May  29,  1902. 
477 
JOURNAL 
OF  II OR  TICU L  TU RE  A  >  ’D  CO '/  ’  TA  OK  GA  R  LEXER. 
Concerning  the  Auricula. 
Seeing  that  as  Auricula  cultivators  we  differentiate  between 
the  Show  Auriculas,  viz.,  the  green  edges,  grey  edges,  white 
edges,  and  seifs,  with  their  mealed  zones  of  paste  round  the 
tube,  and  the  mealless  Alpines,  destitute  of  paste  or  farina,  with 
their  shaded  margins,  it.  is  misleading  to  term  the  figure  on 
page  447  an  “Alpine  Auricula.”  It  stands  as  an  illustration  of  a 
mealed,  unshaded,  self  Show  Auricula,  and  not  as  an  Alpine 
proper.  The  remarks 
by  Mr.  John  Forbes, 
which  you  gave  on 
page  378,  apply  only 
to  the  Show  Auriculas.  V.: 
He  does  not,  in  the 
passage  you  quote,  de¬ 
scribe  the  Alpine  at 
ill.  There  are  two 
faults  in  the  illustra¬ 
tion  you  give  if  re¬ 
garded  as  an  ideal 
flower :  the  tube  or 
eye  is  much  too  large, 
and  the  zone  of  white 
paste  round  it  much 
too  narrow ;  but  the 
latter  is  a  common 
fault  in  seifs,  and  in 
the  case  of  the  fine 
new  seifs  the  Rev. 
F.  D.  Horner  ex¬ 
hibited  recently  at 
Birmingham,  so  large, 
.stout,  and  smooth — 
they  had  margins  so 
broad  as  to  be  out  of 
proportion  to  the 
zones  of  paste.  But 
there  is  great  gain  to 
floriculture  in  them, 
notwithstanding  their 
defects,  and  the  ideal 
flower  is  yet  a  con¬ 
siderable  way  from  at¬ 
tainment.  AVe  possess, 
undoubtedly,  some¬ 
thing  like  two  cen¬ 
turies  and  more  of 
veritable  tradition  and 
record  of  Auricula  cul¬ 
ture  in  this  country. 
Most  of  the  varieties 
which  were  popular 
fifty  years  ago  have 
ceased  to  be  so  in  our 
day.  Colonel  Taylor 
and  Page’s  Champion 
still  exist  here  and 
there,  but  are  rarely 
to  be  met  with.  They 
were  two  of  the  lead¬ 
ing  green  edges  then  ; 
and  of  lesser  note  were 
Apollo,  Duke  of  A\"el- 
lington.  Lovely  Ann, 
Prince  of  AA^ales,  &c. 
Their  places  are  now 
occupied  by  such  older 
varieties  as  General 
Niell  and  Talismair, 
and  more  modern  ones  Rev.  W.  Wilks,  M. 
such  as  The  Rev. 
F.  D.  Horner,  Abbe 
Liszt,  Mrs.  Henwood,  Shirley  Hibberd,  Abraham  Barker,  and 
others.  Some  green  edges  belie  their  early  promise,  and  fall 
aside  after  two  or  three  years’  culture.  Going  back  again  to  the 
fifties,  the  leading  grey  edges  were  Conqueror  of  Europe,  General 
Bolivar,  Lancashire  Hero,-  Privateer,  Ringleader,  and  Richard 
Headly.  Most  of  these  are  still  grown.  Lancashire  Hero  and 
Richard  Headly  are  yet  in  the  foremost  rank,  and  to  them  can 
be  added  George  Rudd,  George  Lightbody,  Marmion,  Silvia,  and 
William  Brockbank. 
Of  old-time  white-edged  Auriculas  there  were  Catharina, 
Favourite,  Glory,  Regular,  Smiling  Beauty,  and  True  Briton. 
These  are  all  superseded  by  Acme,  Conservative,  Heather  Bell, 
John  Simonite,  Mrs.  Dodwell,  Reliance,  Snowdon’s  Knight,  Ac. 
The  self  Auriculas  were  a  small  section  in  the  middle  of  the 
last  century,  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  his  spring  and 
autumn  florist  flower  catalogues  of  185C  the  late  Mr.  Charles 
Turner,  though  he  catalogued  varieties  of  green,  grey,  and  white 
edges,  did  not  include  a  single  self.  But  the  leading  varieties 
were  Jupiter,  Mi-s.  Smith  (still  a  useful  dark  flower).  Metropoli¬ 
tan,  and  Othello.  C.  J.  Perry,  Sapphire,  Lord  of  Lome,  A^ulcan, 
B.ack  Bird,  Pizarro,  Ellen  Lancaster,  Topsy,  and  Mrs.  Douglas 
came  later.  They  are  now  replaced  by  Black  Bess,  Heroine, 
Mrs.  Barnard,  Ruby,  Sir  William  Hewitt,  and  Gerald.  The  seifs 
have  undergone  a  more  rapid  and  more  extended  improvement 
than  any  cither  section. 
The  Alpine  Auriculas  have  been  greatly  improved  during  the 
last  thirty  years  ;  previously  to  1870  there  Avere  but  very  few,  and 
they  were  rarely  cata¬ 
logued.  Mr.  Charles 
Turner,  in  the  first  in¬ 
stance,  followed  by 
Mr.  James  Douglas, 
haA^e  been  the  tAvo 
men  Avho  have  done 
most  in  leading  on  the 
Alpine  Auricula  to  the 
.  high  ground  of  com¬ 
parative  perfection  it 
occupies  to-day.  This 
section  is  divided  into 
tAvo  classes :  the  gold 
centres  (by  far  the 
most  numerous)  and 
the  cream  or  Avhite 
centres,  the  last  a 
very  difficult  class  to 
secure  in  its  best 
character.  But  there 
is  no  mealed  paste 
Avith  its  coA'ering  of 
fine  farina  in  its 
centre,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  ShoAv  A'arieties. 
A  mealed  Alpine  is  a 
nondescript  :  and  so  it 
is  incori’ect  for  Alpine 
Auriculas  to  be  de¬ 
scribed  in  catalogues, 
as  they  too  frequently 
are,  as  possessing 
paste.  The  anthers, 
as  in  the  case  of  the 
ShoAV  varieties,  should 
fill  up  the  tube  or  eye 
of  the  floAver,  and  the 
pistil  must  not  ob¬ 
trude  itself  in  anj' 
Avay,  as  it  is  a  graA'e 
defect.  It  unfortu¬ 
nately  does  so  in  the 
case  of  one  or  tAvo  at 
least  of  the  neAver 
A'arieties,  and  it  be¬ 
comes  in  their  case  a 
decided  imperfection. 
Then  the  corolla 
should  be  flat,  sym¬ 
metrical,  and  scout, 
and  the  outer  edge  un¬ 
broken  by  anj'  gap 
Avhatever.  It  has 
taken  years  to  obtain 
the  perfectly  smooth 
and  unbroken  edge ; 
but  there  are  still  in 
cultiA’ation  leading 
varieties  Avhich  betray 
the  possession  of  this 
defect.  Another  very 
important  point  in  an 
approximately  perfect 
Alpine  Auricula  is  that  the  marginal  colour  shall  be  shaded,  the 
ring  of  some  dark  tint  Avhich  usually  surrounds  the  golden  or 
A\hite  centre,  having  beyond  it,  ancl  stretching  aAvay  to  the 
extreme  edge,  a  shading  of  a  paler  colour. 
A  very  large  majority  of  the  seedling  Alpine  Auriculas  come 
Avith  golden  centres,  and  that  is  Avhy  so  great  a  proportion  of  the 
A'arieties  Avhich  arc  exhibited  have  the  golden  centre.  Sev'eral 
that  are  classed  as  white  centres  shoAV  Avhen  the  young  pips  ex¬ 
pand  creamy,  primrose,  or  .yelloAv  centres,  but  they  bleach  to 
Avhite  Avith  age.  The  crying  defect  in  such  is  that  Avhen  exhibited 
they  liaA'e  a  confused  appearance.  The  young  floAvers  shoAV 
tinted  yelloAv  centres,  the  older  ones  are  white  or  nearly  Avhite. 
What  is  Avanted  is  a  race  of  Alpine  Auriculas  Avhich  Avill  open 
Avhite  and  remain  so  to  the  end.  Then  there  is  a  further  defect  in 
some  cf  die  Avhite  centred  Alpine  Auriculas:  that  the  centre 
decays  before  the  marginal  colour,  the  result  being  that  there  is  a 
A.,  fecretary  R.H.S. 
