350 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Mabch 12, 1861. 
4 feet 6 inches deep to carry the water from, and to save as far 
as possible the trouble of pumping water to dilute the sewage 
matter, I have also led the drain-pipes into the privy-well. If 
you think I have by this means supplied too much water, I will 
alter it; but the more immediate cause of my troubling you is 
the alarm I feel at what I have heard from an old gardener 
this day. 
He tells me that when in the good old times, potash and pearl 
ashes were used for washing, soapsuds formed a good manure ; 
but since the fashion for using soda had come in, so far from 
soapsuds being useful, he believed they were positively hurtful to 
vegetable life. 
Now, I want you to give me your opinion on this weighty 
matter, as it is by means of soda, &c., with the soap, that we 
propose to increase our green and other crops for our— Suffoik 
Bacon. 
P.S.—Will Sea-kale roots, put in the ground this day (March 
-5th), be of any use to me this season ? 
[Your “ ancient gardener ” is entirely mistaken. Potash never 
was rased for making hard soap; in fact, it is the alkali which is 
and always has been used in manufacturing soft soap; soda is 
and always has been used in making hard soap. So far is soda 
from being prejudicial, that it or some of its salts are present in 
almost all soils and plants, are extensively used as manures, 
and it is even a doubt with chemists, whether in plants soda 
and potash may not be substituted for each other. 
We are pleased to see the arrangement you are making for the 
economising that most valuable of manures, and that you duly 
appreciate liquid manure. Your newly-planted Sea-kale will 
not give you an available return oantil next year.] 
THE CULTURE OF THE AURICULA. 
I should not again have ventured (monomaniac though I 
be), to have alluded so soon again to my favourite flower had 
not the following letter been forwarded to me ; and as therein 
a pretty wide field is opened to me, I am bound in all courtesy 
to get into the stirrups and ride my hobby once more. 
“I have been much interested in your article upon the spring 
management of the Auricula ; for I am fond of the flower, and 
desire, if possible, to get a good collection of them. I am, 
however, ignorant of the first treatment of the plant; and 
though the article is very explicit, yet I should feel indebted to 
your correspondent if he would say something more about it, 
especially concerning its earliest management—I mean the time 
for getting them, from seeds or offshoots, the sized pots to put 
them in, the aspect they prefer, the kind of soil, the quantity of 
water, summer and winter management, the merits of the flower, 
&c., all of which and more will readily suggest itself to his mind. 
—A Subscriber, Liverpool 
In answer to this, my instructions were limited to the spring 
management of the flower, as that which more immediately 
demanded attention, and I intended to reserve directions as to 
its future culture for a later period in the year. Some of the 
points in “ A Subscriber’s ” letter, however, I shall be very 
glad to answer, and am glad that he lives in the very California 
of Auriculas—Lancashire. Though not “ the land of the 
Cypress and Myrtle,” it is the county, par excellence, of the 
Auricula and Polyanthus; and if our friend will jump into the 
Manchester train and go to that city of cotton and smoke, he 
will find in its neighbourhood all that he desires. Around 
its purlieus, where weavers “most do congregate,” there are 
hundreds who in their little gardens carry on the cultivation of 
their favourite flower; for though I have called it “ aristocratic,” 
yet at the same time it does not refuse its smiles to any assiduous 
cultivator; and the man who is always on the spot, and can 
run out every now and then to have a peep at his beauties, 
brush away a troublesome aphis, pick off a dead leaf, or stir up 
the caked surface of a pot (“fiddle” about with them in a 
word), possesses a great advantage—not that this is absolutely 
necessary, but it greatly tends to successful management. If 
when there he would inquire for Messrs. Holland & Bayley, 
Bradshaw Gardens, Cheddesdon, he would see with them the 
best and largest collection, I presume, in the north of England- 
And in his purchasing I would recommend him to keep to those 
sorts J named; inasmuch as they are of good constitution, and 
it is of no use commencing the growth of any flower with 
varieties which only long and careful cultivation will enable » 
grower to manage. 
It will, of course, be necessary that he should have a frame. 
For the present any simple one will answer; and, as glass is 
cheap, let the sash be made of large panes—there is less likeli¬ 
hood of drip. By-and-by, when he gets up a collection, there 
are various forms of frames, any of which he might adopt, and 
of which I hope some day to write more fully. The present is a 
very good time for getting in a few, as the dangers of the winter 
are over, and the near approach of spring will give a sight of 
their beauties. Like all mere varieties, they can only be reckoned 
upon as true from offsets. Seed will produce immense variety, 
but is a portion of their culture hardly suited for a beginner. 
As to the size of pots there is a great difference of opinion; 
some putting into large, others into small. I am trying both 
plans this season, and shall report on the result in time to satisfy 
“A Subscriber.” As to aspect, this varies with the season. 
I have said already what they like in spring. After blooming 
they should not get a blink of sun until October; and, above 
all, they must be kept from rain. Probably during the summer 
months a slight shower might not injure them now and then ; 
but damp is the great foe of the Auricula, and therefore no 
water ought to be allowed to get into the heart of the plant— 
though at the same time it requires a liberal supply of water 
to the roots during the summer months. I hope to have an 
opportunity this season of seeing one or two collections I have 
never seen in flower yet, and to be able to give some lengthened 
notices of the season’s bloom. 
And now, having answered the larger number of “A Sub¬ 
scriber’s ” qaaestions, I must congratulate him on his entering 
into the number of Auricula growers. He asks me to speak of 
the merits of the flower. The merits! Ask a young mother to 
describe the merits of her firstborn; ask the lovesick Hyperion 
to describe the merits of his Saccharissa; ask the rotund aider- 
man of the ward of Gobble-cum-swillum to describe the merits 
of callipash and callipee; but do not ask me to describe the 
merits of an Auricula. 
“ Her beauty bangs upon the cheek of night 
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear : 
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.” 
If I had a bushel of aulpeens Mr. Beaton should have them ; 
but I have never raised seedlings, having neither time nor space 
for it. I only spoke of what I have seen with those who have.. 
—D. 
VINES’ LEAVES FALLING PREMATURELY. 
I have under my charge a vinery with four Vines, two Black 
Hamburghs, and two Frontignans. They have borne good crops 
for these last six years ; but finding the wood rather weak, I 
examined the roots in 1859, and found them to have extended 
beyond the boundai-y of the made border (12 feet wide), and 
into a bed of sand, which I removed for 7 feet wide and 
3 feet deep, picking out the roots carefully with a fork, and at the 
bottom making a floor of concrete, and a good drain along the 
front, leaving a depth of about 2£ feet for the soil, which con¬ 
sisted of light turfy loam, the top spit from an old pasture field, 
some broken bones, lime rubbish, and rotten dung—not much 
of the latter. The whole was well mixed together and the roots 
carefully laid on it. It was done early in October, and the 
border, both old and new part, was covered with half-rotten 
dung to the depth of 18 inches. The Vines broke well last 
season and bore a good crop ; but three of them dropped their 
leaves very early last autumn, while the fourth retained them 
much longer. The border has been covered in the same manner 
this season, but, I regret to say, that since starting the house, I 
find the Vine that retained its leaves breaking very well and 
showing fruit in abundance, while the other three are scarcely 
making any push at all. 
I may state, that, being obliged to keep some plants in the 
house, I had to keep on fires all through the severe frost; but 
as the Vines have been in former years started at the latter end 
of January, I think that cannot be the cause. I have at my 
command plenty of liquid manure, which I have been thinking 
of applying to the border through the growing season in order 
to strengthen the wood. Do you approve of such ?— George 
Adams. 
[Anything you have done would have no such effect as you 
allude to. Has the frost not got at the stems of the Vines that 
are not pushing ? The fire to keep out frost would do no harm 
to the Vines, as you proved previously. We were once served 
so with some Vines, and on closely examining them we found 
