110 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ MAT, 
houses as are required. I have, therefore, advised most of the inquirers above 
referred to to grow Figs. These are more and more recommended every season, 
by our greatest medical men, as the most wholesome of our in-door fruits. They 
are easy to grow, and very productive ; besides which, the fruit can be had 
during most months in the year at much less expense than a Pine, while for very 
early work, pot-plants may be forced for a generation. Such sorts as White 
Marseilles and Dr. Hogg*s Black will come in for a first crop in February, and 
the others will follow in succession. Very large sorts, except Negro Largo., are 
shy bearers, seldom setting well, so that frequently, when the fruit has advanced 
to a good size, they shrivel up, instead of ripening. Next month I hope to have 
something to say about treatment.—J. Fleming, Cliveden. 
THE AUKICULA. 
ChAPTEE I.- DeSOEIPTION.-PeOPEETIES. - WOEK FOE THE MoNTH. 
ABLY May sees the bloom just over, its hopes fulfilled, its disappointments 
done with, and the work for a good one next time must begin in patience 
now. No one, I trust, will say in complaint, Oh I but why do you in¬ 
troduce the Auricula to us just when it has gone out of fiower ? It wants 
taking away.” I can only answer that love and interest never should wax cold 
towards a plant as it passes out of bloom, or to its rest; and that many a failure 
is but the plain and proper punishment of so poor and insincere affection. 
It may also be more interesting if, in a twelvemonth’s Auricula-jaunt in the 
curricle of the Floeist, we have our faces set towards nexb year’s distant bloom. 
Shall we not appreciate it the better, when we know how the bright result is 
worked for, and have noted the stages and changes by the way ? 
For those not intimate yet with the Auricula in its florist form, I blend, with 
notes upon its properties, a brief description of the fiower, because its velvety 
textures and delicately raised surfaces would not be suggested to a stranger by 
mere mention of the classes it is divided into, nor are coloured illustrations of it 
easy. The white edge of an Auricula is something very different from the white 
edge, for example, on a Sweet William or Petunia. Indeed, the whole beauty of 
the Auricula is original, curious, striking. It is not due alone to colouring matter 
in the tissues of the petals, but also to the presence of a smooth and snow-white 
meal, laid in different densities on certain parts of the fiower. 
The centre of the pip is a waxen tube, varying from gold to greenish-yellow, 
and set round with yellow anthers near its mouth. The number of these in the 
family to which the Auricula belongs is five, but our fiower is not particular, and 
when a pip contains, as it usually does, more than five petal-lobes, there is com¬ 
monly an attendant anther for each. The tube is a little member, but it has 
great power. It is the central feature, and if this be faulty, it spoils the whole 
face of the fiower. The tube should be of a rich yellow, of good substance, and 
circular, and “well up,” *.e., rising fully to the level of the fiatly expanded pip. 
The stem must carry its own head well above the foliage, without need of 
