FEBRUARY. 45 



much better than many of our more cherished flower-garden fa- 

 vourites, and of blooming beautifully towards the fall of the year. 



Its cultivation is so easy, that every flower-grower may possess 

 it. Cuttings put in any time in February, in a little bottom-heat, 

 wi!.l strike freely. When struck, they should be potted off singly, 

 and kept in a greenhouse or frame until April, when, if the weather 

 be favourable, they may be put out in some sheltered place to 

 harden, till they are bedded out in the middle or latter end of May. 



'I'his kind of Cuphea looks best in a small circular bed, say five 

 or six feet in diameter, well rounded up towards the centre. Twenty 

 plants are sufiicient for a bed of this size. It flowers from the time 

 the cuttings are struck till the frost destroys its blossoms, late in 

 autumn. 



Warrington. Edward Gree2>\ 



PRIMULA SINENSIS. 



A PRETTIER object of greenhouse cultivation than this does not exist, 

 nor one more useful and ornamental for the autumn and winter 

 m.onths. It may well be such an universal favourite. Years ago 

 I gave more attention to it than I have done lately, and intend 

 doing for the future. Then I always saved my own seed ; but 

 about three years since my stock had degenerated into small starry 

 plain flowers, and I found it the same in a great many places. How- 

 ever, a friend supplied me with seed, and again I have the large deep 

 rosy-coloured flowers, the admiration of all who see them. I sow 

 the seed in March, and place it in a warm part of the greenhouse, 

 or at the coldest end of a little stove. As soon as they are large 

 enough, I put them into 3-inch pots ; and when well established, 

 I shift them into the blooming size, say 6 -inch, keeping them in 

 a cold frame all the summer. The soil I use is a mixture of equal 

 parts turfy loam, peat, and old cow- dung, with some silver- sand. 

 Nothing new in all this, many will say ; but I send these few hints 

 for new cultivators ; and I will just add, that our seedsmen would do 

 well to assure themselves that their seed of this flower, and of many 

 others they vend, is really to be depended upon as saved from the 

 best varieties, for I am sorry to say that there is just ground for 

 complaint on this subject. I have purchased seed of respectable 

 houses, and at full price, with the assurance that it w^as to be re- 

 lied upon, and have been mortified wath the results. The first cost 

 is a trifle compared with that involved in its cultivation. I am not 

 speaking of the more rare species, for every one knows that eminent 

 raisers will not part with their best seed ; but I allude to the com- 

 moner varieties, such as the Primula, the Anemone, &c. 



Exhibitor. 



