May 7, 1892. 
the gardening world. 
561 
cellaneous collection of cut flowers; to Mr. S. 
Barlow, Castleton, and Miss Hopkins, for display of 
Polyanthuses ; to Messrs. Dicksons, Limited, Ches¬ 
ter, for a new Maidenhair Fern, Adiantum capillus- 
veneris imbricatum ; and to Messrs. Barr & Son, fo r 
Narcissus Dorothy Wemyss. 
Mastic Cornois. —This is the name of a preparation 
used in Paris for the grafting and healing of trees, 
shrubs, vines, and greenhouse ornamental plants. It 
is made with material essentially vegetable, contain¬ 
ing all the principal constituents of the bark of trees, 
of which it is stated to rapidly cure the wounds and 
open sores. It is not affected by heat or cold; 
neither does it get hard nor run, but keeps a firm 
hold on whatever it has been placed upon, without 
getting divided during the transformations which 
take place in proportion to the amount of growth. 
Furthermore it compresses the pith and protects the 
graft without strangling it. In these respects it 
differs from other mastics and styptics which have 
been used hitherto, and which on getting hard split 
open, allowing the air and water to get in as a con¬ 
sequence of growth. It may be preserved for an in¬ 
definite length of time quite exposed without altera¬ 
tion. The simplicity of it and the little quantity 
required in its employment, gives it an incontestable 
superiority and economy over similar products. 
Many leading awards have been given it when exhi¬ 
bited. It is prepared and sold by M. L. Bellefon- 
taine, g.4, Boulevard Sebastopol, Paris. 
The India-Rubber Plant has, says The Gentlewoman, 
died out for a window' plant. Ferns and palms are 
much prettier, and it is only in the oldest neighbour¬ 
hoods, among the most antique-minded folk, that ever 
you come across it. Oh, how ugly it is ! Yet, for 
all that, there is a droll look of middle-class respect¬ 
ability about it. Do we really (ask the same journal) 
care more for flowers than our grandmothers did, or 
does the lavish adornment of our houses with them 
merely indicate a transient frolic of fashion rather 
than an increased appreciation of the most beautiful 
thing in Nature ? Certain it is that a few years ago 
no gentlewoman would have considered a profusion 
of plants and palms an essential item in the furnish¬ 
ing of her salon. In the early Victorian pictures we 
find plenty of besilked and bejewelled dames dis¬ 
porting themselves in leafy glades and.trimmed garden 
paths, oblivious of the as yet undreamed-of-i ufluenza; 
but never a flower do we behold in pictures of 
interiors, unless it be a monstrosity in wax under a 
glass shade. To-day the most simply furnished room 
can be redesmed from the commonplace by the in¬ 
troduction of a few plants, and the most govgeously 
appointed apartment may look bareand uninviting 
without them. 
CHARMING SPRING 
FLOWERING PLANTS. 
Of the many pretty hardy flowers that are just now 
in bloom, let me put in a word for the Creeping 
Forget Me Not, Omphalodes verna. I grow it under 
some difficulty, because my small garden is too hot 
and dry to do it justice, but planted under a west 
wall within the shade of a Pear tree close by, it 
throws up its pretty turquoise-blue blossoms at this 
time of the year, and delightful they are. Its best 
position is a sunny bank, under the shade of trees, 
and there, as on the sunny slopes of Belvoir 
Castle, it flourishes and blossoms with a pro¬ 
fusion and beauty almost indescribable. It wants 
covering and moisture, and a soil in which its creep¬ 
ing roots can spread freely underground. It is a 
lovely spring-flowering plant of great beauty, and it 
can be increased by division of the roots. 
Another plant far too much neglected is the double 
form of our common meadow Saxifrage, S. granu- 
ata. I remember when quite a lad, an old garden 
in which there was a bed of this charming plant, 
which grew to the height of from gin. to 12in. and 
flowered most abundantly. The roots are in the 
form of little granules, and it is a hardy perennial 
plant that propagates itself rapidly. It is not par¬ 
ticularly fastidious as to soil, but the better it is the 
finer are the flowers. I grow it in pots, plunging 
them in cocoa fibre all the winter until the plants 
begin to get into flower. It is most profuse of bloom. 
Then there is Anemone Appenina, as hardy and as 
easily managed as it is beautiful. When planted 
out it should have a cool and moist position, and 
then its roots spread in the soil until a large patch is 
formed. I grow a few clumps in pots, treating them 
exactly as I do the Saxifrages. The flowers are of a 
beautiful hue of silvery blue, but as they burn a 
little in the sun some shade is desirable. It is dwarf 
in growth, does well in pots, and can be readily 
increased by division of the roots. 
The old double dark and double yellow Wallflowers 
are so handsome and so beautifully fragrant that they 
well deserve a place in the garden. I plant them out in 
summer and in autumn lift them, put them in pots, 
and flower them in a cold house. When the spikes 
of bloom are over the plants are cut back, and then 
planted out for the summer. They then put forth 
side growths out of which excellent cuttings can be 
made.— R. D. 
-•*-- 
FLORICULTURE. 
Auriculas and an Auricula Frame. 
Having read the very interesting notes on the 
Auriculas at Slough by “ R. D." in your issue of last 
week, I should feel exceedingly obliged if he would 
say through your columns what kind of frames are 
used at Slough, and whether they are ventilated back 
and front by means of hinged boards ; or what is the 
best sort of frame to use. If possible a few hints on 
Auricula culture would also be acceptable.— J. Baker, 
Lome Road, Brixton. 
In reply to your correspondent I have to state that 
the house in which the Auriculas are flowering at 
Slough, is an ordinary span-roofed greenhouse, some 
twenty-five feet or so in length with a walk down the 
middle, and a level three feet stage on either side. 
As it is heated with hot water it is therefore an 
ordinary warm greenhouse, but well adapted for 
Auriculas during the winter and spring months. 
But ordinary cold frames are also employed for the 
young stock ; the foundation of the beds on which 
the plants stand is filled up with six or eight inches 
of brick rubbishbr such like, and on this is laid a bed 
of fine cinder ashes made solid and level, and upon 
this the plants are stood, bringing them pretty near 
the glass. Such frames are unheated, and any pro¬ 
tection of the plants from frost must be furnished by 
covering up the frame with garden mats or some 
such material. 
One of the best amateurs’ Auricula frames I have 
seen is that in the garden of Mr. Thomas Fife, 
Southern Hill, Reading. It is an ordinary two-light 
box frame, resting upon a structure of wood, so that 
by means of wooden shutters back and front, air can 
pass freely underneath the plants. Air can be given 
at the top by either raising the lights back or front, 
or by pushing the light down a little way. Some 
prefer instead of moving the lights to have little 
wooden shutters towards the foundation of the frame, 
which can be opened or closed at will. If Mr. Fife 
will be good enough to give the readers of The Gar¬ 
dening World some particulars as to the construc¬ 
tion, the dimensions, and the cost of his frame, he 
will not only be doing our correspondent a service 
but also impart a desirable impetus to the interest 
now being taken in the Auricula. In the meantime 
I may also refer your correspondent to the details of 
a frame illustrated in your number for June 5, 1886, 
which you may consider advisable to reproduce. 
As a matter of course a small house constructed 
like that in use for Auriculas at Slough, even if un¬ 
heated—and it is not necessary to the growth and 
flowering of the Auricula means of artificial heating 
should be employed — has decided advantages over a 
frame. At any time during the winter the grower 
can go into it and examine his plants, which he can¬ 
not do in the case of a frame in the winter, especially 
during snow and rain. Heat applied by means of an 
ordinary flue or hot-water pipes is only sparingly 
employed to assist the plants in getting flower and to 
prevent them from frost, which will sometimes 
paralyse the half-expanded pips. It is almost 
necessary heat be employed to have the flowers in 
exhibition character by the third week in April, when 
the Auricula show is generally held in London. 
Culture of the Auricula. 
In reference to the culture of the Auricula, it is in 
the month of May that the plants which have been 
well managed may be said to mature their ample 
spread of foliage and pass out of bloom. The soil 
must be kept pretty moist, but not in a soddened con¬ 
dition, and if the plants occupy a position open to 
the sun they should be shaded during the middle 
portion of the day. The plants require plenty of air 
circulating among them, and green-fly should be 
kept under by means of fumigation with tobacco 
smoke. 
During the summer months the plants do best on 
a north aspect, where sunshine can fall upon them 
only in the early and later parts of the day, but not 
where drip from the branches of trees or from the 
roofs of buildings can fall upon them. 
The Auricula needs an annual repotting, and the 
best time to perform this operation is soon after the 
plants have done flowering. One of our greatest 
authorities on the culture of the Auricula, the Rev. 
F. D. Horner, states : “ The time preferred for re¬ 
potting is not the same with all growers ; some repot 
early and some late." Early potting means giving 
the plants entirely fresh soil. Some growers object 
to early potting, and think it encourages the produc¬ 
tion of autumn trusses of bloom. But I have known 
plants not repotted until August to throw up abun¬ 
dance of autumn trusses ; and at no time does the 
Auricula appear more grateful for the stimulus of 
fresh, sweet soil, as immediately after it is done 
blooming. The roots become active, the plants put 
on a fine, vigorous growth, and they become well 
established in the soil before winter sets in. 
At the time of repotting the plants should have the 
whole of the soil shaken from the roots, and a good 
portion of the under-ground stem removed, leaving 
the youngest part, which is that nearest the leaves, 
to the length of from one to two inches, w'hich will 
be found to have put forth the youngest and freshest 
root fibres. These at once penetrate the fresh soil, 
and the plant takes on a fresh and vigorous lease of 
life. 
Some growers at the time of repotting carefully 
wash the roots of their Auriculas in case the larvae 
of any insect likely to be injurious to them has 
gathered upon the roots. Some do this in a solution 
of soft soap and water, others use firtree oil care¬ 
fully diluted ; and as soon as the plants are washed 
they are at once repotted. 
The compost into which the plants are repotted is 
one of great importance. Growers use different 
composts, but one that will answer well is made up 
of equal parts of a sweet, silken, fibry yellow loam, 
and well decomposed stable or cow manure that can 
be rubbed to pieces in the hand. It is not necessary 
to pass the loam through a sieve; it is enough to 
break it up small with the hands, pulling the fibre to 
pieces at the same time, but on no account getting 
rid of it. Add to this a fourth part of old mortar 
rubbish if it can be obtained, and a little coarsesand 
and charcoal broken up somev'hat finely. These 
ingredients, mixed well together, make an excellent 
compost for the Auricula. As the cow manure some¬ 
times contains the larvae of insects injurious to the 
Auricula, some adopt the practice of baking it in 
an oven previous to using it; others will place their 
loam in a cask or tub, place the cowdung on it, and" 
then pour boiling water over it, and allow it to stand 
a few days before using. 
Clean pots are indispensable, and they must be 
well drained, a large piece of broken pot being 
placed over the hole at the bottom of the pot, 
smaller pieces are added, the finest at the top, until 
an inch of drainage is provided. Over this place a 
little of the fibre, and then pot, allowing the soil to 
come up to the leaves of the plant, and 
pressing the soil firmly about the roots. Then the 
plants can go into a frame, be shaded for a few da) s. 
