72 
the gardening world 
September 29, 1894, 
FLORICULTURE. 
The Auricula in Autumn. 
There is a kind of grandeur in the slow £nd stately 
way in which the Auricula is gradually falling away 
to its winter rest. I think the season—the cool, 
moist summer months—has been favourable to the 
plants, as it has been a great contrast to the hot, 
dry, scorching weather of last year. They may be 
said to have come through the summer serenely, 
and they are now beginning to show signs that 
winter is moving on to meet them, for the basal 
leaves are beginning to turn yellow. Therefore a 
a kind of crisis time is approaching, and while the 
Auricula at all times when choice varieties are grown 
in pots, needs constant, if not daily attention ; it is 
well during September or early in October, to go 
over the plants, and examine them thoroughly, to 
see if they are in a healthy condition, and especially 
if the drainage be perfect, and the soil sweet and 
suitable. A plant that is suffering from a water¬ 
logged or sour soil soon shows it by the outer 
leaves turning, a sure sign that rot is setting in some¬ 
where below the soil. The plants should be at once 
turned out of the pot, the soil shaken from the roots, 
any affected part cut away, and the plants re-potted 
in as small a pot as possible. If, as sometimes 
happens, the whole of the fibrous roots are found to 
have decayed, or if only one or two remain, careful 
treatment is required to keep that part healthy, and 
encourage activity. The best plan to adopt is to 
place such pieces by the sides of a pot, placing a 
little fine sandy soil about the stem to induce root¬ 
ing, and then placing a piece of crock by the side of 
it so that the plants shall be between it and the pots. 
It was Mr. Thomas Fife, of Reading, who put me up 
to this " wrinkle ” and I have found it a very good 
one in practice as assisting early rooting. 
The plants should now be in their winter quarters, 
or at any rate by the end of the month. The rule 
with growers is, a south aspect in autumn and 
winter, and a north one in spring and summer ; that 
is to say from April until September. I think that 
sunshine is good for the plants in the autumn months, 
it matures their summer growth, a growth put on 
during July and August. Water should now be 
given sparingly, enough to keep the soil nicely 
moist. I have known some persons to allow their 
plants to go dry in the autumn—much drier than 
they supposed and so the soil about the roots became 
almost dust dry ; and then a time of going back 
among the plants sets in and they deteriorate. At 
the time for housing for the winter, each plant 
should be examined to see if the soil is nicely moist 
through the ball, and if there is doubt about it, let 
the pot be stood up to its rim in a vessel of water, 
remaining there long enough for the soil to become 
soaked through, and then it should be allowed to 
drain away before it is returned to the stage. I have 
lost plants by having them over-dry during the 
winter, the fine root fibres perishing for lack of 
moisture : and of the two I would much rather have 
my plants thoroughly moist about the roots during 
winter than dust dry. 
In the act of housing the shelves of the frame or 
house should be clean ; and plenty of air given. I have 
air on in my house during the severest frost, and I 
think it is best. The pots should be cleansed of all 
green growth, and the more porous they are the 
better. Now is a good time to examine the surface 
of the soil in the case of all established plants in 
pots, taking off the surface in any case where it 
appears to be sour, and adding a little fresh sweet 
soil to take its place. So soon as the basal leaves 
turn yellow as they decay, remove them. 
I have had but very few autumn trussesin my collec¬ 
tion, and those which have put in an appearance are 
mainly on strong seedlings potted in the spring. It 
is the habits of the plant to flower in the autumn, 
and there may be pre-disposing circumstances con¬ 
trolled by the size and condition of the plants, the 
time of flowering, &c. Some collections appear 
more prone to bloom in autumn than others; and 
one can only speculate as to the causes, without 
being able to accurately set them forth. It is some¬ 
times considered that early re-potting will cause the 
Auricula to bloom in the autumn, but I remember 
seeing the Slough collection late in the summer a 
few years ago, when the plants were not potted till 
August, and a great number of autumn trusses were 
put forth. 
I think there has been less of the Woolly Aphis 
among the Auriculas this season than usual. I will 
not adopt the practice of some writers and give the 
scientific name of the Aphis, because I do not make 
any pretence to scientific attainment, and no one 
would be a bit the wiser if I did give it. I think it 
is generally much more prevalent in hot, dry weather, 
than in that which is cool and moist, and as far as 
my own experience goes, plants in a light free soil 
are more affected with it than those in a heavier and 
closer one. But it does appear without waiting for 
an invitation to have found its way into all the 
collections of Auriculas in the country for I have not 
heard of one that has been, or is, entirely free from 
it ,—R.D. - 
Single Cactus Dahlias. 
There is no question but that Dahlias are receiving 
a vast amount of attention from various sections 
of the public at present. A few years ago we noted 
what was termed the stellate section, which was 
characterised by the small and starry appearance 
of the flowers. Latterly striped and spotted var¬ 
ieties have appeared making a fancy single type. 
For a year or two past we have been noting the 
development of a strain of single Cactus Dahlias. 
Whether they will take the public fancy remains to be 
seen, but they ofter a chance of escaping the formality 
into which the ordinary single type has inevitably 
been tending. 
A boxful of the single Cactus Dahlias has just 
been sent us by Messrs. Dobbie & Co., Rothesay, 
N.B. Some of the forms we admire for their size, 
decided colours and distinctness, but more particu¬ 
larly when the florets are long, pointed, and more or 
less revolute at the sides as in the true Cactus 
Dahlias. The darkest one is that named Althea 
of a rich and glowing crimson, and of great size. 
Novar is more of a rich carmine hue, tinted with 
crimson at the base of the florets. The blooms of 
Earl Ravenswood are of great size, orange over¬ 
laid with red, and the long florets are of great 
texture, standing out stiffly like the spokes of a wheel, 
and altogether bold in appearance. Chaste and 
charming is that named Queen Mary, pure white, 
with a clear yellow zone round the disc. The rosy- 
purple florets of Ivanhoe have a crimson blotch at 
the base of each, and are quite of the Cactus type. 
Guy Mannering is a large white variety, overlaid 
with primrose on the basal half of the florets. Alice 
Lee is a clear magenta variety of considerable 
beauty. The above seven are those that we should 
select as coming most nearly what we should regard 
as Cactus Dahlias. All of them are of larger size 
than the ordinary single varieties generally are, and 
quite devoid of their formality. 
Other people’s tastes may differ, but in that we 
allow them all liberty. Highland Mary is a 
brilliant crimson scarlet but the florets are too 
broad and blunt. Bruce is a beautiful clear yellow, 
but the rays are too short. Lochiel, a brilliant 
red, has the same fault as Highland Mary ; and the 
same might be said of Lucy Ashton with broad, 
creamy rays. The upper half of the florets of Anne 
of Giernstein are of a salmony tint, overlying 
yellow, which is the dominant hue at the base. 
Lady Rowena comes too near this to be regarded as 
distinct, at least in the specimen we received. 
scutellaria’^mocciniana. 
This pretty Mexican plant is scarcely met with so 
frequently as it deserves to be. True, there are 
many places where considerable numbers of it are 
grown, and where it is highly valued for the bright 
appearance it imparts to stove or greenhouse at one 
of the dullest seasons of the year. Like many other 
plants which need stove heat to grow them to any¬ 
thing like perfection, once it is in flower it will stand 
unharmed for a long time either in the cool con¬ 
servatory, or in the boudoir or drawing-room, where 
the bunches of bright scarlet flowers prove singularly 
effective. 
It may be readily propagated by cuttings taken in 
spring, and struck in any warm propagating frame. 
The young plants may be potted on as occasion 
requires, but care should be taken not to over-pot as 
the plant is not a rampant rooter. Five inch pots 
will, as a rule, be amply large enough. This is one 
of the handiest sizes for placing in the flower stands so 
often dear to the heart of the ladies of the establish¬ 
ment. The plants are not very particular as to soil. 
A mixture of loam and leaf-soil, with a little sand, 
will meet all their requirements. 
Should the plants exhibit a tendency to become 
leggy, pinching must be resorted to in order to 
encourage bushy, compact growth. If a stove heat 
be accorded them right through the summer, and 
occasional doses of liquid manure be given them 
after the pots have become filled with roots, nice 
bushy little specimen plants may be obtained, which 
will prove invaluable flowering subjects during the 
the months of September and October. I should 
advise the propagation and growing on of young 
plants each year. Old plants are not so floriferous 
as the young ones, neither are they so easy to grow. 
— A. S. G. 
-- 
BEGONIAS AT FOREST 
HILL. 
The trials or cultures of tuberous Begonias in the 
open air at the nursery of Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, 
Forest Hill, are as extensive as ever, but much more 
varied in character. For instance, the plants are 
not all seedlings, but some of them consist of last 
year’s tubers and some of them are cuttings of older 
varieties. Altogether, there are close upon a 
quarter of a million of plants in the ground and in 
frames, independently of the older plants in pots 
grown under glass. 
Cuttings. 
An interesting trial is that consisting of three beds 
of last year’s cuttings from plants with double 
flowers and which have been selected for their large 
flowers, upright habit and floriferous character 
during the last three years. The beds are each ioo 
ft, long and qj ft. wide, and the trial is to test the 
value of the varieties for bedding purposes. The 
tubers were small and put out of small 6o size pots, 
yet the plants are the tallest upon the ground and 
have been gay all the season, as they practically are 
yet notwithstanding the cold, wet summer. It fact 
this has been described as a favourable season for 
tuberous Begonias on account of the abundance of 
moisture which they enjoy. The flowers are often 
as large as those in pots and many of them of fine 
form, in primrose yellow, rose, scarlet, crimson- 
scarlet, dark crimson, pink, yellow and white hues, 
eight in all. We noted some plants of rarer colours 
such as rose with a neat white centre and a charm¬ 
ing orange-apricot hue like that of the Duchess of 
York, which is the best of this colour. 
Dry tuber trial. 
A most interesting experiment for gardeners was the 
planting of seven beds of the same dimension as the 
above, with the small, unflowered tubers of last year. 
The dry, unstarted tubers were put in the open 
ground during the last week in May ; they therefore 
escaped the frost of the 21st of May, and also those 
in June, because they had not appeared above ground. 
They have made good growth, are still most florifer¬ 
ous, and considerably dwarfer than the cuttings 
above-mentioned started in heat. Most of them are 
double, but there is a certain percentage of singles 
because improved last year. The main facts of the 
case are that the tubers may be kept through the 
winter like Dahlias, planted in their permanent 
positions without starting, that they will be dw’arf, 
and flower splendidly, though they may be later in 
coming into bloom than those started in heat. 
Those who intend planting Begonias extensively, and 
have limited house-room or glass under which to 
start the tubers may plant the bulk of them in the 
dry state, and bring on a smaller lot for an early 
display. 
Seedling Doubles. 
Considering the cold and sunless character of the 
past season, the seedlings have made good growth, 
and flowered well. The frosty night which occurred 
a short time ago, injured the foliage to some extent, 
and for fear of a recurrence of the same, many of 
the choice sorts have been lifted, though this is 
unobservable at a distance. Those selected con¬ 
stitute an improvement upon those of last year, 
though they are less numerous. Marked ones not 
yet lifted we Rioted with white, crimson, scarlet, 
delicate pink, rose, orange-salmon, and scarlet-rose 
flowers. Most of these have their petals smooth or 
wavy and arranged round a single centre, like a 
Rose, Hollyhock or Camellia, as the case may be. 
Seedlings with single flowers. 
Naturally these occupy the greatest amount of space, 
seeing that they are the most extensively used for 
bedding purposes. They are arranged in blocks of 
a colour all over the ground, and still continue very 
