40 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ February, 
some fresh stuff, placed it in the frame along with the blooming plants I was then 
growing for show, and not a single plant in my collection grew better or bloomed 
as well. Never before or since have I seen seven pips on one stem to equal them ; 
they were uncommonly large, with dense black body-colour, and a broad dark 
holly-green edge, and the tube and eye were more nearly circular than I have 
since seen in the same variety. Since that time I have never been particular 
about what time of the year I made purchases of Auricula plants ; and I don’t 
suppose that many growers have been much more fortunate in their cultivation 
and exhibition of them than I have been, for the last half-century or more. 
Neither has any man ever had a greater liking for them than I have had ; they 
exercised a charm over me when a boy, and they are likely to continue to do so 
till my grey hairs are laid low. 
I greatly admire the Tulip , the Pink, the Carnation , and the Picotee , and 
have spent much time and labour in the raising of seedlings of all these different 
objects; I have also been somewhat fortunate in raising novelties that have sur¬ 
passed some of the older favourites. I have lived to see wonderful improvements 
in all the different florists’ flowers, though certainly in some of them more than in 
others ; of the Tulip , for instance, what grand varieties we now possess, as com¬ 
pared with the time one can recollect, when we had nothing but Dutch flowers 
on which to exercise our cultural skill, whereas, in these days, we have English- 
raised sorts which throw all the finest Dutch flowers utterly into the shade. 
Next, I think, Picotees come the nearest up to the mark. I never expected to 
live to see the improvement which has been effected in them within the last forty, or 
thirty, or even twenty years. During the last thirty years I do not see that we have 
made much improvement in Carnations. In Pinks we have had some good addi¬ 
tions. The Polyanthus seems to have been neglected for some years, and in conse¬ 
quence, we do not see the improvements in it which we might have looked for, 
providing it had been better cared for ; but as theTancy for Auriculas is now 
again becoming popular, it is not unlikely that the beautiful Polyanthus will 
also be taken up and improved, which I should much like to see. 
There is another subject, namely the Siveet William , which I think ought to 
be admitted as a florists’ flower, now that we have got it in such an improved 
state. This improvement was mainly brought about by an ardent florist, Mr. 
Hunt, of High Wycombe, who, I believe, spent years of labour before he got it 
up to the mark he had set his mind on, and before he sent out any of the seeds. 
Since his day, others who took up the fancy have still further improved the flowers, 
till now we might almost consider them perfection. I myself grow a bed of them 
of the same breadth and length as my numerous Tulip beds, which are 102 ft. 
in length and 4 ft. wide ; they just come into flower at the full of the Tulip bloom, 
and all who come to see them declare that they are grander than any of the beds 
of Tulips. They have another merit, that of standing much longer in bloom 
than the Tulip or any other florists’ flower. From the time I first began to culti¬ 
vate them, 14 years ago, I have ever been particular about taking seeds from the 
