July 16, 1887, 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
727 
SMALL AURICULA GROWERS. 
I hope the readers of The Gardening World are 
not quite tired of this subject, for I have a twofold 
object in asking for a little space once—possibly 
twice—more. First, I want to thank Mr. Fife very 
cordially for his notes in the issue of July 2nd, kindly 
illustrated, as I had ventured to hope they might be, 
by a sectional drawing of one of his Auricula frames. 
I gather from the expression “block” that Mr. Fife’s, 
frames are not lifted very high above the ground, 
perhaps not more than 1 ft. Here, in a confined little 
London garden, our frames have stood upon rather 
long legs, after the model sketched in Johnson’s 
Cottage Gardener s Dictionary, because where light and 
air are scarce, it seemed advisable to lift the plants to 
meet all that can be had of both. But I think 
Auriculas are more comfortable nearer the ground ; in 
dry windy weather such a very great deal of arid wind 
sweeps beneath high frames that the pots become dry 
too rapidly, and a dewy atmosphere cannot be main¬ 
tained. So I shall have a good many inches sawn off 
the legs of my plants’ lodgings, and hope to cover 
them next winter- as systematically as Mr. Fife does. 
Again, many thanks to him for his courteous kindness. 
My second object in writing is to circulate a tale of 
woe. Within the last fortnight I have lost four 
valuable Auriculas,—(two plants of Lancashire Hero, 
one of Acme, and another, —) and yet, unless it is the 
practice of all growers to bake the compost intended 
for their plants, I cannot blame myself for neglecting 
any customary precaution. The foliage suddenly 
curled, withered, drooped, and in a few days the green 
part of the plant fell off'. In vain I probed and 
examined the soil; nothing was to be seen. There 
was no surplus damp, no lack of drainage, nothing 
that could afford a clue. At last my anxiety was at 
once relieved and heightened ; relieved by the dis¬ 
covery of the evil-doer, heightened by the dread that 
such children of darkness might be in any and every 
pot of my collection. About half-way down the 
“carrot” of Acme, I thought that I saw a slight 
movement of what at first sight I took to be merely a 
tiny scale of the outer rind. I looked again :—could 
it be ? yes, it was ! the tail of a malignant being ! 
And sprouting from that unhappy “carrot ” were other 
tails of brother-abominations, like odious flags hung 
out to say how much at home the imbedded owners 
were. Too much at home, happily for me, to protect 
their own tails,—by which, as by handles, I drew forth 
the murderers, one by one. Detestable creatures ! 
white, transparent, footless grubs, pointed at one end, 
(the end that had signalled to me,—) blunt at the 
other, and varying in length from ^ in. to f in. They 
wriggled, they stood on end, they clasped each other 
in a sickening embrace, seeking sympathy, no doubt, 
in the sudden and trying introduction to daylight that 
abashed them. Meanwhile we ran hither and thither ; 
one fetched a little box, another brought damp moss to 
fill it, a third had muslin ready to sew it up in. But 
I must not be too circumstantial ; let it suffice to say 
that this Pandora’s box without the least atom of hope 
at the bottom was promptly delivered at the Natural 
History Museum in Cromwell Road, and this very 
afternoon I have sent another collection of the same 
horrors, together with the luckless plant they have 
killed, in the hope that the fly may be successfully 
developed, and I may know my Arch-enemy by its 
very particular name. 
If anyone will turn to p. 46 of Miss Ormerod’s book, 
Guide to Methods of Insect Life, he will see there depicted 
precisely what I saw in my poor Auricula,—(“the 
infested Carrot,” bristling with hateful tails whose 
hateful heads were burrowing in its very heart)—and 
the insect responsible for this species of murder is there 
stated to be the Carrot Fly, Psila rosoe. Now I would 
beg any readers of The Gardening "World who know 
anything about this Carrot Fly, —its haunts, its habits, 
its general history,—kindly to share that knowledge 
with me, and with any other Auricula lover who may 
desire it. Should the very kind entomologist in 
Cromwell Road succeed in his endeavours to “ get the 
Fly” from the maggots now in his possession, we shall 
of course know exactly the nasty branch of the nasty 
family to which it belongs ; but success is doubtful 
when circumstances are not wholly favourable, and 
meanwhile, whatever sub-division of the clan Psila 
rosoe, —whatever circle within the circle—may claim 
the creature as a scion, it is pretty certain that it does 
belong to that clan,—that it is nearly related, at least, 
to the Carrot or Negro Fly. 
I must in candour state that the plants I have lost 
came into my possession since last autumn, and I am 
therefore unable to describe their “environment” up 
to December, 1886. When I repotted them with the 
rest in May, nothing was observable about them except 
that the base of the “ Carrot ” was decayed, a common 
occurrence among Auriculas. I cut off the rotten part, 
dressed the wound with powdered charcoal, and 
re-potted in fresh compost, bought of one of the leading 
“ horticultural requisite ” merchants in London. Were 
I to say no more, one might hastily conclude that the 
eggs of the fatal fly were introduced with the fresh soil, 
perhaps in the loam which might have been underlying 
the “ wild grass ” on which Miss Ormerod says the 
insect sometimes lays in autumn. But I must mention 
that when I first discovered the enemy in the “carrot ” 
of my beloved Acme, I thoroughly overhauled the 
two Lancashire Heroes that have since succumbed to 
the same pest, scrutinising them and their soil through 
a magnifying glass, and washing the roots well in 
weak soft soap suds. Nothing whatever was to be seen 
to account for the languid foliage and general limpness 
of the plants. Their soil was renewed, and they were 
placed carefully under a bell-glass,—yet in less than 
ten days their “carrots” were alive with the vile 
creatures of which no trace had then been found. 
No manure had been used by me since these plants 
were mine, but there was a proportion of it in the top¬ 
dressing of the soil in which they were growing when 
they came. Can the autumn fly have deposited her 
eggs in it, and the maggots found winter quarters in 
the roots of the plants ? For Miss Ormerod says : 
“Many of these crop flies are alike in the habit of 
going through all their changes,—egg, maggot, pup®, 
aud fly,—quickly in summer, so that there may be 
two, three, or four generations, and the pup® of the 
last autumn brood often lie safely, and uninjured by 
common amount of moisture, during winter, so long as 
they are in their own natural shelters ; and in the case 
of these insects we know where they are all the year 
round.” And again : “ These autumn (Corn) flies have 
been found to lay their eggs on autumn-sown Corn, or on 
wild grass ; the maggot when hatched pierces into the 
heart of the young plant, and there it passes the 
■winter. When spring comes it is stated that the un¬ 
attacked parts grow as usual, but the attacked portion 
only produces a diseased growth of broad leaves and 
thickened shoot, which commonly perishes. 
We learn from this that maggots can live as maggots 
within their food plants during the winter, and also 
that the same kind of maggots can form different kinds 
of diseased plant-growth, according to the season, or 
the condition of the plant it attacks. This is an im¬ 
portant point to know, for there are other insect-attacks 
of which we only know what we may call the summer 
half; we need the winter history too, to be able to 
check attack, and this one history gives an example of 
a winter state not at all in accordance with the fanciful 
theories sometimes started, but the plain, straight¬ 
forward fact that the autumn fly lays its eggs in the 
food-plant in its autumn state, and the maggot lives 
on these.” 
I apologise for having occupied so much space, but I 
think it will be granted by my confreres that the subject 
is worthy of the attention of Auricula growers, especially 
of those who grow their plants in open frames. In 
conclusion, may I ask whether it is customary to bake 
all soil intended for full-grown Auriculas, as one does 
for tiny seedlings ? And if so, does the process rob the 
soil in any degree of its nutritive powers ? And further, 
has it been within the personal experience of any 
Auricula-grower who may read this that a Carrot (or 
kindred) fly has deposited its eggs within the outer 
rind of the Auricula’s stem, piercing the skin tc do so ? 
Everything appears to me to depend on the manner in 
which the mischief is done ;—is it via the soil, or is it 
directly inflicted, like the sting of a gnat ? If I suspect 
the present soil, must I disturb all my healthy plants 
to analyse it, since the same compost was used for the 
beloved dead that is now nourishing the living ? And 
once more, does the Carrot-fly frequent London 
gardens ? This last question is not irrelevant, for one 
wishes to leave no stone unturned under which a 
solution may lurk ; and with the same wish to explore 
every corner of the situation, I may just add that the 
dear deceased came to me in glazed pots, which, by the 
way, your correspondent, “Amateur,” may like to 
note. I carefully eschew glazed pottery myself. 
“Amateur’s” communication, under date July 2, 
was very interesting to me, as he predicted it would 
be.— C. A. G., llth July. 
Hardening ffoTES from 
§C0TLAND. 
Notes from Usan, near Montrose. — 
Amongst the many good plants which are splendidly 
grown at Usan, by Montrose, the seat of George Keith, 
Esq., Clianthus Dampieri and Mitraria coeeinea may 
be especially mentioned. For some years past I have 
had the pleasure of seeing these two plants in great 
perfection at Usan, and good specimens, 3 ft. through, 
are now in full bloom there. I often wonder more 
attention is not paid to some of our good old-flowering 
plants. It is sadly to be regretted that we do not 
meet wfith them more often. What can be more 
beautiful, for instance, than a good plant of Dampier’s 
Glory Pea, as it is grown here by Mr. Wyness—a nice, 
clean, healthy plant, with three dozen magnificent 
clusters of its peculiar scarlet and black flowers. Mr. 
Wyness informed me that this same plant was raised 
from seed sown in February. The Mitraria was also 
beautifully flowered, the bright orange-scarlet blossoms 
being very showy. A house full of well-grown Gloxinias 
is also very attractive, and, although seedlings, the 
strain includes fine spotted varieties, and intense 
rich crimsons, purples, and the other shades of 
colour, peculiar to this grand class. There is also at 
Usan a choice collection of Orchids and miscellaneous 
stove and greenhouse plants, and in the fruit-houses 
may be seen magnificent crops of fruit. Gardening in 
every department is thoroughly well done, showing 
that the establishment is in able hands.— A. 0. 
Tropseolumpolyphyllum at Scone Palace. 
—Trop®olum polyphyllum is a fine plant when well 
grown. It is well cared for at Scone Palace, where it 
is seen to great advantage, planted outside, and trained 
up the front of the vineries. It grows about 3J ft. 
high, and its intense bright yellow flowers produced in 
great profusion, and glaucous foliage render it most 
attractive. I thought what a glorious effect could be 
produced by introducing this with the scarlet T. 
speciosum. Anyone visiting these gardens now, and 
who saw them in former days, would be agreeably 
surprised to find what great improvements have been 
made. New houses have been erected, which are in 
keeping with the character of this fine estate, such 
as good ranges of vineries, Peach houses, and plant 
houses, which contain collections of fruit and plants 
capable of meeting the necessary requirements of 
such an establishment. Mr. McKinnon does every¬ 
thing well, and good management is everywhere 
apparent. I was much pleased with the pleasure 
grounds, the noble specimen timber and ornamental 
trees, the old-fashioned ribbon border, and herbaceous 
borders, which are a great feature. The kitchen garden 
is well cropped, and produce of all kinds was looking 
remarkably well, considering the great drought of the 
past two months. Mr. McKinnon makes a speciality 
of the Gloxinia, growing some 500 plants, many of 
which are in 4-in. and 6-in. pots ; the strain is a very 
fine one, varying from the purest white to the richest 
purple, scarlet, and spotted ones it is possible to see. 
The plants are magnificently grown, and very finely 
flowered.— A. 0. 
Seakale and Rhubarb. — "What applies to 
Asparagus (see p. 711) being raised for early forcing is, in 
some respects, suitable to the preparation of Sea Kale, 
especially in northern climates. The roots are not 
easily grown in condition to be forced early—say, for 
use in November. Ripeness appears to be of primary 
importance for all vegetable products which are to be 
forced, and to secure this an early position, well 
exposed to sun and air, is of great moment. The 
crowns of Sea Kale and Rhubarb as well should be 
quite free from crowding ; single ones are by far the 
best and most manageable. It is a mistake to allow 
the plants to have it all their own way till late in the 
season, then making an onslaught and clearing off all 
superfluous crowns at once. Success can only be 
expected from early attention to the removal of young 
growths. Absence of weeds is advantageous to the 
development of crowns and their early ripening. 
Rhubarb allowed to form a single row in full sun is 
ripened early, and breaks out into strong growth when 
placed in gentle heat. Prince Albert is still one of the 
best for early work.— Caledonian. 
