66 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOQIST. 
[ March, 
After about tbe 10th of April a little more care must be taken to insure a 
fine bloom. The rain must be kept off, and artificial watering will be necessary, 
which may be best done with a small three-half-pint water-can, with a sort of 
crane-spout, which might at any time be just run round the rim of the pots 
without wetting the blooms, or even the plants, which is as well. This, for 
three weeks, or may be, the whole month, is the most critical season of the year; 
a day’s neglect or mismanagement may cause all the care and painstaking one 
may have been at from the commencement of the year to be thrown away. 
One grand object during the blooming of the Auricula is to keep the interior of 
the frames, of whatever sort they may be, as near the same temperature as pos¬ 
sible. After a hot day’s sunshine, when the plants have to be shaded during the 
middle part of the day, it will be quite as well, about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, 
if the day is favourable, to take off the mats and the lights also for an hour 
or so, placing the lights on again, and closing them while the sun is still shining 
on the glass. As soon as the sun leaves the frames, cover them well up, so that 
what warmth they contain may be kept therein during the night. At day-break 
every morning, when the sun shines clear, take off both mats and lights up to 
9 o’clock; then put the lights on again, but tilt them well up at the back; 
shade with some thin awning from that time until 3 p.m., and follow on as 
before recommended. There is one other little matter 1 may mention. At the 
time I was in full swing growing Auriculas for exhibition, I had two or three 
small one-light frames—such as I could shift about to face north, south, east, or 
west, just as required—for hastening on late green-edged and other sorts, for the 
seifs in particular are generally much earlier than the edged sorts. For these late 
sorts I placed the small frames full south, in the most sheltered spot in the 
garden. For the seifs, and the earlier kinds of Polyanthus as well, I placed the 
frame full east, only allowing them about two hours’ morning sun at the most, 
and shading after during day-time up to 6 p.m., then covering the frames well 
up, the same as in the case of the main stock frames. 
At all times from March up to the end of April, when the plants are mostly 
in bloom—in this part of the country at least—it is well to avoid as much as 
possible all checks to the plants, such as sudden transitions from heat to cold, as 
checks of this kind will stunt the blooms, when standing in the bell state, stop 
their growing to any size by setting them fast in the bell, and prevent them from 
opening, or from being got sufficiently flat for exhibiting. 
The Auricula, which I look upon as being A 1 among florists’ flowers, 
requires', in order to grow and bloom it well, and to keep it the year through in 
a proper healthy state, to be more strictly and more diligently looked after than 
any of the other “ florists’ flowers,” such as Tulips^ Pinks, Pansies, Ranunculus, 
Carnations, Picotees, &c. In the first place, it requires for soil a compost suit¬ 
able to its nature, to be repotted at the proper time, and to be moved and 
removed according to the season. I know there are growers who differ from me 
in several points, such as the time for topping up the plants, repotting, &c.; but 
