Jay 2, 1903. 
rHE Gardening World 
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I, _ _ S 
rhe following Coloured 
Plates have appeared:— ; 
1 March 14.—NEW CHINESE PRIMULAS. ( 
March 21.—A GROUP OF DAVALLIAS. \ 
March 28.-TEA ROSE “ CHAMELEON,” > 
nd COOMBE CLIFFE GARDENS. ( 
April 4. —COLEUS THYRSOIDEUS. | 
April 11.—PITCHER PLANTS. 
April 18.—CESTRUM SMITHII. \ 
April 25 —JAPANESE PIGMY TREE. 
Lack numbers may be obtained from 
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, ^ le PRESENT ISSUE we prese 
f ^L Plate of THE ROCKERY 
WENTWORTH HOUSE. 
NEXT WEEK we shall present a Half-1 
Tw°li™ tllel ' view of tlle ROCK GARE 
^WENTWORTH HOUSE, MILL HI 
Views and Reviews. 
Primulas and Auriculas. 
We presume that all of our readers by this 
time can easily recognise the differences be¬ 
tween a Primula and Auricula. It may bo 
necessary, however, to explain this statement 
as somewhat paradoxical, because there is no 
Auricula that is not a Primula. A great 
change has come over Auriculas since Ger- 
rard and Parkinson wrote about them, chiefly 
under the name of Bears’ Ears. The 
latter name we have almost forgotten, being 
merely a matter of history, as far as the 
modern generation is concerned. The word 
“ Auricula ” means “ a little ear,” so that it is 
somewhat akin to the teijn used by our fore¬ 
fathers. To be brief, the proper name is 
merely Primula Auricula, the latter old gene¬ 
ric name being adopted as the name of tlie 
species, and now chiefly used as the popular 
name. 
Botanists at the present day are unwilling 
to accept that all Auriculas have descended 
from the wild Primula Auricula. They 
rather consider that the race is of hybrid 
origin, and that tlie original yellow colour of 
P. Auricula has been supplemented by 
purples and crimsons or red shades of some 
other allied species, such as P. puhescens 
and P. ciliata, imported from the Alps, and 
either used unintentionally by man to bring 
about crosses, or, wliat is more likely, such 
crosses may have been effected by insects, 
and in such a case it is usual to speak of them 
as accidental. 
Our forefathers would no doubt look upon 
the crossing of these flowers as mere trifles, 
tlie recording of which was not only unessen¬ 
tial to their gardening, but altogether un¬ 
necessary. Nevertheless, we regard it as a 
distinct loss of horticulture that records were 
not kept of what might have been done in 
t lie early crossing of Auriculas to bring about 
those remarkably developed or evolved 
flowers’with which we are accustomed at the 
present day. 
The technical terms even now employed, 
particularly the word “ thrum,”'as applied tc 
the position of the stamens in the flower, re¬ 
mind us of the fact that the development of 
the Auricula owes much to amateurs, includ¬ 
ing the weavers of thirty to fifty years ago. 
Other amateurs besides weavers had a hand 
in their development, as they have had in 
many other florist flowers, but in most cases 
their evolution has been due to people whose 
life was generally spent indoors, owing to tire 
peculiar nature of their duties. Even now 
their cultivation is very generally carried on 
by the non-professional element of horticul¬ 
ture. 
We are led to believe that the Auricula 
was not always so decidedly confined to 
specialists as it is at the present day. Old 
cultivators, however, have passed away, and 
tire cultivation of tire Auricula is carried on 
by a different class of people. Tlie general 
public come up annually to see tlie show at 
Westminster in increasing numbers, but 
they seem to be attracted as much out of 
curiosity as on account of their beauty, or the 
ability to discriminate between one type and 
another. In other words, we may say that 
they come to see and marvel at these wonder- 
fu 1 productions, which seem quite beyond 
them. Tire British public seems to be grow¬ 
ing Auriculas more generally than twenty 
years ago, but the increase of cultivators is, 
as in the case of the border Carnations, con¬ 
fined to those who grow flowers merely for 
their beauty in a general way, without taking 
into consideration the properties of the 
flowers as recognised by the canons of the 
florist. 
In many cases they are attracted by the 
beauty of the flowers exhibited by the 
specialists, but what they desire chiefly to 
know is whether those Auriculas are hardy, 
and can be grown in tire open air. There are 
several reasons for and against the idea of 
cultivating these florist types in the open air. 
They have all descended from flowers origin¬ 
ally gathered on the Alps of Europe, and in 
their native homes were essentially hardy 
and capable of withstanding very low tem¬ 
peratures indeed. It is not always a ques¬ 
tion of hardiness that decides their fate when 
brought to our gardens in the lowlands. Our 
winters are often, in fact, too mild, which 
excites them into growth at an unfavourable 
