584 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 14, 1887. 
SMALL AURICULA GROWERS. 
Grateful thanks to “ C. A. G.” Under these 
initials I recognise the genial sympathy of a lady who 
takes a deep interest in Auriculas and our Auricula 
shows ; and her championship of the small growers will 
be warmly welcomed by them. 
I am a small grower also, with nothing but a cold 
north house to keep them in all the year round ; con¬ 
sequently it is very late in the season, and especially 
during such a late uncongenial spring as the present 
one, before my plants show signs of activity. Probably 
it would be only once in four or five years that I can 
depend upon having five or six plants in exhibition 
form by the third week in April ; and I am only one of 
a few others in a like predicament who, being unable 
to make for the time a warm greenhouse plant of their 
Auriculas, must wait the slow process of natural 
development. I am all the more at a disadvantage, 
because my house has a north aspect, and I cannot 
turn it round towards the sunny side, as one would a 
cold frame. 
I cordially back up “ C. A. G. ’s ” suggestion, that at 
our South Kensington Show there should be one or two 
classes in which prizes are offered, and to be competed 
for only by those who can command no artificial heat ; 
but it is difficult to see—as seasons go—that anything 
like a satisfactory competition can be secured so early 
as the third week in April. Under the present arrange¬ 
ment, the leading prizes are all at the mercy of the 
large growers, who can give the Auricula artificial heat, 
and to some of these the Auricula Society must be a 
kind of gold mine. I think it is time the small 
growers should have some favour shown them, so that 
others might be encouraged to grow and exhibit ; but I 
am afraid that any concession of this kind is hardly 
possible under the present regime. 
In the single classes the large growers have it all 
their own way ; each one can exhibit two plants and 
take two prizes, and they are certain to put in nothing 
but what is very good. Those who raise new varieties 
and exhibit them are placed at a great advantage also 
in the classes for two or more plants, because these new 
flowers represent a higher order of quality than can 
possibly be found in the named varieties that are in 
commerce. It may be said, let the small growers raise 
new varieties also ; but those with large collections of 
the finest flowers are still at a great advantage, because 
they almost invariably possess better seed parents than 
fall to the lot of the small Auricula-growers.— B. D. 
As a fellow “small grower ” I thoroughly sympathise 
with “ C. A. G.” in her interesting remarks on p. 568. 
Being also destitute of a greenhouse, I feel how hope¬ 
less it is to attempt to exhibit. My small collection is 
even later than that of your correspondent’s, for only 
now, nearly a fortnight after the show, is it at its best. 
It seems to me, therefore, that the date of the National 
Society’s exhibition renders it next to impossible for 
those without command of heat to take any of their 
plants to the show. Some people may say, “Why not 
make up a hot-bed under a frame, and get over the 
difficulty in that way 1 ” but the Auricula mil not be 
hurried on by this sort of treatment. 
It is not so much a sudden application of warmth 
that is required, as a long-continued protection from 
injurious degrees of cold, and the only way of effecting 
this is by placing them in the carefully-managed 
temperature of a greenhouse. I am the more certain 
of this, as I found that the March frosts penetrated 
three thicknesses of mats on many occasions, and we 
all know this is ruin to plants in bud. The result in 
my case is, that instead of being gladdened with the 
fair face of Smiling Beauty in all her loveliness, she 
frowns at me with cupped and crumpled petals for the 
cold comfort she has received at my hands. Lee’s 
Earl Grosvenor is another old and late sort that seems 
to resent a cold season like this, but George Lightbody 
Simonite’s Mrs. Douglas and Frank Simonite, Bead’s 
Acme and some of the newer varieties have given me 
surpassingly lovely blooms. 
There is one thing we cannot help noticing in growing 
old and new varieties side by side, and that is the 
superiority of those recently raised, and anyone who 
wishes to shine on the exhibition table must obtain 
some of the new sorts, cost what they may, for there 
are very few of the old ones left now that are not com¬ 
pletely eclipsed. I question if there were half-a-dozen 
plants at the show which had not had a lengthened 
residence in a greenhouse, and the same thing happens 
nearly every year. I should be very glad to subscribe 
to a class for growers without artificial heat, but do not 
exactly see how there could be any entries for five years 
out of six, unless the National Society would alter their 
date, and this we could hardly expect them to do on 
our account. Possibly the society are not particularly 
anxious to encourage small growers, as it is of course 
desirable that the Auricula should be shown in its best 
dress, and some of us would, perhaps, only cut a sorry 
figure by the side of the giants.— J. K. 
--- 
MYRSIPHYLLUM ASPARA- 
G-OIDES. 
This —the Smilax of America—as a decorative sub¬ 
ject for cutting, is found to be of very great value, 
particularly for embellishing the various receptacles in 
which it is the prevailing custom to arrange cut 
flowers, now such a necessary adjunct to the internal 
ornamentation of the mansion. The wonder is that 
such an extremely useful plant is not grown to a far 
greater extent than at present prevails ; for, in 
addition to being effective, it is exceedingly easy of 
cultivation, and the rapidity with which it perfects 
its growth, coupled with its cut-and-come-again 
qualities, should make it an universal favourite. I 
know of no plant which yields a greater wealth of 
beautiful foliage available for decorative purposes in a 
given space than does the Smilax, and the readiness 
with which it seems to accommodate itself to almost 
any structure is remarkable. It will grow in the stove, 
intermediate, or greenhouse, but is most useful when 
cut from the latter. 
Seeds sown about March in fine sifted loam, leaf- 
soil and sand in about equal proportions soon ger¬ 
minate ; and, perhaps, the better way to sow them is 
to place two or three seeds in a small 60 pot, thus 
obviating the necessity of an early shift, which would 
be required were a larger quantity sown together in a 
pan. The risk of breaking the young and tender 
growths is thus considerably lessened, and, in addition 
to this, no check is sustained. The pots containing 
the seed should be placed in a close moist atmosphere, 
where a temperature of from 75° to 80° can be main¬ 
tained, in which they will soon germinate. More air 
should now be given, and the young Smilax, when 
about 4 ins. high, have the points of their shoots 
removed, thus inducing a bushy growth, re-potting 
into a larger size as required, and keeping them in the 
same temperature as previously recommended, but 
with the atmosphere a little more buoyant. About 
July it will be necessary to determine the uses to 
which your plants are to be put. If for planting out, 
continue the pinching process, and endeavour always by 
judicious watering to maintain the roots in a healthy 
and growing condition. 
During autumn and winter, reduce the temperature 
to that of an ordinary greenhouse, this being sufficient; 
and with an appreciable reduction in the supply of 
water to the roots, will assist in consolidating the 
growth, thus preparing them for removal in the early 
spring to their growing quarters. In planting out, a 
position should be selected where the plants can have 
an uninterrupted run from floor to rafter. Ample 
drainage should be provided, over which—to prevent 
the same getting choked—a few thin turves may be 
placed ; on this soil to the depth of about 15 ins., 
composed of two parts good sound stiff loam, one part 
well-decayed cow-manure, a little sand, and a few 
pieces of charcoal. In this compost, when well mixed, 
the Smilax may be planted about 1 ft. apart, and a 
temperature maintained of 50° to 55° by night, with a 
rise of 10° or so by day. In this the plants will soon 
be on the move, and immediately this is observed, thin 
twine should be hung from the rafters overhead, and 
made secure by the aid of small pegs driven into the 
soil near the base of the plants, allowing several strings 
to each, more or less, according to the strength of the 
same, or the number of growths observed to be moving. 
Around these strings—kept always in a perpendicular 
position—the tender bine will firmly entwine itself, 
and as far as training is concerned, be of no further 
trouble. We usually allow about three growths to a 
string, and these, from a fairly strong and healthy 
plant, are amply sufficient to furnish the cultivator 
with “beautiful wreaths of greenery,” which, when 
this climber is once established, he will seldom be 
without, as under these conditions growth is well-nigh 
continuous. As I said before, it is a very accommo¬ 
dating plant, adapting itself to a variety of circum¬ 
stances ; but if there is one position in which it seems 
thoroughly at home, it is in the corner of a warm 
Fernery ; the temperature necessary for the one seems 
equally suitable to the other. In such a position no 
difficulty is experienced in cutting these beautiful 
“strings of green” from 8 ft. to 10 ft. long, according 
to the height of the structure ; and these, in late 
summer and early autumn, are objects of no mean 
beauty, and such will be found'well-nigh indispensable 
for associating at this period with many varieties of cut 
flowers, relieving, as they do, the pressure on Maiden¬ 
hair Fern and kindred subjects—no slight advantage 
at the commencement of what may probably be a long 
and dreary winter. 
Grown in 4-in. and 5-in. pots, trained to a few thin 
stakes, the Smilax will also be found useful; but the 
advantages accruing from its cultivation as a pot plant 
are as nothing compared with the returns given when 
planted out and treated as I have endeavoured, however 
feebly, to describe. Green fly and thrips will occa¬ 
sionally infest the plants ; but the usual remedies—not 
the least effective are heavy and copious syringings— 
soon effect a clearance, and leave the cultivator in 
possession of one of the most beautiful and useful 
twining plants for the purposes mentioned it were 
possible to grow.— J. H. H. 
-->X<-- 
THE VICAR’S GARDEN. 
The hardy Daffodils whicli are among the handsomest 
denizens of our gardens, are enjoying an amount of 
popularity at present, which they have never attained 
before. Being one of the earliest, most beautiful and 
lasting of spring flowers, a good selection will give a 
rich harvest of floral beauty for several months, and 
they require but little care and skill in their cultivation, 
accommodating themselves to all kinds of soils and 
situations. They are pre-eminently everybody’s flower. 
You will find them almost everywhere, and as the 
newer and scarcer varieties become more plentiful, they 
will perchance supplant our old friends, or, at least, 
will often be found keeping them company, even in 
the gardens of the poorest. They should be largely 
used for naturalisation in woodland walks, and on the 
margins of shrubbery walks where they may be 
planted among the grass to remain undisturbed. Here, 
where a large space is devoted to dwarf Boses planted 
at a good distance apart, clumps of the most plentiful 
sorts are introduced, rendering what would be, till 
the queen of flowers shone forth in her glory, a bare 
unsightly piece of ground comparatively gay and in¬ 
teresting, while a margin of hardy Primroses gives a 
fitting finish to the picture. A few of the best in 
flower at the present time are Narcissus bicolor 
Empress, N. lorifolius Emperor, N. bicolor Horsfieldi, 
N. b. J. B. M. Camm, N. b. grandis, N. Sir lYatkin, 
N. incomparabilis sulphureus, N. cernuus, and N. 
c. plenus, N. c. pulcher, N. capax plenus, N. major 
luteus, N. Barrii conspicuus, N. Princess Mary, N. 
Mary Anderson, N. incomparabilis Leedsii, N. L. 
acis, N. odorus minor plena, N. obvallaris and N. 
poeticus ornatus. 
Among the many other good things to be seen in 
flower at the present time are Sanguinaria canadensis, 
Trillium grandiflorum, Banunculus acouitifolius, 
Trollius asiaticus and T. americanus, Doronicum 
austriacum and D. Draytonensis, Ornithogalum 
nutans, Leucojum lestivum, Iberis coriacea, Primula 
Sieboldi in variety, Fritillaria meleagris in variety and 
F. pyrenaica, Gentiana acaulis and G. verna. There 
are also to be seen some fine clumps of the St. Bridgid’s 
strain of Anemones. Many more fine things are in 
flower, too ; but these few will suffice to show what a 
wealth of floral beauty is available for the decoration 
of our gardens in the early months of the year, when 
too often there is little but the most common things 
to be seen in them. 
I notice in your last week’s issue a note on 
Dracunculus vulgaris ; this is truly a singular and 
interesting plant, but is not its disgusting odour a 
sufficient reason for our not seeing it so often ? If you 
want to offend a neighbour, present him with a few 
roots to plant near his sitting-room window. Happily 
we have comparatively few plants in cultivation which 
are remarkable for offensive odour, but of the few I 
know the plant in question is, I think, the worst.— 
W. B. G. 
