Mr Maddock considers the forming of a proper com post for aurictilas to be of great importance. The ingre dients and proportions recommended by him are these One half well rotted cow-dung; one sixth fresh sound earth, of an open texture ; one eighth vegetable earth, from tree-leaves ; one twelfth coarse sea or river sand ; one twenty-fourth soft-decayed willow wood, from the trunks • of old willow-trees ; the same proportion of peat or bog earth ; and a like proportion of the ashes of burnt vegeta bles, to be spread on the surface of the other ingredients. This compost is to be kept for at least a year, exposed to sun and air, several times turned, and passed through et coarse sieve. Mt Curtis properly remarks, that if the com post be rich and light, it is not necessary to adhere rigidly to the above prescription. He mentions, that two-thirds of rotten dung from old hot-beds, and one-third containing equal parts of coarse sand and of peat-earth, form a very suitable compost.
514. Choice auriculas are always kept in pots. The inner diameter of these at top may be six inches, at bottom four inches, and they should be about seven inches deep. A little gravel in the bottom is proper as a drain below the roots of the plants. Auriculas are annually repotted in May, soon after the bloom is over. The halls of earth are to he preserved around the roots, and only a certain portion of new mould given : Mr Maddock, indeed, advises the shaking of the earth from the roots; but this necessarily gives a check, from which the plant does not recover in the course of a year. At the same time offsets are taken, planted in separate pots. The whole auriculas are then placed in au airy but rather shaded situation, not however under the drip of trees. The place is generally laid with coabashes, to prevent the carth-wrm from entering the pots, and the pots arc often set on bricks, to allow a freer circulation of air about them. Here they remain till Octo ber. They are then placed under a glass frame, or other repository, to shelter them for the winter months, giving as much air as circumstances will permit. In February they are earthed up ; that is, the superficial mould, to the depth perhaps of an inch, is removed, and replaced by fresh compost, mixed with a little loam, to give it tenacity. This is found greatly to aid the flowering. \Vhen several flow er-stems appear in one pot, a selection is made of one or two of the strongest, and the others are pinched off. As the flowers advance, the plants are arranged in the covered stage, which contains four or five rows of shelves rising one above another. The roof is generally of glass; and the front, which is placed facing the north or the east, is furnished with folding doors, which may be shut when de sired. Here the plants are regularly watered two or three times a week, care bring taken not to touch the flowers or fo liage with the water. A good collection of auriculas, treated in this way, forms., when in flower, a very captivating sight. Sometimes the richness of the scene is increased, by intro ducing mirrors into each end of the frame, and by having a bed of hyacinths, and perhaps a row of fine polyanthuses, both of which flower at the same period, in front of the stage, and covered with a thin awning. The soft light,
passing through the awning, heightens the effect of the auriculas. It may be mentioned, that in order to secure the filling of the stage with good flowering plants, which alone ought to appear there, it is necessary that the col lector possess at least twice as many plants as the stage is calculated to hold.
The interest of the florist's pursuits receives in this, as in all other cases, a great increase, when he attempts the raising of new varieties from seed. To purchase au•icula seed in shops is a bad plan. It is much better to encour age the ripening of the seeds of a few very good flowers, which may be done merely by exposing them fully to sun and air, and saving them by hand-glasses from heavy rains. The seed ripens about the end of June ; but it should be kept in the umbels till sown. This may be clone, either in autumn or early in spring, in boxes ; and the seed should be very slightly covered with willow earth, or any light vegetable mould. The boxes are of course to be kept tin der shelter during the winter ; but in good weather the seedlings should have plenty of air ; they must not, how ever, be exposed directly to the sun's rays, which would destroy them in a short time,—at least the more weakly, which are always of the greatest promise. IVhen of a pro per size, they are transplanted into other boxes, and nursed till they be fit for pots. If one plant in thirty prove worthy of a place in the collection, the success is great ; the rest may be planted out as border flowers, where they continue very ornamental for a few years.
515. The garden Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientais, L.) is one of the flowers to the culture of which florists have par ticularly devoted themselves. It is originally from the Levant, but has been brought to its present improved state in the Low Countries. Double hyacinths are now the only kind prized, though formerly these were as little sought af ter as double tulips are now, the beauty of the flower,being then regarded as consisting in the regularity of the shape and disposition of the blossoms, and in the richness of the colour. Whole acres of nursery ground are covered with this flower near Haarlem and Utrecht in Holland. Here new varieties are annually produced from the seed, which is collected from rnultiplicate or semi-double flowers, and from very fine single flowers. \Vhen a new variety, of good qualities, is'procured, it is named and enrolled in the select list. The choice flowers are divided into classes, according to their colours. John Keeps and Sons of Haar lem enumerate near one thousand varieties in their cata logue, classed in this way : Reds; rosy and flesh-colour ed ; white, with rosy and flesh-coloured eyes ; yellow ; white with yellow eyes ; white with red. eyes ; pare white; white with violet and purple eyes ; dark blackish blue ; dark blue ; porcelain and pale blue. The names of the finest and newest kinds are, as usual, high-sounding, and calculated to attract English curiosity,—the Monarch of the World ; the Honour of Amsterdam ; the Princess Charlotte ; the Earl of Lauderdale, &c. Sze.