January 13 If00. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
313 
each being a branching hypha. The fructification or 
Mushroom is formed from the union of a number of 
these hyphae. They grow upward to form the stalk 
arid the cap. From the inside of the cap, when it 
begins to broaden out, a series of changes takes 
place, ruptures and concentrations of growth occur, 
eventually forming the gills or lamellae. The edges 
of the cap break away from the stalk, and leave a 
tattered ring, the annulus. On the gills are borne 
the basidiospores, upon whose germination 
new mycelium is developed, and the life-history 
again begun. 
Forcing Potatos.— K. G.: Eighteen inches of 
soil is quite enough over the hotbed. We prefer to 
use whole Potatos as sets, selecting those of a 
moderate size. Halved Potato seed is best when 
planted on the same day as cut. 
- - — 
FREESIAS. 
The accompanying photo represents a barrow of 
Freesias in bloom from our earliest batch last spring. 
Although the culture of these plants is of the 
simplest nature, it is seldom one sees them well 
Five-inch pots are the most useful sizes for us. 
When potted, plunge the pots to their rims in a 
frame, under a north wall, and cover over with 
about an inch of Cocoa-nut refuse to prevent the 
necessity for watering. When the weather is in¬ 
clined to be showery, put on the lights and prop 
them up at the back. They are impatient of much 
moisture, until root-growth commences. When the 
top-growth shows through the refuse, remove the 
plants to a southern aspect but keep in the frame, 
and water when the soil begins to get dry ; and as 
the autumn advances place the pots in the green¬ 
house on shelves near the glass, in a temperature of 
about 50°, but not near ventilators, as these plants 
at this season are very suceptible to cold currents. 
At the same time they must not be kept in a stag¬ 
nant atmosphere. Weak manure water may be 
given when the pots are filled with roots, which will 
greatly assist their development. If the above 
cultural remarks are fairly carried out, this batch 
should be in bloom at the end of January or begin¬ 
ning of February.— J. Easter, Nostell Priory Gardens. 
For an extra early batch, say, to flower just before 
Christmas (see page 230), a selected batch of well- 
HARDY AURICULAS. 
This term may seem to be superfluous, because all 
Auriculas are hardy ; but there are so many that it 
is useless to treat them as such because their flowers 
are only good when the plants are under glass. I 
mean by the term hardy, all those varieties which we 
can and do grow so freely outdoors, where they 
flower so abundantly. It is in relation to these 
border forms that I write, as details with respect to 
the culture of the choice or florists’ sections of the 
Auricula concern but very few. That is no matter 
for wonder, however, as the thousand can grow 
these plants admirably outdoors, whilst only the dozen 
can or do grow the choice ones in frames or houses. 
Now it may be said of border Auricula seed that 
none is in one case more difficult to germinate, in 
another none more easy. During the month of 
April of the two years just passed I obtained seed of 
the best border quality, and sowed it with great care 
on good soil outdoors. In both cases not a seed 
grew; the heat and drought were too much for it, 
and because remote from home I could not shade 
and water continuously. That description of ex¬ 
perience shows that these are cases in which ger¬ 
mination is difficult. 
Freesias at Nostell Priory. 
done. The most important thing is to start with 
fully matured, and well ripened bulbs. Unless 
these are procured it is useless trying to flower them. 
In some places where suitable conditions of atmos¬ 
phere and soil prevail,these bulbs can be successfully 
grown to flowering size, and when well matured can 
be thoroughly relied upon to produce a profusion of 
lovely, sweet-scented flowers, which last in a cut 
state for some considerable time. Where the con¬ 
ditions and convenience does not exist for the growth 
of bulbs at home, I would advise them to 
be purchased from some reliable firm. From 
my experience with these bulbs I have 
found none better than those imported from 
Bermuda by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. The plants 
represented in the photograph were procured from 
this firm. I prefer potting as soon as the bulbs 
come to hand. When kept any length of time out 
of the soil, and especially if exposed, their vitality 
seems impaired. Bulbs ripened at home, when con¬ 
venient, should be kept in the soil in which they 
were grown. If not, they ought to be stowed away 
in air-tight paper bags until potting time, which for 
the earliest batch should not be later than the end of 
August, using rich, light, loamy soil, moderately dry. 
matured and large sized bulbs may be potted by the 
middle of August. Instead of alocating them in 
cold frames they should be placed in the slightly 
stimulating atmosphere of a warm greenhouse. In five 
weeks' time the bulbs will have started, and, almost 
in the same ratio at which the outside temperature 
declines during the advance of the season, the heat 
for the forcing of the now progressive Freesias 
should be increased. They stand forcing in a steady 
temperature of 6o°, rising with sun heat to 65°. 
Slight ventilation is advisible during mild weather. 
Another point upon which opinions differ is on the 
point of feeding. Given small pots, good bulbs and 
advancing growth, under congenial conditions they 
may have weak liquid manure every other day.— 
J. H. D. 
-*s«- 
Trees for Low-lying Grounds.—It would be a relief 
to many no doubt to know of trees which are suitable 
for planting on land liable to be flooded. The follow¬ 
ing have been tested and well spoken of:—Balsam 
Willow, Palm Willow, or indeed any of this genus ; 
then there is the Alder, and among Conifers none 
is better than the Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga 
Douglasii). 
Having had some seed given me by a neighbour in 
August last, I obtained a shallow box, filled it with 
sandy soil, and sowed some of the seed moderately 
thin on that, watered it, then stood the box in one 
rather larger and deeper, and covered that one up 
with a piece of stout glass. I had no other means 
of assisting germination, because I have only a very 
small back garden, and a thickly populated town for 
my garden. I shaded the glass with dust until I saw 
young plants resulting, then gave them more light 
and some air, just tilting the glass behind with a thin 
piece of wood. To prevent the glass from being dis¬ 
placed I fixed a nail in on either end of the box, and 
carried a piece of string over from one nail to the 
other, thus holding the glass covering securely. 
Now I have in my box from 200 to 250 nice, strong, 
seedling Auriculas in various stages of development, 
for Auricula seed notoriously germinates very 
irregularly. 
So far good. I have thus been enabled to show 
that it is possible even in the early months of winter, 
and under very adverse conditions, such as a town 
atmosphere presents, thus to induce free germina¬ 
tion of Auricula seed by the aid of very simple 
means. I can have no doubt whatever, let the 
