June 5, 1873. ] 



JOUKNAL OP HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB, 



457 



and Japan, but also in Mautchouria, near the Amoor and 

 Schilka rivers. 



After a minute examination of the varieties introduced from 

 Japan by Siebold, we have come to the conclusion that they 

 constitute a distinct species which we name after the introducer 

 Primula Sieboldi. The Cortusa-leaved Primrose has obtuse 

 bi-crenated leaves — that is, the lobes are softly rounded, while 

 in P. Sieboldi they are bidentate, with sharp toothings. The 

 leaflets of the involucre are narrow and linear in P. cortusoides, 

 whUst they are lanceolate and often dentate in P. Sieboldi. 

 The divisions of the calyx are narrow, short, and adpressed, 

 but are broad, lanceolate, and divergent in P. Sieboldi. The 

 segments of the corolla, which are lanceolate and pointed in 

 P. cortusoides, are generaDy obtuse and crenulated in P. Sie- 

 holdi, at least in the variety lilacina. 



The distinctions between the two species have struck many. 

 M. C. Lemaire ascribed the difference to hybridisation, and 

 supposed that P. sinensis had something to do with it, and 

 one might well believe that P. Sieboldi had some of the blood 

 of P. sinensis ; but there is no evidence that such a pre- 

 sumption ought to be admitted, for P. Sieboldi reproduces itself 

 true from seeds. M. Herincq affirms that what are considered 

 to be Japanese varieties of P. cortusoides belong to a distinct 

 species. All horticulturists whom we have consulted are of 

 the same opinion, and as proofs they adduce the difference of 

 habit, culture, growth, and time of flowering. 



There are several very distinct varieties of Primula Sieboldi. 

 The first we shall notice is that named aiiuvna by Lindley, be- 

 cause in the colour and general appearance of the flowers it 

 reminds us of Azalea amoina. It has large, beautiful, rosy 

 purple flowers. It was figured in the " Botanical Magazine " 

 in 186.5, in M. Witte's " Flora " in 18G8, and in the " Florist 

 and Pomologist " in 1870. It was exhibited at Paris in 1867 

 by Messrs. Veitch, where it made a great impression, and it is 

 now cultivated by many florists. The second variety was 

 named striata by Lindley, it has smaller flowers, hlac, striped 

 with purple. The third variety, which ought to be called r;ra«rft- 

 Itora, has flowers, white on the inside, purple on the outside. In 

 lilacina they are large, delicate Ulac, bordered with white, and 

 scolloped at the edges. There is also a white-flowered variety. 

 — (Belgique Horticole.) 



WELLS. 



We read in a provincial paper that at Tissington, in Derby- 

 shire, on the 22nd of last month, being Ascension-day, the old 

 custom of dressing the village wells was duly observed. The 

 weUs are five in number, and for centuries it has been the 

 custom on this day to decorate them with designs beautifully 

 worked in flowers. Of recent years this pleasing custom has 

 spread to Buxton, Matlock, and Wirksworth. This year several 

 of the wells at Tissington were even more tastefully decorative 

 than usual. The Town Well, especially, had colours brighter 

 and warmer, and better blended than usual. The inscription 

 over the arch was " God Has Gone Up." The superscriptions 

 of all the wells appeared this year to have been chosen with 

 special reference to the day. Hands or Anns Well took the se- 

 cond place in the opinion of most. Certainly it was very taste- 

 fully done, and the colours, although not so bright as those on 

 the Town Well, were very good, and evidently a great deal of 

 trouble and labour had been bestowed upon it. The design 

 contained in the centre a large cross, entwined with a Vine 

 with two bunches of Grapes, the inscription being " I am the 

 True Vine." The whole was surmounted with a crown, beau- 

 tifully worked with crimson and white flowers. The Cnflin 

 Well, Goodiimi's Well, and the Hall Well, were all nicely de- 

 corated. The attendance of visitors was rather larger than in 

 former years, owing, no doubt, to the fine day. As is the usual 

 custom, service was held in the church, and a sermon preached. 

 A procession was afterwards formed, and a psalm or hymn 

 sung at each well. 



In every district of the United British Islands are wells 

 that at some season of the year were, and in many places 

 stUl are, visited and decorated as were those at Tissing- 

 ton. It is no invention of Christian times, for in heathen 

 Eome fontiualia was a religious feast, celebrated on the J. 3th 

 of October, iu honour of the nymphs of wells and fountains. 

 The ceremony consisted iu throwing nosegays into the foun- 

 tains, and putting crowns of flowers upon the weUs. Nor has 

 the offermg been confined to flowers, for we read of pins, rusty 

 nails, and even rags being thrown into the well, or being about 

 its surroundings. At Llandegla, in Wales, says Pennant, is a 



small spring, the water of which was believed to cure certain 

 ailments. If the afllicted be of the male sex, he makes an 

 offering of a cock ; if of the fair sex, a hen. The fowl is carried 

 iu a basket, first round the well, after that into the church- 

 yard, when the same orisons and the same ciroumambulations 

 are performed round the church. The votary then enters the 

 church, gets under the communion table, Ues down with the 

 bible under his or her head, is covered with the carpet or cloth, 

 and rests there till break of day, departing after offering 6<Z., 

 and leaving the fowl in the church. If the bird dies, the cure 

 is supposed to have been effected, and the disease transferred 

 to the devoted victim. 



The grave men of Oxford were not superior to such proceed- 

 ings, for says Aubrey, writing about the year 1690, " the 

 fellows of New College have, time out of mind, every Holy 

 Thursday, betwixt the hours of eight and nine, gonne to tho 

 hospitall called Bart'lemews neer Oxford, when they retire 

 into the chapell, and certaine prayers are read, and an an- 

 theme sung : from thence they goe to the upper end of the 

 grove adjoyniug to the chapell (the way being beforehand 

 strewed with flowers by the poor people of the hospitall), they 

 place themselves round about the well there, where they 

 warble forth melodiously a song of three, four, or five parts ; 

 which being performed, they refresh themselves with a morn- 

 ing's draught there, and retire to Oxford before sermon." 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 Me. Stevens sold 219 lots of Orchids for £476 on the 15th 

 ult. Aerides odoratum was knocked down for £6, Vanda 

 suavia for £7 10s., and Calanthe Veitchii for £5 15.5. 



Under the name of " Herbarium Mycologicum (Eco- 



nomicum," F. Baron Thiimen proposes to form a collection of 

 those P.1KASITIC FUNGI which are injurious (including, also, any 

 that are useful), in forestry, agriculture, horticulture, or in 

 any other branch of industry. The specimens of each species 

 will be labelled with the scientific name, diagnosis, and any 

 needful remarks, and, where possible, will be sufficiently nu- 

 merous for a portion to be submitted to microscopic exami- 

 nation. The collection will be issued in fasciculi of fifty 

 species, at the price of three thalers each, and may be obtained 

 of the coDector, at Tephtz, in Bohemia. — (Nature.) 



Between the 2nd of April and the 21st of May sixty-six 



new Fellows have been added to the Eoyal Horticultural 

 Society. 



M. VicTOK Chatel continues his experiments on the 



action of pulvekised coal as manobe, and on the influence of 

 various coloured glasses on vegetation. As to the latter, ha 

 finds — 1, That under red, violet, and green glass, the sur- 

 face of the ground remains completely moist, while it is dried 

 under white glass, and also, but much less, under sky-blue, 

 and clear orange yellow ; 2, That the evaporation of dew ia 

 very rapid under violet glass, and that hoar frost remains long 

 under sky-blue; 3, That under the sky-blue glass the growth 

 of seeds and slips is very rapid. — [English Mechanic.) 



NOTES ON THE GIPSY MOTH, AND LAWS FOR 

 THE DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS. 

 Insect Ufe, as it is observable in our gardens, orchards, and 

 shrubberies, has its ebbs and flows. Each species has its 

 variations, since very few appear in successive years in the same 

 paucity or abundance ; and some species pass away entirely, 

 and new ones become troublesome, which, if previously existent, 

 had at least been unnoticed. The Gipsy (Liparis dispar), is 

 one of those which was formerly, it is presumed, more common 

 than it has been within the remembrance of the oldest students 

 of entomology ; and in France and Belgium it is plentiful — in 

 the latter country often too plentiful. May it not be the fact 

 that the caterpillar of this moth thrives best in a rather moist 

 atmosphere, and the improved drainage of modern days and 

 the diminution of marsh lands have perhaps conduced to its 

 being brought to its present scarcity in Britain ? Stragglers 

 have occurred both in England and Scotland dm'ing the last 

 year or two, but it does not seem likely ever to be again an 

 annoyance to our cultivators of fruit. Indeed I have myself, 

 to confess the truth, set at liberty some larviB of the species, 

 though in an open place where they could not do any injury 

 to cultivated plants. Subsequent research in the same place 

 failed to show that the Gipsies had settled there. I must ac- 

 knowledge that I did once contemplate depositing eggs of this 



