PRIMULA. 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants. 
295 
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PRIMULA. 
Few plants are more useful for green- 
house decoration than the Chinese Pri- 
mulas, of which there are now so many 
fine varieties, single and double. If re- 
quired the single kinds alone will furnish 
flowers the whole year round, seed being 
put in at different times so as to produce 
bloom in succession. But it is for winter 
flowering that these plants are most accept- 
able. Young plants are the best, the old 
ones should be discarded each year after 
they have bloomed, and others brought on 
regularly to take their place. 
To get the plants strong for autumn 
flowering some seed should be sown early 
in March ; at this time a large shallow pan 
should be drained and filled with fine 
sifted loam, to which is added some leaf- 
mould and sand; press the soil smooth, 
and slightly water the surface to close up 
any holes wherein the seed might get too 
deep. Allow a day for the soil to dry, and 
then sow the seeds, not too thickly, cover- 
ing very slightly, and again pressing the 
surface smooth. Place a piece of thin 
white paper over the top to prevent the 
soil drying, so that no water need be given 
until the plants are up; stand in a tem- 
perature of 50°. As soon as the seeds 
vegetate remove the paper and put near 
the glass so as to prevent the young plants 
being in any way drawn up weakly. Shade 
slightly when the sun is bright, giving 
when required just enough water to 
moisten the soil, but not to make it too 
wet. Admit air in the day, and when the 
little plants are an inch high prick them 
off 3 or 4 inches apart in shallow boxes, 
drained and filled with soil such as the 
seed was sown in; place the boxes close 
to the glass, and keep the night tempera- 
ture similar to that in which the seeds 
were sown, allowing it to rise with some 
air on in the daytime proportionate with 
the now increasing sun heat. Shade a 
little when the sun comes on the plants, 
and give water as the soil gets dry. Treat 
in this way until the end of May, when 
they will do best in a cold frame stood 
facing northwards in an open situation ; 
plenty of air should now be given with a 
thin shade in sunny weather. By the 
middle of June the plants must be moved 
to 5-inch pots. The soil should now have 
some good rotten manure mixed with it in 
addition to the leaf-mould and sand, drain 
the pots moderately and move the plants 
with as little disturbance of the roots as 
possible ; pot moderately firm and return 
to the ‘frames, which should now be half 
filled with fine ashes to raise the plants up 
near the glass so as to keep them stout, as 
if Primulas ever get drawn they are half 
spoiled ; to prevent this they must never 
be stood too close together. After potting 
keep the frame a little close for a few days, 
then give plenty of air in the day with 
some on at night as well ; keep the ashes 
on which the pots stand damp, and give 
water to the plants when required. If the 
lights are drawn off altogether in the 
nights, and replaced by day, the dew will 
benefit the plants, and as the pots get full 
of roots give manure-water once or twice 
a week. In most cases 5 or 6 inch pots 
will be large enough to flower the plants 
in, but if it is thought desirable to grow 
some on bigger they may be moved to pots 
a size or two larger towards the end of 
August. After this time no more shade 
should be necessary. Before there is 
danger of frost move them to a house or 
pit where they can be stood well up to the 
glass. Up to this time it will be well to 
pinch out all flower-stems produced as 
soon as they are visible—this will have the 
effect of strengthening the plants, and 
enabling them to bloom better when re- 
quired later on. During the flowering and 
through the winter they will bloom better 
in a temperature of 45° than if colder, and 
care should be taken during the dark dull 
weather not to wet the foliage, or to give 
more water than is necessary : neglect in 
either of these matters tends to cause the 
plants to damp off—a complaint to which 
Primulas are subject in winter, especially 
when in too low a temperature, or stood 
far from the glass. A successional sowing 
should be made about the beginning of 
May to flower later on in winter and spring 
after the earliest are over. 
The double kinds of Primula, the flowers 
of which last longer than those of the single 
varieties, are increased by cuttings made 
of the side shoots, which, when well man- 
aged, the plants produce freely. The cut- 
tings may be put in any time during the 
spring or summer; they should be cut 
away from the parent plants with as much 
stem as obtainable, and put singly in pots, 
only large enough to hold them, filled with 
fine loam, to which a good portion of sand 
has been added. No more water should 
be given than is needful, or the cuttings 
will be liable to rot; if they are put in 
early in spring when the weather is cold 
the temperature of the house should be 
kept up by fire-heat to 50° or 55°, and they 
should be kept moderately, but not too 
close, as overmuch confinement will also 
cause decay. When enough roots are 
formed to support the plants from flagging, 
gradually give more air, and stand them 
