84 
THE AURICULA. 
Propagation is by no means difficult, either from seed or cut¬ 
tings : the former is freely produced, and requires only to be 
sown in spring upon a brisk heat; cuttings should be selected 
from the growing shoots when about three inches in length, 
taken off with a heel, or close to their union with the old wood, 
and set in a pot of sandy peat, covered with a bell-glass, and 
plunged in bottom heat, they strike in a period varying from a 
fortnight to a month, according to the season. As a means of 
securing the best description of plants for spring use, some of 
the earlier specimens should be cut back as soon as their beauty 
declines, and set in heat, which will induce them to grow again, 
and thus cuttings may be procured in August, when they strike 
with facility. The winter management of Clerodendrums may 
be briefly stated: it consists in keeping them quite dormant; 
they will not, however, bear any great reduction of heat, or there 
is great difficulty in starting them again ; an out-of-the-way part 
of the stove, where they do not receive water, suits them best, 
or the young plants of autumn may be kept on a shelf and very 
sparingly supplied with moisture. 
The following are those usually grown, and may be regarded 
as the best of the genus : 
Kcempferii. Very brilliant, crimson scarlet; large panicle. 
Inforiunatum. Crimson ; vigorous habit, and large flowers. 
Squamatum. Scarlet; less vigorous than the preceding; free 
flowerer. 
Pa?iiculatum. Scarlet; inferior to either of the others. 
&'plendens. Crimson ; a vigorous climbing species; flowers in 
drooping, dense, short panicles. 
Fragram pleno. White; large, double flowers in a corymb 
very sweetly scented. 
J. Butcher. 
THE AURICULA. 
A return of the seasons brings to the florist a renewal of 
pleasures, and in this month his first gratification is presented in 
the opening of the auricula bloom. We have had a remarkably 
favorable season,and for once the ordinary complaints may be fairly 
