifted into larger pots useful plants result. Pancratiums, of 
•which the best is P. fragrans, also do well under somewhat simil.ar treat¬ 
ment. These are less liable to succumb to the attack of the bulb mite, 
and their elegant flowers produced at various times are much appreciated 
for bouquets and wreaths. Ixoras in variety and Euphorbia jacquinite- 
flora are found very serviceable, and it is almost needless to add a line 
plant of Stephanotis floribunda on the roof of a large stove more than 
pays its way. All other more] orlless popular stove flowering and fine- 
foliaged plants are cultivated, regard being paid to those most suitable 
for dinner table and house decoration. A good selection of Ferns is 
kept in stock, but the invaluable Adiantum cuneatum is in the ascend¬ 
ant, nothing yet being found to surpass it for cutting from. Asparagus 
plumosus nanus and A. tenuissimus are also good additions to a house 
principally devoted to Ferns, the cut sprays from these being very 
elegant and most durable. 
Among plants grown in the intermediate house there are none more 
■useful in the winter months than Bouvardias, and a good stock of these 
are being propagated. The double white Alfred ISTeuner is the most 
serviceable, and the pink sport from it. President Garfield, is also very 
pretty and serviceable. Triomphe de Nancy, if I remember rightly, 'was 
recommended as a good double scarlet, and among singles the best are 
Vreelandi and Plumboldti corymbiflora, white; Elegans and Dazzler, 
scarlet; and Queen of the Boses. I also noticed a large stock of the 
spring flowering Crassula jasminea. This succeeds admirably on a 
greenhouse shelf, is of dwarf bushy habit, and rarely fails to produce 
abundance of pure white sweet-scented flowers not unlike a Bouvardia 
in appearance, and even more serviceable and durable in bouquets and 
■wreaths. This and the “ Little Pet ” Boses (Bosa polyantha) are plants that 
should commend themselves to amateurs especially. The latter, of -which 
the best are Mignonette, rosy pink, Parqueritte and Little Pet, white, 
are suitable for sm.all pots, and if given a light position in a greenhouse 
will yield a long succession of tiny double blooms in clusters. At Messrs. 
Garaway’s they are principally grown in 5-inch pots, and a long row of 
them were flowering beautifully. A good selection of Tea Boses are also 
largely grown both for distribution and to afford cut blooms. Some of 
the most popular and serviceable are Niphetos, Madame Lambard, 
■Safranot, Souvenir d’un Ami, Catherine Mermet, Anna Ollivier, and 
Isabella Sprunt. W. F. Bennett and The Bride, the last-named being a 
valuable white sport from Catherine Mermet, will also be largely sought 
after when their merits are better known. Of Mar6chal Niel it seems 
impossible to propagate too many plants, and I noticed a fine healthy 
lot in pots worked on the Manetti stock. 
At Easter time white Azaleas are especially valuable, and of these 
they have a capital collection of bushy untrained plants, and which arc 
the best to cut from. The preference is rightly given to the semi- 
doubles, notably A. Borsig and Deutsche Perle, both early and good ; 
Narcissiflora, very early and serviceable ; Baphael, a good grower and 
free ; Beine du Portugal, extra fine, but with a little green and crimson 
in some of the .flowers ; and Bernhard Andreas alba, the last named 
being the fine.st double white for Easter time, and of vigorous habit. 
Good single whites are Ceres, Beine des Blanches, Etendard de Flandre.=i, 
very fine flowers, and Alba illustrata, the latter producing large bunches 
of flowers. Bernhard Andreas, dark violet purple, semi-double, and very 
free ; and Souvenir de Prince Albert, peach rose, margined with white, 
semi-double, late, and very free, are also worthy of special mention. A 
number of dwarf hybrid Bhododendrons in pots were beautifully in 
flower, and these as well as forced Azalea mollis are well adapted for 
conservatory decoration early in the year. In addition there were 
numerous perpetual flowering Carnations, well-grown Cinerarias in 
excellent variety. Primulas, Hyacinths by the hundred, and among 
•w'hich were many extna fine spikes ; Narcissi, Spirajas, and Arums. 
Lilium eandidum is also largely grown in pots, and gently forced so as 
to have plenty at Easter. The bulbs were potted in November,started 
coolly and introduced into gentle heat in batches. Lilium Harrisi later 
on will be very fine, but as a rule the flowers are rather too large for 
wreaths and crosses. Lilium eximeum and Gladiolus The Bride are both 
admirably adapted for pot culture, and these can be had in bloom at 
■Whitsuntide. 
Chrysanthemums are made a specialty at Caraway’s, thousands 
being sold every season, and several hundreds are being'forwarded for 
producing fine blooms. Greenhouse Pelargoniums, again, always seem 
to do well with them, one house being filled with healthy half-specimens, 
.and a still larger one with stocky plants in 5-inch pots, the majority of 
which will be sold “ in the trade.” Herbaceous Calceolarias look 
remarkably well, very few of the plants presenting the sickly yellow 
appearance very commonly met with. Many thousands of Dahlias are 
already potted, the semi-double or Cactus varieties being most in 
demand, and other houses were filled with bedding Pelargoniums, 
Coleuses, Tuberous Begonias, Fuchsias, and other popular plants. Pot 
Vines are largely and well grown, those from cut-backs naturally 
being th^ strongest, and large supplies of Peach and Nectarine trees are 
grown in pots for fruiting in orchard houses. In addition to the Clifton 
Nurseries the Messrs. Garaway h.ave also large nurseries at Keynsham, 
where all the shrubs, forest and fruit trees, Boses, and other hardy 
plants are grown.— Vl.SiTOR. 
AUKICULAS. 
SCOTTISH PRIMULA AND AURICULA SOCIETY. 
The second Exhibition of the above Society was held in the Calton 
Convening Rooms, Edinburgh. The room itself is very suitable, com¬ 
fortable for flowers, and convenient for visitors ; cool, quiet, dustless, 
airy without draughtiness, and admirably lighted from above by clear 
daylight without direct sunshine. Hence the Auriculas at Edinburgh 
had every advantage, whieh is almost past hoping for in the dreary 
dinginess of London and the highly compound murkiness of Man¬ 
chester. 
This Show was decidedly superior to the Society’s first Exhibition 
in 1887, when very manj' flowers were damaged in transit, one leading 
grower suffering the severe torture of seeing his box of plants-coming 
upside down from the ferry to the train upon a porter’s handbarrow. 
They could have won high, but all they did was to escape with bare life, 
and the Exhibition room became for them the hospital where their in¬ 
juries were carefully attended to. Mr. B. Simonitc and myself, who 
were asked to judge, thought the flowers very good under the difficult 
circumstances and slow development of a late season. ' The classes were 
also well filled by the thirteen exhibitors of Auriculas. Plants were 
well grown, and there were bright flowers in many of the stands ; but 
in some instances there were pips too far beyond their best. In these 
the tube was dead, and an Auricula pip is done for, criticall}’’, when it 
is “ down in the mouth.” 
Some of the exhibitors had put their trust in a multitude of pips, 
more than could be displayed effectively, more than the plant could 
finish well, and more than could possess good properties. Each pip 
should be both fairly seen and be fair to see. It is better that they 
should stand si ightly apart than so overlap one another’s features that 
admiring eyes only see one or two full moons, and the reit in various 
p)hases of eclipse. 
It is seldom indeed that we have need to slaughter a good pip to 
reduce the surplus population. 1 cannot recall an Auricula among the 
“ edges ” that will produce sufficient perfect pips to form a confused 
b.all of bloom. When it is thus confused it is by the crowding of inner 
pips, which are innately feebler in size and inferior in form and propor¬ 
tions of the colour zones. These take up valuable space, which timely 
thinning will allow to be filled with more effeetivc flowers ; and as in 
a bunch of Gra 2 )es at thinning time, killing will eventually be found no 
murder. 
Varieties vary much in their power of producing good pips ; Prince 
of Greens or George Lightbody have been seen with eight or nine fine 
ones, while True Briton, after two or three sui^erb white edged ones, will 
complete the truss with things horrible. 
In the particulars given me by the Hon. Secretary there are, I see, 
only the names of the winning flowers. Perhaps he will kindly supply, 
and the Editor kin<lly accept, a supplement of my notes with a list 
of the winning exhibitors ; for both the growers north of the Border 
and the flowers they grow will be welcome intelligence to all who 
feel keen interest in the Auricula. 
Some of the flowers were old faces that are fading into memories 
further south ; but it was a refreshment of old associations to see them 
again, and they were much as I had ever known them. There was Page’s 
Champion, lovely in its green edge, but with the ground colour 
inconstant, two shades of maroon, and with the petal segments cutting 
into the circle and the paste. Booth’s Freedom with its pure and 
darker green edge and rich black velvet ground, but with the old fault 
of an angular paste, always the worse the better the flower is grown. 
Old Ringleader was very brilliantly done, but one of those that 
suffered from a congestion of the pips. Ashworth’s Regular was larger 
in the pips than I have ever seen it, but it could not manage purity of 
body colour, the meal creeping over it. Such flowers as Staplcford 
Hero, Meteor Flag, Lady Sophia Dumaresque, Countess of Dunmore, and 
Fair Maid, a pale and ghostly old white edge, with every feature shrouded 
in a faint veil of meal, I saw with the feeling that these were as shadows 
of the p)ast. So also seemed Earl Grosvenor and the dark seifs Vulcan 
and Ivanhoe, and others. 
I trust it may not be thought that I would c.ast unkind reproach 
on the.se old flowers or think them a melancholy sight. I have grown 
and loved them all, and so have many more of us. Only the sight of 
them after long absence was touching. It was like re-visiting in after 
life some scenes of earlier days, to find a native village smaller, a hill 
less mountainous, a well-known stream less enchanting than it seemed, 
while yet one had not wandered far beyond. 
As for the newer Auriculas they can but with comparative slowness 
come into circulation. They have to be both jirovcd and multiiflied, 
and that work is not rapid. But there need be no fear that they will 
be accepted except upon their intrinsic merits. No mere puff of the 
raiser will blow them into favour. They must compete with the best 
there are, and they in their turn, if they stand the test, will be the 
standards for the flowers newer still. Thus the standard rises and will 
ever rise. 
A twofold good test for a seedling will be found in open com¬ 
petition and in stern severity at home. It Is the kiiuler way not to be a 
little blind. 
An interesting feature in the prize list were the collections of six 
