346 
TI1E FLORIST. 
procured in a country village. I strongly recommend the canvas wings 
(Fig. 5), as they allow of the lights being raised in wet or windy 
weather. 
I now beg to offer a sketch of an Auricula pot which answers better 
than any I have tried. It is made with a raised or hollow bottom, 
sloped from the (in)sides to the hole, which is an inch in diameter. 
This slope prevents the lodgment of water, and secures good drainage 
so far as it goes. The sides extend half an inch below the bottom, and 
allow of ventilation, for which purpose two notches are cut opposite 
each other about a quarter of an inch wide. The pots are made with¬ 
out any rim, rather thin, and ought not to be too hard-baked. I use 
five sizes—the three largest count as 48 to the cast, and the two 
smaller ones as 60, and cost me 3s. per cast. 
SECTION OF POT. 
No. 1. 
Notch for ventilation. 
SCALE, ONE-FOURTH THE REAL SIZE. 
SIZE 
OF 
POTS. 
Top. 
Bottom 
Depth 
No. 
1 .- 
— 5| 
by 
4 
by 
6 
99 
2. 
_£3 
99 
3f 
99 
99 
3, 
—5 
1 9 
3i 
99 
5tj 
99 
4, 
_ 4-i 
^ 2 
99 
31 
99 
5 
99 
5 . 
—4 
99 
3 
99 
41 
Before I conclude, I would offer a remark upon one of the directions 
given by your correspondent “ D.” in the last number of his interesting 
“ Chronicles of a Small Garden.” In speaking of repotting Auriculas, 
he says “ Shake off all the old earth : ” if the plant is diseased this 
must be done, but not otherwise. My own experience, backed by that 
of one of the best—if not the best —of growers in this kingdom (he lives 
“ over the border”), is against this. I would say—Examine the end 
of the tap-root and see if it is sound (alas! how often is the tap the 
root of evil!) Shorten, if necessary, reducing the ball of earth mode¬ 
rately, taking care that some of the fibres are long enough to touch 
the sides of the pot. If the plants are shaken out it ought to be done 
early—the grower alluded to says not later than Mag —otherwise the 
plant has so much work to do underground , as not to be able to do all 
you want above, and the consequence is a feeble bloom, or none at all. 
For drainage, I recommend the use of a concave oyster shell over the 
hole, then some broken “crocks” and bits of charcoal about the size of 
small nuts, and over these some clean moss, or decayed fibrous Willow 
wood from the inside of an old pollard. The case mentioned by “ D.,” 
of the loss by one grower of 995 plants out of a 1000, happened about 
four or five years ago, and was caused by his adherence to the old- 
