
JUNE. = 171 
can be done well-for exhibition, and hence one’s eye meets a reduplica- 
tion over and over again of the same flowers. In greens Booth’s 
Freedom and Colonel ‘Taylor, Lightbody’s Star, and one or two others, 
are the favourites; in greys, Waterhouse’s Conqueror, Fletcher’s Ne 
plus Ultra, and Mary Anne; in whites, Taylor’s Glory and Popple- 
well’s Conqueror ; and in selfs, Faulkner’s Hannibal, Hay’s Apollo, and 
Redmayn’s Metropolitan; the two former are flowers very little known 
on this side of the water; but “Iota” has heralded the praises of the 
first, and the second, while not equal to Metropolitan as far as properties 
are concerned, is of a most lovely blue, unlike in this respect any 
Auricula that I know. Everything connected with them was perfect ; 
the foliage strong and healthy, the stems vigorous, the individual pips 
very large, and the trusses well formed. I measured several pips of 
Taylor’s Glory, which a half-crown did not cover; while Ne plus 
Ultra’s were certainly as large as a crown-piece. Nor did this seem 
to be obtained by any over-stimulating process. I do not myself think 
that very great size in the Auricula is a great recommendation ; 
it can hardly be obtained without coarseness and depriving the flower 
of that refinement which constitutes one of its chief charms in my eyes. 
In winter, this stock is grown in frames filled three parts with gravel, 
on which the pots stand, and in spring they are brought into the 
blooming stage, which I look upon as one of the most perfect things of 
the kind I have ever seen. I may call it a diminutive span-roof, and 
is built against a wall, facing about due north. <A reference to the 
accompanying diagram will more fully explain its structure. The 



top, sides, and front (half way down) are glazed ; the fronts slide down 
in the same way as the top sash of a window, and as the shelves com- 
mence at about 3 feet 6 inches from the ground, it follows that all the 
plants are just within range of the eye, can all be looked at and handled 
without much stooping, and nothing can be more beautiful to an 
Auricula grower’s eye than the side view, looking over a mass of well- 
— 
, : 
