14 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[January, 
The buds of early Peaches will now be swelling ; do not hurry them ; a night 
temperature of 50° will be sufficient for the present; keep the borders well 
watered, and give air freely when the weather is favourable.—M. Saul, Stourton. 
AURICULAS FROM SEED. 
)NE frequently hears of want of success in raising Auriculas from seed, the 
fault, as a matter of course, being usually laid to the seed. It is, per¬ 
haps, not generally known, that more than ordinary care is necessary to 
insure success; and this being the case, a few practicial hints may be use¬ 
ful to those who take an interest in raising seedlings. As already stated, Auricula 
seed is a very precarious crop to raise, and much depends on the time of sowing, 
and the treatment given. About the middle of January is the best time for 
sowing. The seed should be sown in well-drained pans, using rather a light 
soil, making the surface quite smooth, and distributing the seed very regularly; 
then pass a little of the soil through a very fine sieve, but only just sufficient to 
cover the seed. The pans should be placed on a very gentle bottom-heat, and 
the soil should be kept moderately moist, taking care never to allow it to get 
either too wet or too dry. In about four or five weeks most of the young plants 
will have made their appearance. The pans should then be removed, and the 
young plants hardened off by degrees, very gradually, but still keeping them 
in rather a warm situation till the end of March. It will then be necessary to 
remove them into a cold frame. Whenever the weather is favourable, plenty of 
air should be given, and they must be kept shaded from the sun. As soon as the 
plants are large enough, which will be about the end of April, the largest of them 
should be taken and pricked out into other pans, at about two inches apart. 
During the summer months they should be placed in some shady situation, and 
kept well watered, so as to maintain them in a growing state. By the end of 
August the plants will have made great progress, and many of them,- especially 
of the Alpine varieties, will again require to be removed ; these should now be 
potted singly into middle 60-sized pots, as most of the stronger ones will flower 
the following spring, a result which plainly shows the great advantage to be 
derived from this mode of raising the seed, which forces every live grain into 
vegetation in a few weeks, whereas by the method generally adopted, without the 
aid of bottom-heat, a great portion of the seed does not even vegetate till the 
second year, and the weaker seeds seldom vegetate at all.—J. Ball, Slough. 
CCELOGYNE GRISTATA. 
' VEN those who are least observant cannot fail to notice the great increase, 
at the present day, in the demand for cut flowers. It therefore behoves 
those who have to provide them, to study what subjects they should grow, 
so as to keep pace with the demand. One of the first considerations is 
to select those things which afford a supply at a time of the year when flowers 
are scarce, that is, during the autumn and winter. Another essential point is 
