70 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGHST. 
[ Mat, 
boughs. He has his few plants, and he will see 
more of Nature’s features and variety in a frame of 
Auriculas, than another who has no heart, and so no 
eyes, for such things, will notice in a whole landscape. 
In that innocent taste there is a pleasure very deep 
and lasting, and how much does the companionship 
of a friend like-minded add to it! The florist would 
rather have the steady, continual sympathy of a 
brother-florist the year round, than beat a dozen 
strange competitors at a show. He must needs feel 
proud of his plants on their exhibition-day, but that 
short excitement is only a small part of his whole 
patience and reward. Mere money profit is no 
motive in his attachment to his rural tastes and 
floral favourites. At the exhibition-tables a good 
loser, and a modest winner, he is not the sordid 
mercenary man of whom there might be said, as it 
sparkles in the wit of Thomas Hood, that for him ‘ the 
great God Fan is dead , and Fot reigns in his stead !’ 
“It is remarkable how those who have loved this 
flower have loved it to the last. I could tell you of 
George Lightbody, who in a long illness would have 
a favourite Auricula at the bedside, and plants 
brought up that he might see what needed to be 
done ; of Robert Trail, who, past his eighty years, 
came from Edinburgh to see the flowers of his raising 
in our hands at the Northern Show; of Richard 
Headly keeping to a few Auriculas among the last 
of all his flowers ; of old Robin Lancashire coming 
from his famed florist county to my own of the 
White Rose, to see the Auriculas, and his eye 
bright with an ‘ unfamiliar biine’ at the sight of 
Lancashire’s ‘ Hero’ in his great glory.’ 
“ It i3 no small thing to say of a favourite flower 
that it has been the first cause of many true com¬ 
panionships and fast friendships, that will endure till 
all human interests are at an end for us.”— Francis 
D. Horner, Kirliby Malzeard, Rip on. 
LANTANAS. 
INDOORS AND OUT. 
upjfOT is so late in tlie season—especially in 
«] p such seasons as the last three or four 
have proved—when these pretty plants 
become attractive, that as bedders they are not 
desirable, at least in this locality. When grown 
in pots and plunged in the mixed borders, they 
make a nice variety towards autumn, and if 
taken up and housed before they are injured 
by the frost, they become useful plants for 
conservatory or greenhouse decoration, and will 
continue in flower for a long time. 
For this purpose good-sized plants are desir¬ 
able, and these should be treated as follows:— 
Towards the end of March or the beginning of 
April turn the plants out of their pots, reduce 
the balls of soil, and pot them in smaller 
pots, using a nice light compost of loam and 
peat, with a little sand. Place the plants in 
a vinery where there is a little heat, and 
there they will soon make young growth and 
fresh roots. Towards the end of May, they 
should be shifted into pots two or three sizes 
larger than those in which they were first potted, 
using a compost somewhat similar to that em¬ 
ployed before, with the addition of a little 
rotten manure. The plants should then 
be placed in a cold pit for a few days, 
to harden off. About the beginning of 
June they may be plunged in the mixed 
border, or they may be plunged in a bed by 
themselves. The rims of the pots should be 
covered with an inch or two of soil. They 
will not require much watering during the 
season, except in case of very hot weather, or 
during a protracted drought, and then they will 
not need much, if they have a mulching of 
rotten manure or old tan. Towards the end 
of August the plants will begin to flower pro¬ 
fusely, and will be very attractive, but as they 
suffer from cold, they should be lifted and 
housed before they receive any injury, and 
they will then continue for a long time to 
yield a profusion of flowers. When they have 
done blooming, they may be put away where 
they are safe from frost until they are required 
in spring, but the soil should not be allowed 
to become too dry whilst they are thus set aside. 
The plants are readily increased by cuttings. 
—M. Saul, Slourton. 
SKIM MI A FOREMANNI. 
VERY interesting plant was shown at 
the Edinburgh Spring Meeting of the 
Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society 
which was little noticed, doubtless from the 
