THE AURICULA. 
146 
are absolutely worthless. About the middle of July the seed will 
be found ripe, it should then be gathered when quite dry, and 
put away in paper bags, without shelling, until the following 
February. We prefer this early period for sowing, for though it 
entails a little additional trouble while the plants are young, it 
also gives them an opportunity of becoming well established in 
the course of summer, and therefore in a more fitting state to go 
through the winter safely. About the middle of February, then, 
pots, or, what is better, flat wide-mouthed pans, after being well 
drained, should be filled to the top with fine, light, rich earth, 
such as leaf-mould and loam, having a good proportion of sand 
mixed with it, to preserve its porosity and enable the roots to 
penetrate freely. The surface should be pressed down even and 
firmly, and the seed distributed equally over it; a slight covering 
of fine sand may then be strewed over it, and the earth receive a 
gentle watering : a gentle bottom heat will greatly assist the 
germination of the seed, but, if this cannot be afforded, a piece 
of flat glass may be laid over the pan, and a warm sunny shelf 
selected for it in the greenhouse. It indeed sometimes happens 
that no better accommodation for raising the seed is at hand than 
the frame in which the mature plants have been wintered : in this 
case, it is perhaps better to defer sowing till the end of March; 
in either case the soil must be kept constantly and moderately 
moist. In May or June the plants will be fit for transplanting; 
they may then be put, the largest singly into small pots, and the 
others at a distance of an inch and a half from each other round 
the margin of a larger pot; from this time till the following 
October they will require to be constantly moist, and shaded 
from strong light, occasionally pressing the soil firmly about the 
base of their stems, to keep them in place, and cover the young 
roots with soil as they are protruded. Through the winter they 
do not require any other attention than such as is commonly 
given to the older plants, an occasional watering, according to 
the state of the atmosphere, protection from frost, and to be kept 
quite clean of insects and decayed leaves. As many of them may 
be expected to bloom in the following spring, it is advisable to 
separate the strongest of those which were placed together in 
large pots, and shift them singly into others agreeing with their 
respective sizes ; this should be done early in January, before the 
