292 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 11, 1889, 
a point like this. I know of one case in the north where the collec¬ 
tions were so nearly equal that a third judge had to be called, and 
he gave his decision avowedly on one of the stands having flowers 
with longer spikes, although the quality of those in the other stand 
was undoubtedly superior in the quality and colouring of the flowers. 
In such a season one cannot speak very positively with regard 
to new varieties, nor have I had an opportunity of seeing the very 
newest of Souchet’s varieties, while my opinion of some older varie¬ 
ties has been somewhat altered. Thus Tlierese de Yilmorin, which 
came out at twenty-five francs, does not seem to me to be at all worth 
the extravagant price put upon it. It is not, I think, to be com¬ 
pared with Mr. Burrell's Cygnet, a flower of the same style which 
was certificated at Bath in the autumn of 1887. The following, 
however, have seemed to me good. 
Enchanteresse .— I question if this will ever make a grand spike, 
but the flowers are very large and the colour good. When we 
recollect the white flowers of former days, the advance made in 
size and substance by such a flower is very remarkable, although it 
is, if all accounts be true, exceeded by Mont Blanc. 
Magiciennc is a good flower, passing on to pale rose and white. 
Magnificua, a fine flower, bright in colour, the flowers well set on 
and forming a good spike, vermilion red with large white blotch. 
Pollux, a highly coloured flower with a grand spike, twelve or 
fourteen blooms opening at once ; it sometimes comes semi-double. 
Pasteur, soft rose, round well shaped flowers, shaded with 
orange and white blotch. 
Splendens, dark vermilion red with pale yellow blotch. 
Minos, a salmon rose coloured flower, flamed and striped with 
vermilion red, centre amaranth. 
Besides the French varieties I had some new varieties of 
Messrs. Kelway and Mr. Burrell, some of them very excellent; 
and here I may say that a seedling exhibited by Mr. Burrell at 
the Crystal Palace, and called Sundown, is without doubt the finest 
white known. 
There are signs of a larger cultivation of this beautiful flower, 
and I can only with all my heart wish every tyro success, for a 
flower that gives you enjoyment for nearly three months is no 
mean acqirisition, and this a well selected collection of Gladioli 
will do.—D., Deal. 
POTATOES SPORTING. 
“T. W.” asks, “How do Potatoes sport?” I know they do 
sport, but I cannot tell him “ how.” I can surmise that they “ hark 
back” to some original variety, or conform to Dame Nature’s 
alterations. I have had during my experience many such sports 
happen, notably from a seedling I raised and called Purple Blush, 
which threw a set sport some years afterwards without a particle 
of colour. Rector of Woodstock, a white round, has given a set 
type named Harlequin, and something like Purple Blush. A 
relationship runs through my strains, and the above two instances 
will be sufficient for me to mention, as they are well known. There 
is the “haiking back,” however, which may be al'owed to come 
under the same category. 
I remember—it must be some twenty-five years ago (I can hunt 
up the exact date if it may be of any use), it happened in the cross 
which produced Rector of Woodstock, Bc-dfont Seedling, Bountiful, 
&c., a coloured variety so utterly distinct and new to me that 1 
took it up to South Kensington to lay before the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society s Fruit Committee. To my great astonishment there 
I found its exact prototype in a small crumpled-top-coloured 
wildling, the seed of which had been sent, I believe, from Peru and 
grown by Mr. Barron at Chiswick, and exhibited also by him on the 
same day as a curiosity. This was a “sport” and a “harking 
back ” exemplification with a vengeance. The latest frettk of the 
old dame that I am acquainted with in regard io the Potato is 
mentioned by Mr. W. G. Smith, page 487, Nov, mber 29th, who 
writes “ Eighteen years ago Mr. Fenn crossed two long sorts of 
Potatoes ’ (error, that excellent old sort, Hogg’s Coldstream, is a 
round variety)—“ viz., the Early Coldstream and the Early Ashleaf, 
the.result being tubers of a globular form, which he called W. G. 
Smith. After eighteen years, during which this had come true, one 
plant suddenly reverted to the original type, being inches long, the 
round tuber being only about 2\ inches in diameter.” I named the 
above excellent variety in honour of Mr. Worthington G. Smith, 
the discoverer of the life history of the Peronospora infestans.— 
Robert Fexx. 
NOTES ON AURICULAS. 
No. 5 . —Tiieir Peculiarities. 
The observant grower of Auriculas will soon perceive that 
£ome of his plants, like some of his friends, develope peculiarities 
which deserve careful study. He will find that some varieties are 
very slow in giving offsets, and that these are often the kinds of 
which a stock is desired. I have had plants five, six, seven, and 
even more years, without their making the least attempt to throw 
an offset. Among my own plants Taylor’s Favourite, Nether- 
wood's Othello, Pearson’s Badajos, Hughes’ Pillar of Beauty,, 
Spalding’s Metropolitan, Low’s Mazzini, Walker’s George Levick, 
Dickson’s Earl of Errol, and a few more are of this class.. 
Headley’s George Lightbody is a slow breeder, but he does in¬ 
crease. In these cases some growers adopt the risky plan of cutting 
off the stem an inch or so below the crown and striking the heads,, 
expecting the lower portion of the stem to throw out offsets. If the 
head strike it is all right, but for my own part I never behead a 
plant except it has roots above the cut, when, after dressing both 
wounds with charcoal, success may follow with both head and 
stump. Any offsets from Low’s Mazzini which I ever got came 
after beheading the plant. Last year I did the same with one of 
my plants of Walker’s John Simonite, and there are at present five- 
healthy offsets around the stem. There are again plants which 
show the opposite peculiaiity of sending off too many offsets^ 
This fritters away the strength of the plant, breaks it up, and 
leaves the main stem so weak that it never shows a satisfactory 
bloom. Plants of this kind are scarcely worth keeping in a collec¬ 
tion. With me Douglas’s Conservative and Headley’s Alderman 
C. Brown show this peculiarity. Very likely these plants grow 
well enough with some other body, but I speak of them as I find' 
them, and both are good when got right. Some varieties get very 
leggy as the season advances from the base of the leaf being 
thicker than usual, and thus leaving more of the stem bare when 
the leaf is taken off, but this habit must he tolerated till potting 
time. A notable instance of this is seen in Summerscale’s- 
Catherina. When the plants are fully at rest in the winter time it 
may be observed that, while some plants preserve a respectable- 
appearance in point of size, others shrink into a very attenuated 
condition. Examples of this may be seen in Lightbody’s Meteor 
Flag and Bradshaw’s Tidy. While some are strong growers- 
with broad firm leaves others are “ miffy ” growers—that is,, 
they look pinched and undersized compared with others, although 
they are healthy enough. Strong plants like Spalding’s Black¬ 
bird, Downing’s Catherine, Horner’s Heroine, Campbell’s Lord 
of Lome, Lightbody’s Fair Maid, Waterhouse’s Conqueror of 
Europe, and a host more when in full foliage are sights worth 
seeing. 
In February, when new life begins to stir, the plants, if 
any one make no sign of moving, but remains as it was pre¬ 
viously, be sure there is rot somewhere about the plant. Shake- 
it out of the pot at once and examine it, and you may, perhaps,, 
save its life. 
Some growers object to having more than one truss on a plant, 
and if two come they generally pinch off the centre one, because it 
has been held that the truss from the side of the plant comes finer 
and more to the character of the bloom than that from the centre. 
No satisfactory reason has been assigned for this. If one is not a 
competitor he will be a fool to sacrifice a good bloom which the- 
plant is well able to bear. 
Every Auricula grower knows that the tubes vary in colour 
from a pale greenish hue to a brilliant yellow. The really brilliant 
yellow tubes are few, though of late years raisers have made special 
efforts to obtain them. So far as my judgment goes all their art 
will never get a yellow tube in conjunction with some colours. 
But why should a yellow tube be considered of so much value ? 
No doubt it adds a brightness to the bloom, but I do not think it 
adds any point to the recognised properties of the flower. I hold 
that even in competition, all other merits being equal, a yellow tube- 
ought not to count for more than a pale one, seeing that Nature has 
not considered one colour of tube essential to the charms of every 
Auricula. While everyone has his own idea of what constitutes 
beauty wherever it appears, I may be allowed to say that I can look 
with equal pleasure at Traill’s Prince of Greens and Horner’s 
Sapphire with their pale tubes, at Smith’s Lycurgus with its tube- 
of light lemon, and at Douglas’s Sylvia and Spalding’s Blackbird 
with their tubes of clear j'ellow. 
The beginner will soon learn from his own observation and 
conversation with older growers what are the properties of a good 
Auricula. The stem should be strong, erect, and elastic, bearing 
the truss well above the foliage. The pedicels or footstalks of the 
flowers should also be firm, and should be of a proportional length 
to make the bunch of pips close and compact. The tube should be 
well filled with the anthers, the paste white, smooth, and circular,, 
the ground colour rich and equal all round the paste, but the outer 
edge is always more or less broken, and the edge must be distinct 
of its kind. The pip should be round, but as it seldom is a perfect 
circle we must be content with getting it as nearly round as possible. 
