1880. ] 
GESNERA DONCKELAARI. 
83 
the expedient of the Auricula exliibitor than of 
tlie Auricula grower. I agree with him that 
he will in a genial season—hut who can trust 
to this for a certainty ?—he able, without heat, 
to have flat flowers on hinds slow and difficult 
to flatten ; and also that late blooms of such 
sorts will come down kindly in the warmer and 
longer days towards the close of the season; 
hut whether I exhibited or not, T should always, 
most certainly—he., as a grower—to say no¬ 
thing of showing, keep it in my power to use 
heat enough in hard spring frosts to keep the 
expanding bloom in a genial spring tempera¬ 
ture. 
The man who rides a hobby-horse is gene¬ 
rally a brave rider, and at last a skilful one 
over the rough going that lies in the line of 
his pursuit. He goes boldly at the biggest 
obstacles, and picks himself up smilingly 
from a rough tumble, or if he is a bad 
loser, with a wry face of which he is 
presently ashamed. But there appeared 
somewhere a “ Suburban amateur ” who re¬ 
ported himself unable to “ go crazed ” over 
Auriculas. He tried, but failed in even get¬ 
ting so far as to like them; wherefrom we 
are to infer that he gives in, and will not 
mount the horse he calls “ Auriculsemania ” 
any more. 
It is not fair that a name of such import 
should be left to attach itself to the efforts of 
the National Auricula Society, for its province 
is not to create a craze—which is always a 
shortlived and unhealthy thing, but to pro¬ 
vide that a beautiful and rare spring flower 
shall not be lost sight of, but be brought out 
for more than the few growers themselves to 
enjoy the sight of it in bloom. 
But this amateur’s greatest mistake lies in 
his pitying the florist for his “ fifty weeks of 
nursing” to two of bloom. He considers that 
to be the ratio of labour to reward. He does 
not comprehend the pleasure there is in watch¬ 
ing every stage of the plant's existence. He 
looks upon an exhibition as the one ephemeral 
recompense for a heavy round of minute atten¬ 
tions. He knows not that exhibiting is no 
such unalloyed triumph as it may seem to a 
visitor’s butterfly inspection. It entails the 
sacrifice of much private enjoyment. The 
flowers are injured seriously by the effects of 
travel and the atmosphere of a crowded show. 
Flowers naturally early for a fixed date have 
to be kept back, if possible, and those that 
would be late must be brought up to time; so 
that to have the whole bloom at its best, at 
once, shortens the naturally more extended 
blooming season. 
This is, therefore, not the florist’s most en¬ 
during pleasure; and hence, no wonder that 
“ Auriculsemania,” or any other such meta¬ 
phorical steed, should look shy at being 
mounted, when the would-be rider seems to 
say, “ I only want to ride you round the show.” 
—F. D. Horner. Kirl-bi/ Maheard , 1Upon. 
GESNERA DONCKELAARI. 
ERTAINLY one of the most beautiful 
and distinct of the many hybrids 
raised in our gardens, and richly de¬ 
serving more extensive cultivation. On refer- 
ring to the accompanying woodcut, it will be 
seen that the bearing of the plant is compact. 
The flowers are borne on an erect, branching 
stem, and are funnel-shaped, of a bright glossy 
carmine-rose colour. The leaves are ovately 
heart-shaped, robust in character, and richly 
coloured with crimson on the under-surface. 
The cultivation of the plant is easy, and when 
in flower it may be placed in a warm green¬ 
house, when it will remain in beauty for a 
considerable time. 
In the spring of the year, the exact time 
being determined by the period at which it is 
required to be in flower, the bulbs, which we 
will suppose have been left in the pots, after 
being dried off in the preceding autumn, 
should be placed in the stove and watered. 
a 2 
