June £1, 1688. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE 0ARDENER. 
505 
this admitting of their being pegged down without injury to the 
stem, and being given a little warm water, the bed and sides of pit 
or frame also moistened, the lights put on and kept rather close, a 
good start will soon be made. Four or five main branches ought to 
be pushed out by each plant, and a second stopping must be resorted 
do, if necessary, in order to secure them. As fast as the roots 
spi’ead through the soil top-dress and add more of the same as first 
nised, and gradually lead them all over the frame, the haulm also 
being gradually trained over the whole of the space. The main 
branches being stopped when about 2 feet long will push a number 
of side shoots from which a few fruit may be at once taken—i.e., 
if wanted for a show, otherwise they should be cropped very 
sparingly till nearer, or about ten or twelve days of the time. 
Keep the growths thinly trained, timely stopping with the finger 
and thumb being preferable to later pruning with a knife. Long 
Cucumber glasses are of great assistance in keeping the fruit 
straight and clean, and these ought not to be bedded in the soil, or the 
under side of the fruit will be yellow instead of green. Lengths of 
bent zinc and other contrivances are frequently adopted for keeping 
the fruit straight, but most of them are apt to blanch the under 
«ides, which, it ought to be generally known, is a great disappoint¬ 
ment. Nor should the fruit be left too long on the plants, fat 
overgrown specimens always “ going down ” before fresh, mode- 
Tately and evenly thick, and straight Cucumbers. 
There yet remain a few remarks to be added, these being 
applicable to both house and frame-grown plants. Cold currents of 
air are most injurious to Cucumbers ; in fact, a great amount of 
dry air is not good for them at any time. A “ nick ” of air at the 
stop ventilators or at the back of the lights should be given soon 
after the sun shines well on the house or frames, the aim being to 
prevent a sudden great rise in the temperature, which may need 
much colder air to counteract. Supposing the night temperature 
ranges from 70° to 75°, and which is not very high for the summer 
months, air should be given before 85° is reached, and a little more 
added in order to keep the temperature near that figure. Some 
kind of light shading is very necessary, especially in the case of 
house-grown plants. This, if in the shape of thin blinds, should be 
put on before the sun has gained much power, and will lessen the 
need of giving more air than is good for the plants. Failing blinds, 
a permanent shading of “ summer cloud ” or a thin coating of milk 
and whiting applied with a brush must be given ; the plants to 
be well syringed in the morning some time before air is given, 
and again when the house is closed early in the afternoon. The 
walls, paths, and soil should be damped whenever found dry, and 
•with plenty of moisture thus maintained in the atmosphere the 
house may be closed early enough to run up the heat to 100°. 
Frames and pits to be very similarly treated, the aim being to 
•enclose as much sun heat and moisture at all times consistent with 
safety, while daylight lasts especially, so as to be independent of 
any artificial heat. Very little fire heat, as a rule, is needed by the 
house and pit grown plants, nor are any “ linings ” necessary for 
the frames on hotbeds. Red spider to be kept down with the aid 
of the syringe and an occasional coating of fiowers of sulphur, this 
being mixed with the syringing water ; thrips, green and black fly 
to be destroyed by gentle fumigations with tobacco paper or steam 
generated by pouring tobacco water on hot bricks or pipes, and 
mealy bug must be caught and crushed. 
From the first the plants ought not to suffer by want of water 
at the roots, nor on the other hand should they be unduly 
saturated. The most judgment is required in watering after a top¬ 
dressing has been given, as it is possible for the fresh soil to be 
quite moist enough, and that underneath much too dry. Nothing 
but clear liquid manure should be used, as anything that clogs the 
surface, this including farmyard liquid manure and soot water, 
soon does much more harm than good. Very light sprinklings of 
Beeson’s, Standen’s, or other special manures, washed in, are safe 
and beneficial, and on no account use other than tepid water. 
For exhibition purposes, Tender and True, when at its best, is 
unrivalled, but only a few succeed in growing it to perfection, and 
on the whole Carter’s Model will be found much more reliable. It 
16 of robust free-bearing habit and the fruits are handsome. Tele¬ 
graph in good condition is also hard to surpass, and I have recently 
cut several very pretty fruits of Cardiff Castle. It is rather short, 
but this is its only fault. —Exhibitor. 
MY AURjeULAS IN 1887. 
{^Continued from ]}age 455.) 
Axd now with regard to sorts. Are we to discard all the old 
varieties except three or four, and to regard the new ones only ? 
In the name of the older school of florists I say. No. There are 
some, indeed, which must go. As I have said, through the kindness 
of friends I had a few of the newer sorts—viz.. Conservative, 
Sylvia, Mrs. Douglas, and F. D. Horner. The two former of these 
I flowered well, and I consider the former very much in advance of 
Sylvia. It is a fine flower, with a beautiful tube and dark body 
colour, with good paste ; the edge is certainly not as pure a white as 
Reid’s Acme or 'Taylor’s Glory, or that of a flower much in favour 
in the north, Summerscale’s Catharina. It is a most abundant 
breeder, and indeed the difficulty with it is to get a sufficiently 
strong plant, as it is so apt to go off into offsets, which of course take 
from the vigour of the plant. Sylvia, while it throws itself up well 
above the foliage and bears a large truss, is not so fine or chaste a 
flower as its half-sister Conservative. Mrs. Douglas, a seedling of 
Ben Simonite’s, is a very pretty purplish blue self of good habit, 
while F. D. Horner is worthy, when at its best, of the name it 
bears. It is one of that rather restricted class the green edges, 
amongst which the northeners seem to be working very assiduously, 
and probably our children may derive benefit from their good work. 
The edge of F. D. Horner is a good green, and all its properties are 
good. It is also a good doer, which some of the older green edges 
were not. Page’s Champion, almost unsurpassable in its bright green 
edge ; Booth’s Freedom, which I remember half a century ag<^, 
and Colonel Taylor, were all bad growers ; indeed the first two 
are now almost like the Dodo or the Great Auk ; and what grand 
blooms of Freedom I have seen in the days long past! It may be 
like the delusions of early days, which we exaggerate to our con¬ 
temporaries of to-day, declaring that there were never such “ cakes 
and ale ” as we used to have ; so perhaps when I picture to myself 
one of Dr. Plant’s grand blooms of Freedom as far surpassing 
anything we now have, I may be drawing an ideal picture which, 
confronted with the original, would never stand a chance of being 
recognised. There are, however, I think a few varieties which we 
shall be glad to possess, which though they may no(. be equal to 
“ the first three,” still, like David’s warriors, may stand a chance in 
the strife. In connection with this subject I have been not a little 
amused in looking through some old volumes of the “ Florist ” of 
thirty years ago and more, and am not of the opinion that as it 
was said that he was the best general who made the fewest mistakes. 
So it is in most things, and I should be very sorry to be pinned to 
the statements I or others made in those days with regard to the 
Auricula. At that time theie were several able growers who de¬ 
tailed in its pages their opinions and experiences—such men as 
Mr. Jeans and Mr. Bromhall, who were the predecessors in this 
way of Mr. Horner, Mr. Douglas, and others. Their collections 
were, however, small, for I saw them, but their cultural knowledge 
was great, and they had the power of pointing it to others in a 
way sure to interest. In one of those volumes Mr. Jeans gives 
the following list of flowers that were indispensable in 1858, just 
thirty years ago. 
Gkeex-edged.— Booth’s Freedom, Hudson’s Apollo, Leigh’s 
Colonel Taylor, Sutton’s Imperator, Oliver’s Lady Anne Wilbra- 
ham, and Page’s Champion. 
CrREY-EDGEn.— Chapman’s Maria, Chapman’s Sophia, Dickson’s 
Unique, Fletcher’s Mary Anne, Fletcher’s Ne Plus Ultra, Grimes' 
Privateer, Headly’s Superb, Ligbtbody’s Sir Charles Napier, 
Maclean’s Unique, Smith’s General Bolivar, Sykes’ Complete, 
Waterhouse’s Conqueror of Europe, and of these he selects 
Grimes’ Privateer as the best. 
WiiiTE-EDGED.— Ashworth’s Regular, Gairns Model, Heap’s 
Smiling Beauty, Hepworth’s True Briton, Lightbody’s Countess of 
Dunmore, Lightbody’s Fair Maid, Smith’s Ne Plus Ultra, Taylor’s 
Favourite, and Taylor’s Glory. 
Selfs.— Chapman’s Squire Smith, Faulkner’s Hannibal, Light¬ 
body’s Meteor Flag, Martin’s Mrs. Sturrock, Sims’ Eliza, Sims’ 
Vulcan, Smith’s Mrs. Smith, and Spalding’s Blackbird. 
Of flowers not then let out, but of high excellence, he gives 
Campbell’s Admiral Napier, Smith’s Lycurgus, Headly’s George 
Lightbody, Lightbody’s Mrs. Headly, Lightbody’s Sir Colin 
Campbell. 
He also gives a list of flowers with edges neither green nor 
grey decidedly, but coming sometimes pure in both, amongst which 
are found some of the most beautiful and perfect Auricula?. 
Amongst these he enumerates Ashton’s Prince of Wales, Dick¬ 
son’s Duke of Cambridge, Lancashire Hero, Oliver’s Lovely AnnCr 
and a number of others. As one reads this list it is like the roll call 
after the battle. How few, alas ! now answer to their names. It 
shows w hat a difficult class the greens is, to find that five out of the 
six are still grown, and although defects may be found in them, yet 
I would not willingly discard Freedom, Apollo, Colonel Taylor, 
Imperator, Champion, or Lovely Anne. Then in greys I still keep 
Waterhouse’s Conqueror of Europe, of which I had a very fine truss 
this year ; Sir Charles Napier, and Maclean’s Unique are worthy of 
a place, and of course Lancashire Hero. It is cuiious to read the 
high encomiums given to Grimes’ Privateer by such a grower as Mr. 
Jeans, for it is a flower one hardly ever sees now. Then in wliites 
