882 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 29, 1885. 
developed past resemblance to any wild original, that it is nothing 
hort of an acquired flower. There is therefore this touching 
point in its history, that its very existence, in all its fascinating 
distinct elaborated beauty, depends upon its finding new friends 
as old ones pass away. It has no native country. Like the dog 
it has left all its (wild) kindred and made its home with man. If 
it once were lost not our children’s children could in their lives 
recover it. 
I do not know what light upon its early parentage may be 
thrown by the Primula Conference to be held next year in 
London. The Auricula will be a prominent Primula there, for 
the Conference is to be held in its presence—on its show day in 
the south (April ‘23rd, 24th). There is the Primula Auricula of 
the Alps, for one remote ancestor of our cultured flower, and its 
nearest relatives (wild with us) are the Mealy or JBirds’-eye 
Primrose (P. farinosa) and also P. scotica. Then there is 
P. marginata with serrated mealed foliage of recognisable resem¬ 
blance and lilac flowers, with rudiments of that meal which is so 
intensely developed on the Auricula. There are several more 
Alpine species with a habit of foliage in white and green, quite 
that of the Auricula, together with such others as Primula inter¬ 
media, pubescens, and viscosa, with pink and purplish flowers 
and the habit of diminutive Auriculas. So have P. glaucescens 
and Wulfeniana, but the texture of their foliage, hard and almost 
horny, is distinct. In fact, all primitive and allied forms are a 
far remove from the flowers derived through so long a period of 
culture as the 300 years in which there have been Auriculas, says 
Gerarde, in English gardens. Those early varieties are described 
as being yellows, browns, and purples, all of them favourite 
colours still among seedling Auriculas. Browns and purples 
are not to be wondered at, for such their immediate parents 
may have been. But the persistency of yellow is remarkable, it 
is the expression of a wonderful kind of early impress or memory 
of the flower. For instance, I grow no yellows, but yet among 
maiden seedlings as they bloom a few yellow ones generally come. 
Yellow seifs will come from self parents of any other colour but 
that. Even the edged flowers, type furthest removed of all from 
the simplicity of wildness, will exhibit a like impression of a 
prehistoric past, and a seedling, say from a green-edged parent, 
will take indeed the emerald edge, but substitute for a black 
body colour some fanciful tint of yellow. 
As to the derivation of the Auricula, to some extent, and cer¬ 
tainly as to its progress in a very great degree, my belief is that 
the flower will tell its past hist Dry best and most convincingly 
itself. It might be tried with what wild species it would hydridise 
while in its infinite variability from seed, by which attribute it 
has the fundamental qualification for being what is known as a 
florist flower, it makes the most interesting revelations of the 
past to the raiser of its seedlings. In them the history of the 
past will repeat itself in varied retrospect, and among those that 
must be discarded as missing the standard they were intended to 
equal or excel are many in winch the very faults are but tracings 
of their derivation towards its distant sources. They show how 
petals now substantial round and flat had been flimsy frilled and 
pointed, the dense meal thin and ill defined, and how the beautiful 
edge of green or pearly grey or snowy white was at first a slight 
and broken rim. 
I am keeping for the Conference a special seedling, of best 
parentage, that is not worth a single mark in any one property 
of the florist Auricula. It is a highly worthless flower in that 
respect, but still perfect in its wilful way. It reminds me of an 
oil painting for which Mr. Barlow once gave Is., and said if it 
were one touch the better he would not give Id. for it. It was 
some warlike scene apparently, but the vendor said opinions 
varied as to the subject. It had been taken for the battle of 
Waterloo, and I know when we counted for curiosity the legs in a 
front file of soldiers, who seemed to have no particular reason to 
be where they were, we found that one warrior had three! That 
was a priceless discovery, for a man is oftener a leg short than 
one over in action. 
(To be continued.) 
HOUSES OF MIXED GRAPES. 
1 think it is generally admitted that where gardeners are able to 
devote a whole house to the growth of one or two varieties of Grapes 
that are found to do well together, the task of producing fruit of the 
highest excellence is much easier than where many varieties are grown 
together. In gardens where the means at command are great and the 
grower confines himself to a few good sorts, with good culture the 
result is certain to be highly satisfactory. But there are many who like 
to grow a number of varieties for certain good points that each possesses, 
either for their good colour, fine berries, exquisite flavour, large bunches, 
sure cropping, and free-setting qualities, and Grapes, like many other 
garden products, are grown to look at as well as to eat. I believe the 
gardeners who are well acquainted with the best varieties of Grapes are 
well able to decide for themselves which are the better suited to their 
wants, according to the circumstances in which they are placed. Those 
who have had experience in the management of vineries in which 
numbers of varieties are grown are well aware of the difficulties of this 
system of cultivation during the flowering and ripening periods. A Vine 
of one variety will often come into flower two or three weeks before 
another growing beside it, and when seven or eight varieties are grown in 
one house the flowering time will extend over four or five weeks, which 
necessitates keeping the atmosphere of the house much drier than is good 
for either the foliage or the Grapes that are swelling while the backward 
varieties are still in flower. This evil is still greater when colouring com¬ 
mences, many of the varieties requiring much longer to ripen and a 
higher treatment than others. 
It is not my intention to depreciate the system of mixed planting, 
because if it were not adopted many would be unable to grow some of 
the best varieties in cultivation, nor could they keep up a supply for so 
long a time. I think, however, by taking notes of those that come into 
flower and ripen about the same time under similar treatment, and also 
by turning to good account the warmest and coolest parts to be found in 
most vineries, the evils above mentioned may be in a great measure 
counteracted. With this end in view I append the result of my own 
observations in that direction, and I have no doubt that many much more 
able than myself could supplement these remarks should they think the 
subject worthy of their consideration. 
In planting early Vines, consisting principally of Black Hamburgh, 
many cultivators like to have one Vine of Muscat of Alexandria in order 
to get that much-esteemed variety in presentable condition as early as 
possible ; but I have never yet seen it quite satisfactory under such con¬ 
ditions, and I think such varieties as Foster’s Seedling and Buckland 
Sweetwater are preferable for the dessert or the exhibition table till Muscats 
can be had in really good condition. Black Hamburgh, Madresfield 
Court, Buckland Sweetwater, and Foster’s Seedling will succeed well 
together in an early house; and if the Sweetwater is planted in the 
warmest position, Foster’s Seedling in the coolest position, and the 
other two varieties occupy the rest of the house, three of the varieties 
will ripen about the same time. The Madresfield Court will require 
longer time to do so, hut the cool treatment necessary when the others 
are ripe will just suit this variety, provided the hot-water pipes are kept 
warm in dull weather to prevent the berries cracking. For a midseason 
house I am of opinion that Gros Maroc, Alnwick Seedling, and Madres¬ 
field Court would succeed well together, but I cannot speak from expe¬ 
rience on that point; perhaps anyone who has grown them together will 
be able to give us a little information about these three fine Grapes. 
Muscats should, if possible, have a house to themselves, although 
Trebbiano, Mrs. Pince, and Gros Guillaume will do very well under the 
same conditions; but if the bunches of the latter variety are large they 
will require a much longer time to ripen than even the Muscats, which, 
of course, is an objection, because the Muscats will shrivel from the 
effects of the fire heat necessary to finish the Gros Guillaume. The two 
varieties that require a longer time to ripen than others that I am 
acquainted with are Gros Colman and Gros Guillaume. Mrs. Pince is 
almost as long, and these three succeed well together and make a grand 
show. Gros Colman should have the warmest position. Another good 
combination for a late house is Lady Downe’s, Alicante, and Abercairny 
Seedling. I do not wish to infer that these are the only varieties that 
will do well together, because it is a subject that may be experimented 
wiih in so many ways, but the varieties mentioned are safe ones to 
plant together. Perhaps there are others who may be induced to give us 
the result of their experience in the matter.—H. Dunkin. 
SELECT PASSIFLORAS FOR STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
Beautiful and numerous as other genera and species of stove and 
greenhouse climbers are, but few can surpass in beauty the magnificent 
family of Passifloras, with their gorgeously coloured flowers and handsome 
fruit and foliage. Travellers in tropical America describe in glowing 
language the rich character of the scenes presented to their eyes by the 
handsome foliage, flowers, and fruit hanging in festoons on the long 
shoots of the Granadilla (P. quadrangularis), which climb from tree to 
tree in the forests. The fruit of the Granadilla, which is deliciously sweet 
and fragrant in flavour, is much esteemed by the natives of those tropical 
regions as an article of food, and even in England it is highly esteemed 
by some, and forms a valuable adjunct to the dessert. The latter, however, 
rarely produces fruit in this country unless planted out and can make 
root and growth unrestrictedly, and even then to insure fruiting the 
flowers must be artificially fertilised by the pollen of another species, as 
its own pollen is impotent. A few other species, such as P. edulis, 
P. incarnata, and P. laurifolia, are usually described underthe general term 
of Granadilla, as all produce edible and luscious fruits, but with the excep¬ 
tion of the species described as the true Granadilla and P. edulis these are 
not generally grown in English gardens. The last-named is, perhaps, more 
grown than the former, as it is more accommodating in its requirements, 
and will grow, flower, and fruit freely in a greenhouse or intermediate 
temperature. 
Those whose experience has been confined to growing these beautiful 
climbers in pots can form no idea of their real character of growth and 
freedom of flowering when planted out and allowed to grow unrestrictedly, 
especially so in the case of the many beautiful hybrids between P. alata 
and quadrangularis, and vice verecL, of which Buonapartea (fig. 59), 
