122 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 14,18SS 
when dug was in some cases nearly all gone, while the quality of 
those which were left was very inferior. Nowhere have I tasted a 
good Potato this season ; even my “ Lady Paget ” proved faith¬ 
less, and in fact I have not for a long time had a boiled Potato at 
my table, as we have been obliged to dress them up in some way to 
disguise their nastiness. Some varieties did not suffer so much as 
others with me, amongst which I may notice Sutton’s Abundance, as 
having hardly an unsound tuber, and Reading Russet as being nearly 
as free from disease. Tomatoes were with me a conspicuous 
failure—not from disease, but from want of sun. I grow mine in 
a pit, but I had hardly any well ripened from it. Last season we 
have had in this neighbourhood a good deal of the disease, which 
seems analagous to that of the Potato, and in many cases has been 
most disastrous. Again with Peas, except in the earlier sorts, it 
was a most disappointing season ; the want of flavour was very 
remarkable, so much so that although I had some new varieties to 
try I refrain from saying what I thought of them. I very much 
fear, as I have already said, however, that we are sacrificing flavour 
to size. I cannot see the use of having Peas, one of which is 
almost enough for a mouthful, and as mealy as a Broad Bean. 
Shall we have to go back to the old varieties (if they are to be had) 
if this deterioration in quality goes on ? There was an immense 
crop of French Beans and Scarlet Runners, but the late productions 
of the latter were completely destroyed by the frost of October 3rd. 
Celery and Cabbages of all sorts seemed to thrive, but that was 
about all. 
I have thus hastily run through the experiences of a small 
garden in one of the most disappointing years I can recollect in 
half a century of gardening. There is one encouragement for us 
—viz., that rarely do we have two such seasons consecutively, and 
indeed it would puzzle us perhaps to say whether we like less for 
our gardens—the drought of 1887, or the cold wet of 1888. For 
our own enjoyment, we hold up our hands for the dry hot summer, 
but if we could choose I daresay we should also say neither the one 
nor the other.—D., Deal. 
NOTES ON AURICULAS. 
No. 1. — Why I Grow Auriculas. 
I am often asked how I grow my Auriculas, and not long ago 
there was a letter in your columns from an amateur wishing me to 
give some instructions on the cultivation of these old florists’ 
favourites. Having been a grower of Auriculas for eight and 
twenty years, I can speak of them from experience, and I will try 
to tell the young grower how to manage his plants to secure success. 
That my method of growing suits the plants and produces fine 
blooms is well known to the numerous visitors who have seen my 
collection for many past seasons. 
But the question, “ Why do you grow Auriculas ? ” is not so 
often asked, because anyone seeing a collection of four or five 
hundred plants in bloom at one time has a sufficient answer. The 
casual observer goes no further for an answer than the beauty of 
the flower ; but to the cultivator, to the man with the hobby, the 
little pets give a more comprehensive answer, involving many 
tender associations in connection with friendship, favours granted, 
difficulties overcome, and it may be sacrifices made. The Auricula 
grower’s experience is full of these. Almost every plant has some 
incident in its history which makes it more valuable to its possessor. 
There are plants which lead the thoughts back to the now distant 
past, and recall pleasant interviews and exchanges of opinion with 
fellow enthusiasts. My first possession was a dozen pots given me 
by a neighbour leaving the locality, and which contained the three 
varieties—Taylor’s Ploughboy, Howard’s Lord Nelson, and Sim’s 
Vulcan, and from them arose my love for Auriculas. I have yet on 
my stage the lineal descendants of these three varieties. There is 
also Leigh’s Colonel Taylor, which I got many years ago from my 
respected friend the late Mr. Meiklejohn of Raploch. I was telling 
him of a long and unsuccessful hunt after this prized variety, 
which I had been unable to procure for love or money, when, in the 
most kind and generous manner, he made me a present of one of 
the two plants he had. I valued his kindness the more that Colonel 
Taylor was at that time very scarce and very dear. There, again, 
is a sturdy plant which I prize, because I rooted it when, a very 
tiny eye, it was broken off its parent stem, and there is another 
which I succeeded in bringing back almost from the gates of death 
to healthy life. One cannot help being interested in those plants, 
so intimately associated with himself. A man will not grow 
Auriculas long, and bestow the requisite care and attention on 
them, before he will look upon them not as mere plants in pots, 
but as something akin to him, linked as they are to himself and his. 
friends by many associations. The true lover of the flower will 
feel this forcibly, and if he is a raiser he has an additional pleasure- 
in watching the growth and developments of his own seedlings, and 
he rejoices with exceeding joy when he gets a flower worthy of a- 
name. 
But, apart from sentiment, I grow Auriculas because they are- 
so lovely in flower and foliage. “ Painted Ladies ” our ancestors 
called them, and well they deserve their name, but they are. 
painted by “ Nature’s own cunning hand.” Although there is some¬ 
thing prim and precise in the general appearance and outlines of 
the flower, yet there is abundant diversity in colour and habit—as 
great diversity, in fact, as there is in a company of belles in a. 
fashionable ball room. How gracefully some of them raise their 
heads above the foliage, which is in perfect keeping with the style 
of flower. Some try to enhance their charms by placing them¬ 
selves before a hood of green, which reminds you of a pretty 
coquette and her ways. Others spread their blooms in a circle, and 
compel you to admire their handsome symmetry. Look at the. 
edged flowers, with their pale or yellow tubes well filled with 
glowing anthers, round which runs a perfect circle of pearly white 
paste, surrounded by a ground colour flashing somewhat into the 
edge, whether green, grey, or white. I say flashing somewhat into 
the edge, because a ground colour with an outer edge as perfect as. 
that which surrounds the paste has not yet been, and I fear never 
will, be got. Look at the seifs, which beyond the paste have only 
one colour of most brilliant hue—purple, maroon, violet, blue, 
crimson, mauve, black, and a solitary yellow. It is a curious fact,, 
which I have confirmed by many years’ observation of visitors, 
that ladies with few exceptions admire the seifs most, and the few 
exceptions fixed their admiration upon the green edges. Even when 
Auriculas are out of flower they have an interest all their own. 
First of all, they are fragrant (a rare thing in plants), sending out 
the most delicate perfume without their leaves being touched. 
Their foliage displays great diversity. Some are thickly covered 
with farina (whence the name “Dusty Millers”), how or why 
deposited I have never yet seen satisfactorily explained. Some are- 
light or dark green without a speck, some are smooth edged, some 
notched like a saw, some with a beautiful margin of white or grey. 
Every plant has some peculiarity by which the grower can tell its 
name without having recourse to its tally. I know no other 
plant which a florist can look at so fondly at times, or handle so 
kindly, as the Auricula, and I believe it is only because a good 
collection is so rarely seen in a district that there are not more 
worshippers at the shrine of the “ Painted Ladies.”—J. M. ( Dundee, 
Courier ). 
HOW, AND WHEN TO START A VINERY. 
A CHAPTER FOR AMATEURS. 
Recently an amateur writing from near Monmouth informed 
me he had taken a new house to which a vinery was attached. He 
knew enough of the requirements of Yines to keep them going in the 
right way when once they were fairly started, but he was afraid to 
begin too early, and he feared a mistake at first. I quite agree 
that a “ good start ” insures success in many instances, and as there 
may be others of your amateur readers like our Monmouth friend, 
the following remarks may be of some assistance. 
Amateur Vine growers can make no greater mistake than to 
start their Yines into growth very early in the season. It is expen¬ 
sive work, for much fuel and labour are required to keep up the 
necessary temperatures. Early Yines also are often neither so 
strong in growth nor so fruitful as the later ones. I admit when 
Grapes are ready in May and June they are very acceptable on the 
table, and profitable in the market ; at least they command a high 
price, but Grapes ripe in these months cost double that of summer 
ripened Grapes. This is a rule with few exceptions, and all amateurs 
ought to know it. With the aid of good weather, Grapes will ripen 
in five, or at most six months, from the time of starting into growth, 
and if growth begins in March, they will be bearing ripe fruit by 
the end of August or September, then the fruit may be kept until 
Christmas or longer. I know the inexperienced are liable to think 
that unless their Yines are in leaf in March there will not be time 
for the fruit to mature before the autumn, but this is a wrong idea. 
No matter how deficient artificial heat may be, almost all Grapes 
will gain maturity from March until October. We know some 
amateurs who have many years experience to guide them that 
only give a little artificial heat to start the Yines in March and 
April, withhold it in May, June, July, August, and September, and 
apply a little again in October to perfect the fruit and wood and 
