May  5,  1«98. 
JOURXAr.  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
395 
FRITILLARIA  TULIPIFOLIA. 
Amongst  the  many  species  and  varieties  of  Pritillarias  there  are  some 
flowers  of  the  quaintest  beauty,  and  many  of  the  comparatively  unknown 
species  are  worthy  of  more  attention.  A  collection  would  lend  interest  to 
many  gardens,  and  yet  it  is  very  seldom  that  one  meets  with  them,  except 
perhaps  such  as  F.  meleagris  and  F.  imperialis.  These  ought  of  course  to 
be  grown,  but  others  should  be  added.  The  culture  and  propagation  are 
not  difficult,  and  plants  may  be  grown  in  borders  or  in  cold  frames  if 
desired,  but  they  do  not,  as  a  rule,  thrive  so  well  in  pots  as  when  planted 
out.  F.  tulipifolia,  about  which  “F.  L.  0.”  asks,  is  a  dwarf  Caucasian 
species,  remarkable  chiefly  for  the  peculiar  glaucous  blue  colour  of  its 
flowers  externally  ;  internally  they  are  brownish  red.  It  is  a  variable 
species  as  regards  size.  This  species  was  introduced  into  this  country  in 
1872,  and  is  portrayed  in  the  woodcut,  fig.  75. 
THE  NATIONAL  AURICULA  SOCIETY’S 
SOUTHERN  SHOW. 
No  grower  of  Auriculas  could  have  anticipated  a  good  exhibition  this 
year  ;  in  fact,  it  has  been  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  and  disappointing 
seasons  that  has  ever  been  experienced.  One  of  our  largest  southern 
growers  wrote  in  the  somewhat  following  terms  to  me  in  February  : — 
“What  a  pity  it  is  that  the  R.H.S.  has  fixed  so  late  a  date  as  April  27th 
for  the  show.  The  southern  growers  will  be  quite  out  of  the  running,  as 
all  our  flowers  will  be  over  ;  it  will,  however,  give  the  northerners  a 
chance.”  I  met  him,  however,  on  April  the  12th,  when  he  said  to  me, 
“  Although  I  have  got  nearly  800  flowering  plants,  I  have  not  more  than 
two  dozen  in  flower,”  and  those  of  course  were  mostly  seifs,  which  are 
always  earlier  than  the  edged  varieties,  and  this  was  universally  the  case, 
the  north  and  south  telling  the  same  story  ;  and  though  the  Hewers  did 
push  very  vigorously  earlier  in  the  season,  the  cold  and  harsh  easterly 
winds  in  March  and  the  early  part  of  April  completely  stopped  their 
growth. 
This  state  of  things  had  not  only  the  effect  of  preventing  the  plants 
from  being  in  flower  in  good  time,  but  also  of  hindering  the  character  of 
the  bloom,  for  I  think  most  florists  must  have  noticed  that  when  a  flower 
is  long  on  the  way  it  is  never  of  good  quality.  One  was  therefore  not 
surprised  to  find  large  empty  spaces  on  the  tables,  and  that  the  quality  of 
the  flowers  was  very  much  below  the  average  ;  and  so  far  was  it  from 
being  a  time  for  the  northerners,  they  were  conspicuous  by  their  absence, 
and  an  Auricula  show  without  the  Rev.  F.  D.  Horner  was  like  the  play 
of  Hamlet  with  Hamlet  left  out.  Nor  was  good  old  Ben  Simonite  able 
to  put  in  an  appearance.  A  message  came  from  Mr.  Horner  that  he  had 
nothing  in  flower,  and  hence  one  item  which  always  gives  an  interest  to 
these  exhibitions  was  absent — viz.,  the  bringing  forward  of  seedlings  which 
mostly  come  to  us  from  the  north.  Another  matter  which  bears  out  my 
view  of  the  exhibition  was  the  paucity  of  some  of  our  best  flowers  ;  thus 
I  did  not  see  a  single  specimen  of  Prince  of  Greens,  and  George  Light- 
body,  which  so  often  has  taken  nearly  all  the*  prizes  in  the  single  grey 
edged  flowers,  was  very  sparingly  represented,  and  this  year  it  was  not 
exhibited  in  this  class.  It  is,  generally  speaking,  a  late  flower,  which 
would  in  some  measure  account  for  it.  Many  of  the  flowers  exhibited 
also  evidenced  that  they  had  been  subjected  to  severe  pressure,  and  the 
Auricula  ever  resents  the  idea  of  heat,  as  a  very  eminent  grower  expressed 
to  me.  If  you  force  the  same  plant  two  years  successively  you  must  injure 
it,  even  if  you  do  not  kill  it  ;  nor  do  I  think  the  flowers  are  nearly  so 
refined  when  they  are  subjected  to  it. 
Of  seedlings  there  were  comparatively  few,  and  no  edged  variety  seems 
to  have  claimed  any  distinction  A  fine  self  exhibited  by  Mr.  Phillips, 
named  Mrs.  Dranfield,  received  the  first  prize.  It  was  a  rich  deep_ 
purplish  blue  with  a  good  paste  and  stout  stem,  and  is  likely  to  prove  a 
valuable  show  variety. 
It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  there  were  not  many  good 
flowers  to  be  seen.  Mr.  Douglas’s  stand  of  twelve  was  unquestionably 
the  best  in  the  show.  Especially  fine  was  Olympus  ;  while  his  George 
Lightbody,  though  perhaps  not  equal  to  blooms  which  ho  has  before 
exhibited,  well  maintained  the  character  of  that  grand  flower.  Mrs. 
Henwood  certainly  now  stands  at  the  head  of  the  green-edged  varieties. 
Mr.  Douglas’s  truss  of  it  was  very  fine,  and  so  also  was  Mr.  C.  Phillip  s, 
shown  in  the  class  for  six  ;  it  is,  I  believe,  a  northern  flower,  and  seems 
to  be  of  a  good  constitution.  Abbe  Liszt,  raised  by  Mr.  Douglas,  is 
another  flower  which  has  made  a  great  advance  in  the  same  class  of 
green  edges,  and  it  obtained  the  honour  of  the  premier  Auricula  in  the 
exhibition.  Amongst  other  noticeable  flowers  there  were  good  blooms  of 
that  fine  white-edged  variety  John  Simonite,  which  is  well  known  as  a 
very  ditficult  one  to  manage,  but  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  purest  white 
edges  that  we  have.  It  was  also  noticeable  how  again  the  late  Mr. 
Woodhead’s  seedling  Auriculas  were  at  the  front  ;  thus  in  the  four  prizes 
obtained  for  the  best  grey-edged  variety  three  of  them  were  secured  by 
George  Rudd  and  Rachel,  two  of  his  seedlings,  and  the  same  flowers 
appeared  in  several  of  the  winning  stands,  as  also  did  the  two  others, 
Mrs.  Dodwell  and  Black  Bess,  and  when  we  remember  that  only  these 
four  were  ever  sent  out  by  him,  it  is  surely  a  great  distinction  to  have  been 
the  raiser  of  such  flowers.  As  I  have  never  been  a  grower  of  Alpines  or 
Fancy  varieties  I  do  not  feel  that  I  have  nny  right  to  say  anything  about 
them,  though  I  believe  the  Alpines  were  especially  fine,  and  although  I 
there  were  only  two  exhibits  of  Fancy  Auriculas  they  were  very  much 
admired. 
It  is  very  pleasing  to  notice  new  exhibitors  coming  forward,  for  we 
have  to  remember  the  Auricula  is  never  likely  to  be  a  very  popular  flower. 
One  very  able  horticulturist,  who  has  made  his  mark  in  other  flowers,  said 
to  me  on  Tuesday,  speaking  of  the  exhibition  at  the  Drill  Hall,  “  It  would 
be  a  very  nice  one  if  it  were  not  for  the  Auriculas,”  and  when  I  remon¬ 
strated  with  him,  and  asked  why  he  uttered  such  a  heresy,  he  replied, 
“  Oh,  they  are  so  stiff  and  formal,  and  the  colours  are  so  decided,  and  don’t 
blend  into  one  another  ;  ”  and  I  am  afraid  this  is  a  very  general  opinion 
concerning  them,  and  yet  there  is  no  flower  which  so  retains  the  affection 
of  those  who  have  cultivated  them  for  any  lengthened  period  ;  and  when 
I  remember  how  low  the  culture  of  them  had  fallen  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Metropolis,  I  see  how  very  much  has  been  done  during  the  past 
Fig.  75. — Fritillaria  tulipifolia. 
few  years.  The  present  position  of  the  Society  is  largely  due  to  the 
zeal,  intelligence,  and  tact  of  its  excellent  Secretary.  Mr.  Henwood,  and 
much  sympathy  was  expressed  for  him,  in  that  when  he  had  reached  a 
very  topmost  place  amongst  exhibitors  in  the  South,  he  was  obliged  to 
abandon  the  culture  of  his  favourites  owing  to  ill-health. 
•  Of  course  my  opinions  about  the  show  may  be  challenged,  and  others 
may  form  a  different  estimate  of  it,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  I  am 
a  florist  of  the  old  school,  brought  up  in  the  straitest  sect  of  Auricula 
growers,  to  whom  coarseness  was  ever  an  abomination,  and  who  holds  to 
the  rules  laid  down  both  as  to  flowers  and  plants  maintained  by  that 
school  of  Lancashire  florists  who  made  the  Auricula  what  it  is  ;  and  I 
hope  that  this  idea  of  its  true  character  may  be  upheld  by  those  who  have 
now  entered  the  ranks  of  Auricula  growers  — D.,  Deal. 
TRADE  CATALOUUES  RECEIVED. 
W.  Clibran  &  Son,  Altrincham. — Garden  and  Conservatory  Plants. 
J.  Laing  &  Sons,  Forest  Hill.  — /Tardy  Perennials. 
C.  Turner,  Slough. —  General  Plants. 
