1876 ,] 
THE AURICULA.—CHAPTER V. 
195 
maiden plants—the life and glory of a collection—that will be at their full size 
next season, and have home a truss of three or four flowers this year. Of their 
vigour they give well-filled pods, and the slight stem—not a tax upon the un¬ 
ceasing growth natural to that age—quietly perfects its pods without the plant 
feeling the effort at all. 
Seed I commend to be sown as soon as ripe. In the glowing autumn, when 
no soil is chill, part of the seed will come up and get into rough leaf before the 
winter. It is very irregular and slow in germination, and much of it sown in 
August will not vegetate till April. The soil may be any sweet, open compost, 
with drainage well secured. Make it moderately firm, so that it will not give 
way under the young plants. 
The growth of mosses may, and should, be held in check, by watering with clear 
lime-water, which will not hurt the seedlings. Take especial care that all soil used in 
the seed-pots has first been subjected to a considerable and thorough heating, say in 
an oven, otherwise the birth and action of small worms and grubs will be a source 
of continuous annoyance and loss. The seed must not be covered in the least, but 
simply protected by glass over the pot to keep the moisture in. Water very gently 
and moderately. So little do these seeds need covering, that probably the first to 
sprout will be a few that an incautious splash of water may have washed up the side 
of the pot. The young plants should be pricked out at their third or fourth rough 
leaf, and kept as much as possible on the move. In all their earlier stages they 
require what would never suit the old plants, a rather close damp air. For their 
tiny roots are thrown out near the surface, often from the very mid-rib of their 
little leaves, and any check to this eager root-action is serious delay. By and by 
they will throw out one suddenly much larger root, the first of a series that soon 
changes their appearance, and when once this stage is reached, they grow most 
rapidly into plants. They will require shiftings according to size. Do not 
despise the weaker ones. The coarser natures ever get on fastest. 
Seedlings will bloom at an absurdly small size, when an offset much larger 
would take another season to think about it. Well led on, a batch of seedlings 
will begin to flower at a year old, and many wait till two. They must not be 
hastily judged at their first bloom, either for praise or censure. For faults so 
utterly hopeless as a pin-eye they may be discarded at once, but if the outline of 
pip be good, and tube and paste correct, it is not safe to condemn a seedling for 
first faults of ground-colour and edge, for such errors are committed by even the 
best flowers, especially in an autumn bloom. 
Work for the Month. —September is a pleasant time with the Auricula. 
The plants are well started in autumnal growth, and full of interest and beauty; 
much of the promise for the spring will depend upon their safe ^progress now ; 
keep them at a growing moisture and cool. The green-fly season is not over, 
and perfect cleanliness is essential to the welfare of the plant. The supply of air 
must be the fullest possible, the only protection being against heavy rains and 
high winds. If Auriculas are drawn for want of air it has an enduring effect 
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