» SEPTEMBER. 275 
keep a,,memorandum, book?” «My brother, Ido, but I forget. to 
Jook,,at,, the memorandum book, and am foreed now, to the infinite 
disgust,of, the laundregs, to tie-knots in the corner of my mouchorr, | 
‘that I, may, ;recollect.’’,, Ah! I wish I had done that, when my 
jwalued, friend,|‘‘ Iota,” wrote to me, saying he was making notes of 
Aturiculas, and, would let me have them for the FYorist ; but I did not, 
and consequently, my readers, you are deprived of them, and I. can 
assure you it 2s a loss, if you love the Auricula as I do; and the only 
revenge ‘ Iota,” good fellow that he is, has taken for what I must own 
looked very much like a slight, is to fix me to a promise I wildly made’ 
some time ago, of giving a few notes on the bloom of this year—a very 
_ poor compensation for what you haye lost, as you will see, if you turn 
to “ Gossip.” , “ai 
,. When Mi. Headly proclaimed the Tulip to be hardier than a 
‘Swede, people thought him a little daft; but they are now beginning to 
_ Bee that he was not. far out; and I fear some of the real good old par- 
ticulars will be inclined to think me daft too, if I pronounce the Auricula 
to have been ““ more: sinned against than sinning.” In this 1 am 
horne’out by the experience of last winter, one of the longest and most 
extraordinary We have had for years. After Auriculas were potted 
last August, we had some very hot forcing weather, and the consequence 
‘was, that there neyer was, perhaps, such an abundance of autumn 
blooms. “Mr. Lightbody fromthe north; “A. J. C.” from the west, 
‘Mr. Brock from the north-west, “Iota” from the east, and “ D.” from 
the South, all'sang a very doleful ditty on this key. Mine, I remember, 
was especially so, and my only hope expressed was, that a mild autumn 
might enable them to recover lost ground; then came, as if to destroy 
all one’s hopes, that awful frost in October—that killing frost, before 
which Roses, Laurels, Conifers, even the yellow Jasmine, fell victims ; 
and ‘there. were the poor Auriculas, stopped in all their chance of 
sowing any more. - ‘The curtain had now fallen, and for three months 
told and wet alternated ; when at last the time for top-dressing came, 
and, I'stood beforé my Auricula frame, I said, ‘‘ Well, where you are 
5 come from, to’ give mea bloom, I know not; all the leaves had, of 
‘course gone, and there was only left a little heart, which seemed as if 
i¢' was nigh ‘its Jast beat; then came a top-dressing, such as most 
flowers delight in, the Auricula especially, nearly all well rotted manure, 
and marvellous was the change in a few weeks. Plants that had 
bloomed took fresh heart, and ran away for growth; while those that 
had not, startedysaway) more )vigorously still; and) although I had 
(0 leave. mine early in April for nearly. three weeks, and consequently 
could not disbud as I should have done, yet I never had so fine a bloom 
r so good-looking a frame of plants....My stock is small, and I there- 
fo eam only speaking in a small way. , Every one knows what a cold, 
pi enial spring it was, and that the weather could not well have been 
more unpropitious ; and I therefore feel that the Auricula has probably 
wed WADseuoeG DIBA 1.08 ; : : ; : 
suffered more from coddling than, from, its own inherent delicacy ; at 
times plants will go_off that seem,to do so without any assignable 
cause, and at others that black rot makes its appearance, the plague of 
all ‘Auricula growers; but. whether this is not owing to mismanagement 
in some way seems a doubtful point. I saw Mr. Turner’s collection | 
