16 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
they should, immediately after flowering, be either plunged or turned 
out on a north border, to be safer from drought, which is injurious 
to their fibrous roots. They are propagated by slips and seed ; 
and from the latter new varieties are obtained. 
11. The Auricula (P. auricula hortensis) is a highly esteemed 
stage flower ; and no plant requires or receives more attention 
from the cultivator than this. New varieties are procured from 
seed, which is chosen from the most favourite sorts, the breeders 
being kept apart from the mixed collection while in flower, and 
those only whose properties are wished to be united are placed 
near together. 
When the seed is ripe, the capsules, or seed- vessels, become 
dry and brown. When this takes place, the capsules should be 
gathered and kept in a cold and moderately damp rather than in 
a very dry place till the month of January, when the seed should 
be sown. Boxes or large seed-pans are used as seed-beds ; they 
must be well drained at bottom, and be nearly filled with light and 
fresh maiden loam, enriched a little with leaf-mould and well- 
decayed sheep or cow dung. On the smoothed surface, the seed 
is sown, and covered with fine compost sifted over about as thick 
as a crown-piece. A slight watering, lightly thrown on, is given, and 
the box, &c. is then set in a frame, on a little heat, if such opportunity 
offers, otherwise in the front of a greenhouse or back of a cold frame, 
and there covered with a hand-glass or with pieces of window glass. 
During the growth of the seedlings, they must be kept moderately 
moist, gradually exposed to air, shaded from the sun at noon, and 
when large enough to handle, are pricked out into middle-sized pots, 
in which they are nursed till August, when they are again transferred 
singly into the smallest sized pots, in which they remain to flower. 
Established plants, in pots, are shifted in July or August in 
every year, and in February have a top-dressing of richer com¬ 
post to assist them to flower strongly. This plant delights in 
pure dry air; and on this account, the pots containing them are 
constantly kept on a stage, to face the north-east in summer, and 
the south in winter, the back being close, and defended from 
frost and immoderate rain by a boarded roof. 
Auricula growers form very rich composts for their prime 
varieties. One successful amateur uses fresh yellow loam, rotten 
cow dung, desiccated night-soil, leaf-mould, and about a tenth of sea 
or river sand, all well incorporated twelve months previous to using. 
