252 



to the plants, by tearing asunder 

 the tender fibres of the roots in 

 passing through the mould, and 

 particularly in throwing up their 

 casts. 



POTTING-STICK. — An instrument 

 made of wood, and resembling a 

 paper-knife, but thicker and blunter 

 at the extremity. Its use is to push 

 the earth into the pots when plants 

 are shifted or transplanted, and it 

 prevents the necessity of using the 

 thumb for that purpose, as is gene- 

 rally done by gardeners. Potting- 

 sticks may be made of different sizes 

 according to the size of the pots. 



Prickly Pear. — See Opu'ntia. 



Primrose. — See Pri'mula. 



Primula. — Prhmdacece. — The 

 Primrose. — This genus includes 

 three of the most popular and beau- 

 tiful of florists' flowers, viz. the 

 Auricula, the Polyanthus, and the 

 Primrose. Of each of these three 

 there are numerous varieties, and 

 much has been wi-itten on their cul- 

 ture and management. I shall 

 here endeavour to give a short out- 

 line of the treatment of each. 



The Auricula {Primula Auri- 

 cula) is a native of the Alps of 

 Switzerland, where its flowers are 

 commonly yellow and very fragant ; 

 it may be gathered in abundance on 

 the road-side on the highest part of 

 the pass of the Simplon, growing 

 with the diff"erent Saxifrages, and 

 not far from Rhododendron hir- 

 sutum. When it was transplanted 

 into gardens is uncertain, but it has 

 been cultivated in Britain since the 

 days of Gerard, in 1596 ; and in a 

 state of cultivation its flowers are 

 yellow, red, blue, purple, white, 

 and green, and sometimes double, 

 though the only double variety has 

 the flowers yellow. Many elaborate 

 directions have been given for pre- 

 paring the soil for the Auricula ; 

 and while some writers, as Justice, 



recommend rotten willow-wood and 

 old cow-dung, others, as Emmer- 

 son, recommend bullock's blood, 

 sugar-baker's scum, and cimcen- 

 trated night-soil. The plants, how- 

 ever, will grow and thrive on any 

 rich loamy soil ; for example, in a 

 mixture of leaf-mould, or thoi'oughly 

 rotten cow- dung and loam. They 

 will even grow very well in heath- 

 soil mixed with loam, and this is 

 the soil in which they are commonly 

 grown in the neighbourhood of 

 Paris. Whatever kind of manure 

 is used for the Auricula, it should 

 be so thoroughly decomposed as to 

 have become a fine mould, and, in 

 this state, it may be mixed with 

 the common soil of gardens in equal 

 parts, with the addition of a fifth 

 or a sixth part of coarse sand if the 

 plants are to be grown in pots. All 

 the choice varieties of Auricula are 

 grown in pots, and kept under cover 

 in glass frames shaded ; or placed 

 in a northern exposure dui-ing win- 

 ter and spring, and in the open air 

 in a situation open to the east, or 

 the west during summer after the 

 flowering season is over. Dviring 

 the time they are in flower, they are 

 commonly kept in frames close 

 under the glass, or under hand- 

 glasses, to protect the flowers from 

 the rain ; the flowers in all the va- 

 rieties, and the leaves in some, 

 being more or less covered with a 

 powdery bloom, the preservation of 

 which is a desideratum among choice 

 cultivators. The Auricula is pro- 

 pagated by division of the root, or 

 by cutting off slips which have 

 generally some roots attached, and 

 are put at once into small pots. 

 The season for performing the ope- 

 ration is shortly after the flowers 

 have gone off, or, if they are left 

 on, immediately after the seed has 

 ripened. There are common kinds 

 of Auricula which are planted in 



