May 2, 1889. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
351 
which it is well adapted ; the short-jointed deep green colour is 
just the thing for that purpose. To grow as a specimen in the 
mixed shrubbery, or to form a background for such a position 
to the shrubbery, pr to hide buildings Colchica is far the best. 
The growth is strong and erect, while the leaves are in some cases 
exceptionally large, slightly^drooping, and of a deep green colour. 
No variety shows more than this one does the effect of liberal treat¬ 
ment in cultivation. A strong soil and plenty of manure are tbe 
-chief points to study in the growth of Laurels. Pruning should 
always be done with either a knife or small pruning shears. Ordi¬ 
nary hedge-pruning shears are the worst of tools to use in pruning; 
the leaves cut in halves by their use make the plants look too 
much like ordinary hedge-clipping..—S. 
AURICULAS AT THE NATIONAL AURICULA 
SOCIETY’S SHOW.— April 23rd, 1889. 
As the report of this Show has already been given in the Journal, 
the notes which I purpose now to give must be regarded as an 
addendum to that report, with which I have only one fault to find, 
and that is that the number of pips are designated on each truss, as 
if that constituted a criterion of excellence. This, as I have already 
stated, I think is a fallacy, an enumeration such as that only 
tends to keep up the wrong custom that prevails with so many.® 
There were several notable cases in the Exhibition where the truss 
would have been manifestly improved had at an earlier stage several 
of the pips been cut out ; for example, there was one fine truss of 
•George Lightbody in Mr. Henwood’s admirable lot of twelve 
which would have greatly benefited by this process. Where a large 
number of pips is retained it is generally at the expense of their 
quality and size, aud of the symmetry of the truss. 
It is very difficult to decide as to the character of an exhibition 
•as compared with its predecessors, and while it was undoubtedly 
far in advance in every way of that of last year, it was un¬ 
questionably behind many of those we have seen in previous 
years. Mr. Barlow, Mr. Bolton, and Mr. Ben Simonite brought 
us no plants. We missed the fine plants of Mr. Llewelyn and 
those from Ludlow ; but, at the same time, there does seem 
to be a revival of interest in the Show about London, and 
Reading seems as if it would be soon a centre of Auricula grow¬ 
ing, as it has been of many other flowers. This is what the 
southern section of the National Auricula Society was intended to 
■effect, and in fact constitutes its chief ground for demanding 
support. A southern Show, of which the chief exhibitors hail from 
the north, is clearly an anomaly. I think that there could be no 
second opinion as to the quality of the flowers ; they were very 
true to character, and there was a most desirable absence of that 
coarseness which results from over-stimulating, and which destroys 
one of the chief characteristics of the Auricula—its refinement. 
Perhaps the most interesting point in connection with the Show 
was how far did it settle the question as to the superiority of the 
newer sorts over the older ones ? Have we during the last ten 
years, through the efforts of our hybridisers and raisers, made such 
an advance as would justify us in discarding our old favourites? 
And it seems to me that it left the question very much where it 
was. That there is an advance in seifs one can see at once. 
Horner’s Heroine and Melanie, Barlow’s Mrs. Potts, and Woodhead’s 
Black Bess, are most decidedly in advance of any that we possess, 
especially in the matter of smoothness of petal. In many of the 
older flowers the edges are rough, notched, and jagged, but in these 
‘they are what we used to call in Pinks rose-leaved, a regular outline 
without notches. But when I look to the other classes, I do not as yet 
see that we have gone verj' far. I do not include those which have 
•only just been raised or shown for a couple of seasons; we must 
wait till they are established. Talisman and Ajax were at one time 
much bepraised, but at present they are not at all valued ; they 
have not remained true to their first promise. But I see nothing 
as yet that in grey edges is a beat upon George Lightbody or 
Lancashire Hero ; and in green edges on Colonel Taylor or 
Prince of Greens ; and in white edges—while we have very beautiful 
flowers, and Horner’s Magpie is perhaps the best that he has 
raised—there is a good deal to be said yet for Heap’s Smiling 
Beauty and Read’s Acme. 
There is no doubt that Mr. Horner's success as a raiser is greatly 
in his favour as an exhibitor, and one feels that when nine out of 
twelve are his own flowers that he occupies an unique position ; 
but I am not at all sure that even with this he may find a foeman 
worthy of his steel in Mr. Henwood, who did beat him in sixes, 
* Oar reporter was requested to state the number of flowers in order that the report 
■should be as accurate as po.-sible, and have had complaints on previous occa-lons when 
the particulars were not given. Whether the method of exhibiting is right or wrong is 
for experts to determine. If it is wrong the publication of the facts ought to have a 
^cadency to put it right. Ed. 
and in whose twelve there were some remarkably fine plants ; 
all the more remarkable when we bear in mind that he has not 
more than 100 plants. Surely an immense encouragement to 
small growers. But he loves his plants, and the Auricula of all 
other flowers responds to the admiration and affection of its 
admirers. 
And now let me give a few notes on the newer flowers. Of 
course I may be wrong, and my judgment may be questioned, as 
it has been before, but I may be right in the end. Thus a year or 
two ago someone indignantly asked in the Journal what sort of a 
judge of Auriculas I could be who said Sapphire was like Charles 
J. Perry. Well, the other day they were both shown in collections 
staged near to one another, so that I had the opportunity of placing 
the plants side by side, and then appealed to some of our best 
judges of Auriculas as to their being similar, and the unanimous 
verdict was, that there was very little, if any, difference between 
them. Mrs. Douglas is very near in colour but a little deeper ; but 
as one grower said, it is just possible it may become lighter in 
colour by-and-by. And was not my friend Mr. Horner rather 
hurt because I passed Ebony last year? Well, it was very hard 
to see last year, but I thought it rough, and this year confirmed my 
opinion, and was so designated by several of the growers present. 
So after all I may know something of the flower I have loved ever 
since I was a boy. 
FIG. 58.—SELF AUKICULA HORXETt'S MELANIE. 
The Rev. F. D. Horner (Simonite) is a good flower, and I hope 
will continue to be worthy both of the raiser and its namesake. 
It has the fault which pervades many green edges, Litton’s Impe- 
rator, Colonel Taylor, &c.—namely, that there is a tendency in the 
body colour to show through the paste. It is more seen when the 
flower is young, and gives the paste somewhat of a dirty appear¬ 
ance ; but the edge is very bright, the tube good, and the body 
colour, although a little inclined to run into the edge, dark and 
solid. It is no slight recommendation to it that it gained the 
premier prize in the Exhibition. 
Ebony (Horner).—A very dark self with pale tube and some¬ 
what rough ; eclipsed, however, by 
Melanie, a very dark flower ; the petals smooth and ro?e-leaved ; 
paste good; tube pale. The character and size of the flower, both 
as to pip and truss, are well shown by the artist in the accompanying 
sketch (fig. 56). 
Black Bess (Woodhead).— This was well shown by Mr. 
Henwood, and is a pleasing remembrance of a devoted lover of 
the Auricula, the late Mr. T. Woodhead of Shobden Hrad, Halifax. 
I believe it to be a valuable addition to the style of self repre¬ 
sented hitherto by Blackbird ; the truss is large ; the pip round 
and smooth ; the tube of good colour, and the habit of the plant 
excellent. 
