393 



.lODRNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( November 20, 1873. 



to deep rich yellow, and from yellow stained with red through 

 all shades of red to dark maroon, but I have not yet suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining a white one. 



There is a curious variety of Pantaloon, raised by Mr. I. 

 Andersou-Henry, which has large foliaceous bracts, the same 

 as in old Parkinson's Jackanapes-on-Horseback, of both of 

 which we will pubhsh a portrait next week. 



A bed of Hose-iu-Hose and Pantaloons is one of the gayest 

 sights in the spring and early summer flower garden, and their 

 fragrance is so powerful it may be scented at a distance. 

 There is no doubt that the 

 Hose-in-Hose and Pan- 

 taloons come originally 

 from the Cowslip, for 

 when the seed is sown a 

 considerable per-centage 

 of the plants produced 

 are the common CowsliiJ, 

 differing only in colour. 

 I have, however, a fine 

 form of the Pantaloon 

 which is a large-flowered 

 deep crimson Primrose, 

 and is very gay in the 

 flower border in spring. 

 This is frequent in the 

 cottage gardens of East 

 Sussex and some parts 

 of Kent, and as it is a 

 luxuriant grower and 

 free bloomer it is pretty 

 widely distributed. 



GALLIGASKINS. 



This is one of the most 

 curious forms to which 

 the Primrose and Cow- 

 slip are subject. The 

 name of Galligaskins is 

 used by Parkinson. Ha 

 thus describes them : The 

 " flowers are folded or 

 crumpled at the edges, 

 and the huskes of the 

 flowers bigger than any 

 of the former, more swell- 

 ing-out in the middle, as 

 it wereribbes, and crum- 

 pled on the sides of the 

 huskes, which doe some- 

 what resemble men's hose 

 that they did weare, and 

 tooke the name of Galle- 

 gaskius from thence." 

 The meaning of which 

 is, that the ribs of the 

 calyx-tube are prominent 

 and crisped, and the seg- 

 ments of the calyx are 

 developed into large fo- 

 liaceous blades crisped or 

 curled on the margins ; 

 hence Parkinson calls 

 them also " Curled Cow- 

 Blips." Pant 



The Galligaskins are 

 rarely to be met with. I am fortunate enough to possess several 

 distinct varieties, all of which are very curious. There is one 

 form which Parkinson calls " The Fra'nticke or FooUsli Cowslip, 

 or Jaclic -nil apes on liorsebacl;," which I have also been fortu- 

 nate enough to secure. It, too, is very curious. The involucral 

 bracts at the top of the scape, instead of being small bodies as 

 they are in the normal form of the Cowslip, are produced into 

 long narrow leaves an inch or more in length, from the bosom 

 of which issues an umbel of single-flowered pedicels. Of this 

 we will give an enf;raving next week. These are all the dif- 

 ferent foims of the Polyanthus and Primrose with which I am 

 acquainted. 



CULTIVATION. 

 Primroses and Polyanthuses will grow in any soil except 

 that which is very light and very poor; but any light soil that 

 is amply supplied with vegetable matter will grow them well. 



That in which they delight most, and in which they grow 

 with the greatest luxuriance, is a strongish sandy loam, or 

 what is better, a strong fibrous loam. Whenever a border is 

 prepai-ed for them, fresh stable manure should never be ap- 

 plied, and if the soil requires amendment, this ought to be 

 given to the previous crop, so that by the time the Primroses 

 are planted the manure will have become entirely rotten and 

 incorporated with the soil. The debris of a wood heap which 

 has been reduced to mould, rotten weeds which have long lain 

 in a heap, and leaf mould, are as good a dressing as can be 



applied to them, and if 



this is mixed with a por- 



lih^jMii, .-. tiou of old cow dung it 



will be much benefited. 

 Some of the best plants 

 I have ever grown were 

 on the north side of an 

 old Holly hedge, the over- 

 shadowing branches of 

 which were never trim- 

 med, where the dead 

 leaves had been allowed 

 to accumulate and rot for 

 years, producing a loose, 

 light, rich mould in 

 which the roots could 

 run freely. 



The situation for a bed 

 of Primroses ought to be 

 shady, so that the mid- 

 day sun will not reach 

 the plants. If fully ex- 

 posed to the sun the 

 beauty of the flowers is 

 not only impaired, but 

 the vigour of the plants 

 is much weakened, and 

 this is especially the case 

 after the flowering pe- 

 riod, when the plants go 

 to rest. It is then that 

 shade is very essential ; 

 and if it so happen that 

 this cannot be procured 

 by the natural position 

 of tlie bed, it must be 

 obtained by strewing the 

 plants with short grass, 

 litter, or any such cover- 

 ing. If the plants are 

 left exposed to the full 

 influence of a scorching 

 summer sun they become 

 in many instances totally 

 blind, and the buds never 

 burst again. There is 

 no better place in^ which 

 to grow Primroses and 

 Polyanthuses than in an 

 orchard under standard 

 fruit trees, the essential 

 conditions for the suc- 

 cessful cultivation of 

 them being shade, cool- 

 '™' ness, and humidity. 



These plants should 

 never he allowed to remain more than two years in the same 

 position. Some of them are the better for being taken up and 

 divided amuially, and especially those that have the habit of 

 elongating the rootstoek above ground, and forming long bare 

 branches with only a tuft of leaves at the crown. The best 

 time to take-up and divide them is in August and September. 

 If the work can be completed by the middle of the latter month 

 so much the better, as the plants will then be perfectly esta- 

 bUshed and have begun to grow before winter frosts set in, by 

 which they are apt to be thrown out of the ground if they are 

 not properly established. 



The rhizome or underground stem of these plants is often 

 subject to a sort of canker or gangrene ; and this not unfre- 

 quently occurs when they are transplanted from one description 

 of soil to another, with the old soil clinging to them. These 

 decayed and decaying portions should be thoroughly removed, 



