OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN FLOWERS. 217 



P. d. major is a larger form in all its parts. 



P. d. nana is more dwarfed than the type. 



P. d. amabilis is a truly lovely form, having darker foliage and 

 rosy buds ; its habit, too, is even more neat and upright, and the 

 blooming period earlier by about two weeks. 



A moist position and vegetable mould suit it best, according 

 to my experience, and the dips of rockwork are just the places 

 for it, not exactly in the bottom, for the following reason : The 

 large crowns are liable to rot from wet standing in them, and if 

 the plants are set in a slope it greatly helps to clear the crowns 

 of stagnant moisture. Propagation is by means of offsets, 

 which should be taken during the growing season, so that they 

 may form good roots and become established before winter. 



Flowering period, March to May. 



Primula Farinosa. 



MEALY PRIMROSE, or BIRD'S-EYE; Nat. Ord. PRIMTJLACEJH. 

 THE pretty native species, very common in a wild state in some 

 parts, near which, of course, it need not be grown in gardens ; 

 but as its beauty is unquestionable, and as there are many who 

 do not know it, and evidently have never seen it, it ought to have 

 a place in the garden. It is herbaceous and perennial. All its 

 names are strictly descriptive. The little centre has a resem- 

 blance to a bird's eye, and the whole plant is thickly covered with 

 a meal-like substance. Small as this plant is, when properly 

 grown it produces a large quantity of bloom for cutting purposes. 



It is 3in. to Sin. high, according to the situation in which it is 

 grown. The flowers are light purple, only |in. across, arranged 

 in neat umbels ; the corolla is flat, having a bright yellow centre ; 

 leaves small, ovate-oblong, roundly toothed, bald, and powdery 

 beneath; the flower scapes are round and quite white, "with a 

 meal-like covering. 



In stiff soil and a damp situation this little gem does well, or it 

 will be equally at home in a vegetable soil, such as leaf mould or 

 peat, but there must be no lack of moisture, and it is all the 

 better for being screened from the mid-day sun, as it would be 

 behind a hedge or low wall. So freely does it bloom, that it is 

 not only worth a place in the garden, but repays all the trouble 

 required to establish it in proper quarters, after which it will take 

 care of itself, by producing offsets and seedlings in abundance. 



Flowering period, April to June. 



Primula Marginata. 



Syn. P. CRENATA; MARGINED PRIMROSE; Nat. Ord. 



PRIMTJLACE.&. 



A NATIVE of Switzerland, so rich in alpine flowers ; this is but a 

 small species, yet very distinct and conspicuous (see Fig. 77). 



