PRIMULA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



PRIMULA. 



early autumn. They are also easily 

 raised from seed. Seed ripens in July, 

 and is usually sown in a gentle heat in 

 the following January. It should be sown 

 thinly in pans. The plants need not be 

 disturbed till they are big enough to 

 prick into fine rich light soil on a half- 

 shady border. It is most desirable to 

 raise seedlings, as in this way many 

 beautiful varieties may be obtained, and 

 if a desirable variety is noticed, it should 

 be marked, placed under conditions 

 calculated to ensure its health and rapid 

 increase, and propagated by division as 

 fast as possible. 



As to the florists' varieties, innumerable 

 and precise descriptions of the culture 

 considered necessary have been given, 

 but the essential points may be summed 

 up in a few words. They require protec- 

 tion in frames or pits during winter and 

 spring, and may be placed in the open 

 air in summer and early autumn. In 

 winter they should be put in pits, and 

 placed as near to the light as may be 

 convenient, the lights being left off in 

 mild weather, and air being given at all 

 times, except in severe frosts. Air by 

 night as well as by day is decidedly 

 beneficial. The pit or frame may be the 

 usual one for the winter months ; but as 

 soon as the plants begin to show flower, 

 they ought to be removed to one with 

 a northern exposure, so as to prolong the 

 bloom. In such a place, with abundance 

 of air, they form objects of much interest 

 and beauty through April and the first 

 weeks of May. After flowering they 

 should be potted in May, and kept shaded 

 till they have recovered. The potting 

 usually consists of carefully shaking away 

 all the soil and putting the plant in fresh 

 compost ; and the practice is a good one, 

 for this plant and its wild allies put forth 

 young roots higher up the stem every 

 year, and the encouragement of these 

 young roots is sure to have a good result. 

 The pots generally used (the 4-in. size) 

 are quite large enough where annual dis- 

 rooting is practised, one sucker of a kind 

 being placed in the centre of each pot. 

 The wisdom of potting every plant in this 

 way is doubtful, and it is better to select 

 those that have sound roots, and are set 

 firmly and low in the earth, and while 

 disturbing the ball but little to give them 

 a careful shift into a 5-in. pot. In grow- 

 ing the alpine kinds in pots and they 

 are as worthy of it as the other kinds 

 growers should put five or six plants in a 

 6-in. pot, one in the centre and four or 

 five round the side, so as to form a hand- 

 some specimen. The same principle 



may be carried out in pans, and applied 

 to the free-growing florists' varieties as 

 well as the alpines. In summer all the 

 plants should be placed in the open air 

 on boards or slates or a bed of coal-ashes, 

 or some substance that will prevent the 

 entrance of worms into the pots. Some 

 careful growers guard the plants from 

 heavy rains, but this is unnecessary if the 

 pots are perfectly drained and everything 

 else is as it ought to be. The florists 

 rarely plunge the pots ; but if plunged in 

 a bed of clean sharp sand, or in any like 

 material on a well-drained bottom, and 

 free from earthworm, they will be safer 

 and less troublesome, because free from 

 the vicissitudes that must attend all plants 

 exposed in a fragile porous shell contain- 

 ing but a few inches of soil. Some pot 

 their plants in August, but the best time 

 is just after the flowering, as if disrooted 

 in the autumn, the plants have not that 

 accumulated strength for flowering which 

 is acquired by a long period of undisturbed 

 growth. 



The perfect development of the choicest 

 florists' kinds is secured by mixing one 

 part of good turfy loam and one part 

 of leaf-mould with another of well-de- 

 cayed cow manure and silver or sharp 

 river sand. Although we have given 

 such full directions in regard to the cul- 

 ture of the florists' varieties, we again 

 earnestly advise all who care for the 

 flower to cultivate the free and hardy 

 forms that thrive in the open air. It is a 

 good plan to select bright or delicate self 

 or other colours that please one. Such 

 kinds should be increased, so that definite 

 effects may be worked out with each 

 colour. 



P. capitata. One of the finest of all 

 Primroses. It is like P. denticulata, but 

 is very distinct as a garden plant. It 

 has a tuft of sharply-toothed pale green 

 leaves, not half the size of that of a fully- 

 developed P. denticulata. In autumn it 

 bears dense heads of flowers of the 

 deepest Tyrian purple, which as regards 

 depth is very variable, and is shown to 

 advantage by the white mealy powder in 

 which the flowers are enveloped. It is 

 not so vigorous as P. denticulata, though 

 hardy, and it cannot be termed a good 

 perennial, as it is apt to go off after 

 flowering well. It is therefore advisable 

 to raise seedlings. This is easy, as the 

 plant seeds freely in most seasons, and 

 the seedlings flower in the second year. 

 An open position with a north aspect 

 in good loamy soil well watered in dry 

 weather suits it best. 



P. cortusoides. A distinct species 



