OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN FLOWERS. 219 



I scarcely need mention that such plants with mealy and downy 

 foliage are all the better for being sheltered from wind and rain. 

 In a crevice, overhung by a big stone, but where the rockwork is 

 so constructed that plenty of moisture is naturally received, a 

 specimen has done very well indeed, besides keeping its foliage 

 dry and perfect. "When such positions can either be found or 

 made, they appear to answer even better than frames, as alpine 

 species cannot endure a stagnant atmosphere, which is the too 

 common lot of frame subjects. It is not very particular as to 

 soil or situation. I grow it both in shade and fully exposed to 

 the midday sun of summer, and, though a healthy specimen is 

 grown in loam, I find others to do better in leaf mould mixed 

 with grit and pebbles. It enjoys a rare immunity the slugs let 

 it alone, or at least my slugs do, for it ia said that different tribes 

 or colonies have different tastes. To propagate it, the little off- 

 sets about the footstalk should be cut off with a sharp knife when 

 the parent plant has finished flowering ; they will mostly be found 

 to have nice long roots. Plant in leaf soil and grit, and keep 

 them shaded for a month. 



Flowering period, March to May. 



Primula Purpurea. 



PURPLE-FLOWERED PRIMULA; Nat. Ord. PRIMULACEJE. 

 A TRULY grand primrose of the same section as P. denticulata, 

 coming also from an alpine habitat, viz., the higher elevations of 

 the Himalayas. It has not long been in cultivation in this 

 country compared with our knowledge of the Himalayan flora. 

 It is perfectly hardy, but seems to require rather drier situations 

 than most of the large-leaved kinds. I never saw it so fine as 

 when grown on a hillock of rockwork in sand and leaf mould ; 

 the specimen had there stood two severe winters, and in the 

 spring of 1881 we were gladdened by its pushing in all directions 

 fifteen scapes, all well topped by its nearly globular heads of fine 

 purple flowers. It begins to flower in March, and keeps on for 

 quite a month. 



The flower stems are 9in. high, stout, and covered with a mealy 

 dust, thickest near the top and amongst the small bracts. The 

 umbels of blossom are 2in. to Sin. across, each flower nearly fin. 

 in diameter, the corolla being salver shaped and having its lobed 

 segments pretty well apart ; the tube is long and somewhat 

 bellied where touched by the teeth of the calyx; the latter is 

 more than half the length of tube, of a pale green colour, and the 

 teeth, which are long, awl shaped, and clasping, impart to the 

 tubes of the younger flowers a fluted appearance ; later on they 

 become relaxed and leafy. The leaves have a strong, broad, pale 

 green, shining midrib, are lance-shaped, nearly smooth, wavy, 

 and serrulated ; the upper surface is of a lively green colour, and 



