P R I 



P R I 



inches asunder, giving them water directly, and 

 repeating it occasionally till they have taken good 

 root. The approved sorts may in this way be 

 easily preserved. 



These plants are observed by the editor of 

 Miller's Dictionary to be very liable to the de- 

 predations of snails and slugs, in the spring of 

 the year ; the plants and pots therefore should be 

 carefully examined on all sides early in the 

 morning. But their worst enemy is a small red 

 spider or Acarus, which in summer forms its 

 web on the under side of the leaves. These 

 little insects, scarcely visible without a magni- 

 fying; glass, cause the leaves to become yellow 

 and spotted, and eventually destroy the plant : 

 they multiply with such rapidity as to take pos- 

 session of a whole collection in a very short 

 time. Such plants as appear infected should 

 therefore be immediately selected from the rest, 

 taken up, and soaked for two or three hours in 

 a strono- infusion of tobacco water, and then re- 

 planted in a fresh soil or compost, and removed 

 to a situation at a distance from the former. 

 But if the whole bed or border be overrun with 

 this insect, it is best to take up all the plants, 

 and, having soaked them, to plant them else- 

 where. The bed or border should then be 

 trenched up, and remain fallow to the next sea- 

 son, or be planted with another crop not liable 

 to this calamity. 



In their after-management, they are said to 

 " blow at the same time, and require nearly the 

 same treatment, as Auricula*, both with respect 

 to soil and situation; they are however more 

 impatient of heat and drought, and more partial 

 to shade and moisture. They may be set in the 

 same sized pot&, and in the same compost as 

 the Auricula, only with the addition of more 

 loam ; or they may be planted on cool shady 

 beds or borders, being very hardy, and seldom 

 perishing in the coldest and wettest seasons, be- 

 cause their parent is a native of this country ; 

 but during the heats of summer they are fre- 

 quently destroyed, unless proper precautions be 

 taken. This dislike of heat seems to indicate," 

 it is added, " that the Polyanthus is rather the 

 offspring of the Primrose, which requires shade, 

 than of the Cowslip, which grows in open pas- 

 tures ; though Mr. Miller seems to regard it as a 

 variety of the latter." 



The roots of the wild plants, when they can 

 be procured, may be taken up, divided, and 

 planted out in the autumn, when they will 

 flower in the following spring. 



The fourth sort readily seeds in its wild state, 

 and also frequently when cultivated : but it is 

 scarcely worth the pains to raise it from seed, 

 since a strong root may be divided so as to form 



many plants ; the best time fordoing this is in 

 the spring, soon after the leaves are expanded. 

 Each off-set should be placed in a separate pot, 

 tilled with two parts of siifKsh loam, and one part 

 of light sandy bog earth, watering and setting 

 them in the shade, under a north wall or paling, 

 but not under trees, keeping them there during 

 summer in pans of water, but in the autumn, 

 as the wet season comes on, taking them out of 

 the pans, and either laying the pots on their 

 sides, or placing them during winter under a 

 common cucumber frame, to keep them from 

 immoderate wet, which this plant cannot bear, 

 although it be a native of boggy meadows. In the 

 following if not the same year these plants will 

 blow strong; and they should be thus treated 

 every year, as they require to have their roots 

 frequently parted. 



The fifth sort is increased by parting the 

 roots, either in September or at the beginning 

 of March. It is hardy, of ready growth, and 

 will succeed either in the pot or border, by 

 guarding it from the sun in summer and from 

 severe frost and too much wet in winter. 



The sixth species, which is yet a rare plant, 

 must be treated with care, as the fifth sort, and 

 may be raised from seeds, or increased by part- 

 ing the roots ; but it is apt to be lost if not 

 well attended to. 



The seventh sort is delicate, and should ba 

 placed in a pot of stifnsh loam, mixed with one- 

 third rotten leaves, bog-earth, or dung, and 

 plunged in a north border, taking care that, it 

 does not suffer for want of water in dry seasons ; 

 as when thus treated it increases by its roots 

 nearly as readily as the Auricula. 



Culture in the Auricula kinds. — These plants 

 may all be increased by seeds in order to pro- 

 cure r.ew varieties, and by, slipping the roots to 

 increase the approved kinds. 



In order to obtain good flowers from seeds, 

 choice should be made of the best flowers, 

 which should be exposed to the open air, that 

 they may have the benefit of showers, without 

 which they seldom produce good seeds : the time 

 of their ripening is in June ; which is easily 

 known, by their seed-vessels turning to a 

 brown colour, and opening, being then care- 

 ful lest the seeds be scattered out of the vessel, 

 as they will not be all fit to gather at the same 

 time. 



The proper soil for this sort of seed is good, 

 fresh, light, sandy mould, mixed with very 

 rotten neat's dung, or very rotten dung from the 

 bottom of an old hot-bed ; with which the pots, 

 boxes, or baskets in which the seeds are to be 

 sown should be filled ; and having levelled 

 the surface very smooth, the seeds should be 



