1878 .] 
AURICULA FRANK SIMONITE.—POT HYACINTHS FOR EXHIBITION. 
145 
AURICULA FRANK SIMONITE. 
[Plate 
HE edged Auricula, of which a specimen 
is given here, is not an easy subject for 
a coloured portrait, especially because 
the exquisitely-powdered surface of the edge in 
white and grey varieties, and the velvety 
texture of the ground-colours in them all, can 
only be approximately given in a picture ; while 
also the precise tints of the ground-colours, and 
the greens of the green edges are difficult to 
secure through the different processes under 
which the printed coloured plate must pass. 
In his Auricula the florist is literally “ par¬ 
ticular to a shade,” for the slightest variation 
in the coloured and alterable divisions of the 
flower, in either proportion or colouring, is 
sufficient in his sight to constitute a difference 
great enough for a distinction. Wherefore, it 
as little follows that any slack representation 
of an “ edge,” “ body-colour,” “ paste,” and 
“tube” should be the likeness of any particu¬ 
lar Auricula, as that any sort of arrangement 
of eyes, nose, and mouth one meets with in a 
face, should form the features of some dear 
friend. 
It will, I am sure, not be taken amiss, after 
what I have said, if I remark that in the in¬ 
imitable living freshness of the original of the 
flower figured here, there is a bluer touch in 
the ground-colour. Indeed, a large part of the 
charm and value of this new variety, lies in 
the beauty and novelty of this very blueness. 
It is a step nearer to a lovely, and we will 
hope not far distant class, one of white edges 
with blue ground-colours ; and a still better 
approach than this came among the same lot 
of seedlings, but it only lived to be named and 
once seen at the Crystal Palace Show of 1877. 
Frank Simonite is a decidedly good 
Auricula. The tube, indeed, is not the bright 
lemon or orange-gold that we so prize ; but 
still there is a tint of cowslip in the colour of 
POT HYACINTHS 
S an Exhibition spring flower there is 
none so popular as the Hyacinth. In 
London the leading Societies vie with 
each other to produce the best display about 
the end of March ; and this, being the opening 
show of the year, is always looked forward to 
with pleasure. The large provincial towns, as 
No. 10. imperial series.— 1 . 
476.] 
it, and at any rate, it does not prematurely 
fade into a watery green. It is really very 
good, considering the fact that hitherto all 
Auriculas, whether edged or seifs, that have 
shades of blue in them, have shown an utter 
disregard for a yellow or golden tube. Such 
would be a lovely addition ; and though we 
have not got it yet, still we do not rest with¬ 
out it. In Frank Simonite the paste is broad, 
brilliant, and circular, and of the purest white, 
although for artistic reasons, shadows rest on 
it in the picture. The body-colour is a rich, 
velvety, deep violet-blue, bold and well-pro¬ 
portioned, and the edge is a true, pure, lasting 
white of great density and of proper breadth. 
Pip of good substance with rounded petal, 
flattening kindly and well. Plant a very free 
bloomer, and of very handsome half-mealed 
habit. Foliage plentiful, broad, and deeply 
notched. 
Edged Auriculas, with any other ground¬ 
colour than black, may even yet, strangely 
enough, meet with some blind disfavour, as 
they have done with growers in the North of 
England aforetime. No doubt a black-ground 
Auricula, so poorly coloured, or so far out of 
condition as to have several weak blue or 
brownish shades in a colouring which, in its per¬ 
fection, is black, would rightly enough be com¬ 
plained of, and called “ clianey,” as the technical 
term of reproach is; but no flower with a rich, 
pure, steadfast violet-blue, chocolate, or red 
ground-colour can be anything than a welcome 
and beautiful acquisition when the other 
qualities of that ground-colour are good, and 
the flower brilliant in its other points. Frank 
Simonite is a seedling raised a few years ago, 
by Mr. Benjamin Simonite, of Sheffield. There 
is no record of its parentage, but it was not 
from mere chance seed.—F. D. Horner, 
Kirkby Halzeard , liipon. 
FOR EXHIBITION. 
Manchester and others, are also becoming alive 
to the value of Hyacinth shows, and at these 
it often happens that amateurs compete more 
numerously than they do at the metropolitan 
shows. Having been a successful exhibitor for 
several years, I propose to offer an explanation 
of my practic in growing the Hyacinth for 
L 
