1877.] 
SELF ALPINE AUBICULAS. 
11 
of concealed affections, and the choices which we have perhaps never before 
studiously laid open to our fellow-florists. I think it plain that the lists will be 
collectively a lucid guide to any beginner wishing to know the best flowers. He 
cannot make a mistake among those on which all have laid such distinction. 
And which of us does not rejoice to find that Smiling Beauty —loveliest of 
white-edges, fairest of that fairest class, richest in her frosted-silver foliage, 
stateliest in her graceful bearing, purest in snowy edge, and blackest velvet of her 
blossoms—is, by acclamation. Queen among Auriculas ? No one who has seen 
Smiliug Beauty in her health and glory will easily forget her. With her high 
lead in first-place votes she represents the Auricula right royally. 
Some of us will have felt a great wish that we had had room here and there 
for another good sort. I, for instance, was sorry I had not room enough among 
the Selfs for such a flower, as Othello always is with me. But other points duly 
considered, I had made a rich variety and distinction in true Self ground-colours 
a rule of choice, and entrusted the black grounds to Ellen Lancaster^ a velvety, 
intensely black Self of great substance, and a direct descendant of Othello ; for 
the seed that produced Ellen Lancaster had rattled in a chance pod, shaking 
in the wind in Mr. Wilson’s garden. Mr. Pohlman had pity on the pod, and in 
due time his reward in a fine seedling. It is a brilliant exception to the rule 
that chance-saved Auricula seed is comparatively worthless.—F. D. Hoeneb, 
Kirlchy-Malzeard^ Bipon. 
SELF ALPINE AUKICULAS. 
S it is now decided that there shall be an exhibition of Auriculas in London 
during the coming spring, and as it is probable that some of the northern 
growers may be induced to bring their flowers southwards on that occa¬ 
sion, I venture to express the hope that, if a schedule of prizes be framed, 
it will be cast in as liberal a spirit as possible. Take, for instance, the pre¬ 
sent race of Alpine Auriculas, mainly raised by Mr. 0. Turner. Among these 
there are many flowers that are Self Alpines, and which, as a consequence, 
would be excluded from competition at the exhibitions of the National Auricula 
Society. They are too good, too brilliant in colour, and too striking in appear¬ 
ance to be passed over altogether; they are the result of immense labour, 
and mark a wonderful stride in the march of improvement. But they are not 
true Alpines in the northern acceptation of the term. 
The first property in all Alpines is the shaded corolla lobes or petal,—z.c., 
the base of the marginal or ground-colour must be dark, with a paler edge, the dark 
hue shading off into the pale, and the more richly shaded a flower is, the better 
is it appreciated. Another important property is that, whether the centre or 
paste be yellow, or sulphur-yellow, or cream, or even white, it must be free from 
any trace of that meal which forms the paste in the true Self Auricula. I mention 
this, because I have met with named Alpine Auriculas that are not true Alpines, 
but nondescripts, because of the presence of this mealiness. 
