Ftni’PLEMENT  TO 
March  9,  1899.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  lyy 
and  the  new  labours  and  duties  its  cnltnre  would  cast  on  those  whom 
we  now  term  modern  gardeners.  What  a  bound  has  been  evidenced 
in  the  change  from  the  old  coarse  and  .sutured  forms  to  the  perfect  and 
beautiful  fruits  of  to-day  !  What  crops  do  our  modern  ones  produce  ! 
flow  wonderfully  are  they  consumed  as  ordinary  edible  fruits  !  The 
supply,  so  good,  so  improved,  so  attractive,  so  superior  in  every 
respect,  has  tempted  humanity  to  partake  of  them,  and  thus  created 
the  demand. 
We  may  turn  to  our  Beams,  and  find  in  the  Runner  or  climbing 
section  much  striking  development.  Not  of  the  old,  short,  thick,  and 
too  soon  ageing  pods  of  earlier  davs,  but  p'O'hiced  in  great  abundance 
— long,  handsome,  temier  pods  of  the  highest  excellence,  and  dving  in 
length  and  productiveness  double  the  crop  produced  by  the  old  strains. 
Tn  Longpod  Beans  our  Exhibitions,  Leviathans,  and  Sevilles  are 
unrivalled,  and  in  even  the  Dwarf  Kidney  race  there  is  advance  in 
quality  and  pod  production  every  year.  In  Carrots,  in  Beets,  in 
Turnips  and  Radishes,  in  Cucumbers  also,  the  advance  has  been 
continuous  and  of  the  best. 
If  there  has  been  no  appreciable  addition  to  the  quality  of  the 
Potato  tuber,  there  has  been  material  .advance  in  productiveness.  Main 
Crop,  Up-to-Date,  The  Crofter,  Ellen  Terry,  Pride  of  Tonbridge, 
Challenge,  Snowball,  Windsor  Castle,  Reliance,  and  many  others  testify 
to  the  wonderful  tuber  productiveness  of  modern  Potaioes,  We  have 
seen  in  Cabbages,  with  undoubted  development  in  quality,  rather  a 
recession  in  quantity,  as  the  modern  taste  now  favours  smaller  but 
much  tenderer  and  more  precocious  varieties  than  were  formerly  in 
most  favour.  Even  Spinaches  are  superior  now  to  older  varieties,  and 
in  Longstander  and  Victoria  distinct  superiority  over  the  old  Flanders 
is  found. 
But  whilst  during  the  past  two  decades  improvement  in  kinds 
through  superior  varieties  has  been  marked,  we  have  seen  very  few 
additions  to  our  alreadv  considerable  list  of  kinds  suitable  for  con¬ 
sumption.  The  most  noteworthy  is  the  Chinese  Artichoke,  or  Stachys 
tuberifera,  for  the  tuberous  Osalis  crennta,  pleasing  as  it  is,  can 
hardly  be  classed  as  a  new  vegetable.  However,  we  have  grand 
selections,  triumphs  of  patience  on  the  part  of  raisers  and  seedsmen, 
whilst  gardeners  by  their  skill  in  culture  have  done  their  part  worthily 
also  in  the  great  work  of  vegetable  advancement. — A,  Dean. 
THE  AURICULA. 
So  many  people  write  to  me  about  the  Auricula,  and  I  have  concluded 
that  a  few  words  in  the  Journal  may  be  useful.  The  Alpine  Auricula — 
seedlings  and  hybrias  from  Primula  pubescens — is  the  easiest  to  grow. 
They  make  splendid  rock  garden  plants,  or  as  isolated  specimens  in  the 
front  row  of  herbaceous  borders.  A  rich  deep  clayey  loam  suits  it 
best,  and  if  it  is  moist  all  the  better,  as  the  plants  dwindle  away 
if  grown  on  shallow,  light  gravelly  soils.  The  finer  varieties  are  grown 
in  pots,  and  they  are  beautiful  when  in  flower.  All  that  they  require  is 
a  cold  frame,  and  the  plants  must  not  be  very  far  removed  from  the 
glass,  or  the  leaves  and  flower  stems  will  become  dravm.  This  is 
avoided  by  removing  the  lights  altogether  whenever  the  weather  is 
favour, able;  and  as  none  of  the  true  Alpines  has  mealed  foliage  a 
shower  of  rain  is  beneficial,  though  of  course  small  plants  in  flower 
pots  would  be  injured  by  long  continued  rains,  and  I  do  not  like  them 
to  be  exposed  to  rain  at  all  during  the  late  autumn  and  winter  months. 
The  flower  trusses  begin  to  show  early  in  March,  and  the  blossoms 
appear  from  the  middle  to  the  end  of  April.  I  have  had  them  in 
flower  well  into  May  by  keeping  the  plants  in  a  frame  on  the  north 
si'’e  of  a  high  wall.  I  showed  a  small  collection  at  the  Tempis  Shotv 
last  year  in  IMay  ;  but  as  the  great  northern  Auricula  grower,  the 
Rev.  P.  D.  Horner,  aptly  remarked — - 
“  The  Auricula  in  May 
Has  had  its  day.” 
And  truly  we  do  not  want  it  in  flower  with  the  Tulips,  as  happened 
last  year,  for  in  the  same  tent  with  my  simple  Auriculas  were  the 
gorgeous  cups  of  the  show  Tulip. 
The  pot  culture  is  very  simple.  The  compost  for  both  Alpine  and 
Show  varieties  should  be  four  parts  of  good  yellow  fibrous  loam,  one 
pjart  of  decayed  manure,  and  one  part  of  leaf  mould,  with  a  little  sand  if 
necessary.  I  often  wondered  how  the  old  growers  managed  to 
keep  life  in  their  plants,  with  the  rich  compost  they  prepared  for 
them,  until  I  read  Emmerton’s  book,  wherein  he  is  very  particular  in 
insisting  on  the  potting  materials  being  mixed  two  years  before  using, 
and  it  was  to  be  well  turned  over  fre(iuently  in  the  course  of  the 
twenty-four  months,  therefore  the  washing  and  bleaching  must  have 
pretty  well  taken  the  fertilising  properties  out  of  the  goose  manure, 
the  sugar  baker’s  scum,  the  blood  manure,  and  other  unwholesome 
ingredients.  Here  is  the  recipe  of  Mr.  Isaac  Emmerton,  the  celebrated 
Auricula  grower  : — Two  barrowfuls  each  of  goose  manure  steeped  in 
bullock’s  blood,  sugar-baker’s  scum,  night  soil,  and  fine  yellow  loam. 
That  is  six  barrowiuls  of  strong  manure  to  two  of  loam.  It  would 
undoubtedly  require  a  considerable  amount  of  turning  and  exposing  to 
summer’s  sun  and  winter’s  frost. 
The  Show  Auricula  is  divided  into  four  sections — the  green  edge, 
white  edge,  grey  edge,  and  seifs.  The  green-edged  varieties  always 
have  green  leaves  without  meal  or  farina  on  the  foliage,  but  the  others 
may  have  green  or  me.aled  leaves,  and  certainly  some  varieties  have 
verv  beautiful  foli.age,  so  densely  cnateii  with  fine  powder  as  to  he  quite 
white.  There  is  more  care  required  in  growing  Show  Auriculas,  as 
Fig.  .■>!. — Mr.  Jas.  Douglas. 
they  will  do  no  good  planted  out,  but  always  reeptire  the  shelter  of  a 
frame.  They  are  propagated  by  offsets,  which  lake  from  twelve  to 
eighteen  months  to  grow  into  a  flowering  size.  They  require  some 
care  in  the  offset  stage,  and  it  is  better  to  leave  them  on  the  parent 
plant  until  they  are  rooted.  Drain  the  pots  carefully  and  pot  firmly, 
keeping  the  plants  down  to  the  fresh  leaves,  as  they  are  apt  to  produce 
long  bare  stems.  The  largest  flower  pots  used  ought  not  to  he  more 
than  5  inches  in  diameter  for  the  very  strongest  growing  varieties. — 
Jas.  Douglas. 
-  Mushrooms. — It  is  not  often  that  growers  of  Mushrooms  give 
instances  of  failures,  because  perhaps  their  relation  would,  to  them, 
appear  to  convey  some  technical  errors  that  are  not  creditable.  It  is 
rarely  that  the  stables  are  blamed  for  partial  or  complete  failures,  but  it 
is,  nevertheless,  a  fact,  that  some  can  be  traced  thereto.  Horses,  and 
especially  those  under  preparation  for  hunting,  are  given  drugs,  which 
are  directly  responsible  for  failures  in  Mushroom  beds  when  such  manure 
is  collected.  I  have  proved  this  very  clearly  this  season,  one  bed  made 
under  those  circumstances  producing  very  few  Mushrooms,  so  few,  indeed, 
that  its  retention  was  not  considered  profitable.  Its  removal  satisfied  me 
that  the  course  was  the  right  one,  as  no  signs  of  activity  for  present  or 
future  bearing  were  apparent.  Beds  made  later  when  the  horses  were 
fed  on  natural  food  only  have  given  regular  supplies,  the  treatment  of  the 
manure  in  nreparation  being  the  same,  their  after  attention  identical,  and 
the  same  house  accommodated  them.  It  is  generally  known  that  manure 
from  horses  medically  treated  is  unfavourable  for  Mushrooms,  and  it  is 
well  to  inquire  when  a  course  of  medicines  is  being  submitted,  so  that 
the  manure  thei.  can  be  otherwise  employed,  and  thus  save  labour  and 
disappointment,  wr,  ich  is  almost  certain  to  arise. — W. 
