CULTURE OF THE AURICULA'. 59 
we cannot enter, unless in a separate paper, of which it shall form 
the principal subject, and where its leading gradations can be 
worked out with such breadth as to make them intelligible. As 
the seeds ripen, they should be removed in their pods, and kept 
in these, in a dry situation, until the time of sowing,—each packet 
arising from the same parent, or combination of parents, being 
marked on the paper containing it; as this will not only enable the 
Florist to distinguish the different sorts, but also let him see the 
effect that results from each cross. 
Management .—In treating of this branch of the subject, the 
sowing of the seeds is the first operation in the course of nature, 
though it may not be in that of the year. The time of sowing 
depends upon the situation in which the seeds are sown. 
If they are under shelter, this should not be later than the 
1st of March; and in that case, the plants may be expected to 
come vigorously into bloom in the following spring. If to be 
sheltered, the seeds ought to be sown in wide-topped 24-pots, 
with the surface finely sifted, and the earth over them less than 
a sixteenth part of an inch thick, and it should be patted down 
smoothly, and not much compressed. Seeds out of doors should 
be placed in similar pots, and protected from the rain by glasses ; 
but both should have abundance of air as occasion requires. When 
the seedlings have attained such size as that they can bear to 
be handled, they should be potted around the sides of the pots of 
which the seedlings are grown; and as soon as the latter are able 
to bear it, they should be transferred into wide-mouthed pots of 
the 48 size ; and when they have arrived at this size, they are to 
be considered as plants, and treated as such. The time during 
which the old plants are flowering, is that in which the offsets, if 
early put in, and the seedlings, are establishing their growth; 
and plenty of air, and moderate and gentle waterings from 
a syringe or the fine nose of a watering pot, should be given 
to them, if the natural rains are not frequent and gentle enough. 
When chance of temperature below freezing is over, the plants 
should be allowed more direct communication with the open 
air. In respect of growth, their exposure is of minor importance ; 
but not so with regard to the colours of the flowers ; for though 
the plants themselves love a free exposure in every respect, the 
colours suffer from the direct influence of the hot sun. They like 
the morning sun, especially while coming into the season of 
