CULTURE OF THE AURICULA. < r >7 
fibres. When the offsets are removed, they are to be planted in 
48-pots ; that is, about 5 inches at top, 3j at bottom, and 4 to 5 
in depth. This gives the side of the pot a good slope, against 
which the offsets are planted, and a drainage secured by a hole in 
the bottom lj to 1-*- in diameter : this to be covered with an 
oyster-shell, with a piece of shell or curved pot along the side for 
an under drain. This will prevent water from stagnating so as 
to injure the roots, at the same time that it may be given in small 
quantities as the plants require. After potting the offsets, the 
fibres of the mother plant are to be trimmed, and it repotted in 
the same pot from which it was taken, the difference of soil in its 
pot being made up of the pots of the offsets filled with the ordinary 
composition. By attending to these simple directions, a choice 
variety of Auriculas may be multiplied very speedily and in fine 
specimens ; but every part of the operation requires attention and 
neat-handedness. 
When placed in the pots, all the plants should have a gentle 
watering ; but they should never be placed under a drip, espe¬ 
cially the drip of trees, as that is very apt to rot them ; neither 
should offsets be removed later in the season than the month of 
August, as by that time all action in the plants has ceased for the 
season, and the offsets are apt to be so injured during the winter, 
by not having any hold of the ground, that they do not react in 
the spring, and are of course lost. If they once have a hold on 
the ground, moderate frost does not injure them, until they are 
in flowering growth in the spring ; but water in November and 
December is always injurious. This is in accordance with the 
situation of the Auricula on its native Alps, especially in high 
situations. There, the snow comes down before there is much 
autumnal frost or rain, and as the ground under snow is never below 
32° and sometimes higher, the limit of the winter cold is deter¬ 
mined, and no wind beats upon the plant during that season. 
In obtaining seed for the Auricula, some attention must be paid 
to the varieties of plants, and also to their age, and other circum¬ 
stances upon which free and abundant flowering depends. From 
one single variety—for notwithstanding the natural differences of 
colour, it does not appear that there are more—the Auricula has 
produced more abundant, and, at least in so far as colour is con¬ 
cerned, more subvarieties than almost any other plant. Notwith¬ 
standing this, it is not so easily treated by cross impregnation, as 
- vol. III. NO. III. i 
