BOOK II. 



PRIMROSE FAMILY. 



853 



606 



time that requires your most particular care." He thins out the pips or blossoms, leaving not more than 

 thirteen, nor fewer than seven on a truss or umbel. In thinning, " they should be taken out two or three 

 at a time, and it requires some taste, nicety, and art, to perform this operation well, that the blossoms 

 which are left on may grow in a regular equidistant form, so that any common spectator might suppose 

 that no such thinning of the pips had taken place, but that they had grown exactly in that form, and 

 with that number, from the first." Towards the end of the month the flowers are removed to the stage 

 fronting the east. 



6385. The Lancashire growers, " in blooming 

 time, set their large show-plants under hand- 

 glasses, in an east aspect, to receive the morning 

 sun only. The plants are, perhaps, not so early 

 in bloom as those wintered in frames, but when 

 their stems are not drawn, and they are able to 

 support the trusses firmly : the mildew and rot 

 do not take them so readily as when in closer 

 situations." 



6386. Justice blows his flowers in the bunkers, 

 or sheds, exposed to the full north ; he gives 

 them all the air he can, but excludes the sun, 

 shelters them from winds, and waters them well 

 twice a-week. (Brit. Gard. Direct, art. Auricula.) 



6387. Henderson, of Delvine, blows his 

 flowers in a frame (Jig. 606.}, which he 

 says, " answers all the purposes of frame, 

 hand-glass, and stage, used by the Eng- 

 lish florists ; at least I make it do so. 

 I have only to erect a screen of matting 

 or poles in front, during the flowering 

 season. The plan of it (a) is a long 

 hexagon, which has a span roof i b] and 

 a low stage sloping on all sides, (c)' 

 In the elevation are eight ventilators (d), 

 eight hinged sashes (e), and as many 

 iron rods on staples for holding them 

 up (/)." The whole seems a simple, 

 economical, arid sufficiently neat struc- 

 ture. 



SUBSECT. 16. 



Primula) or Primrose Family. Primula, L. 

 Primulacece, B. P. 



Pentand. Monng. L. and 



6388. The jrrimrose family, grown as florists' flowers, consists of the polyanthus, 

 primrose, cowslip, and oxlip. 



6389. The polyanthus is the Primula vulgaris, var. Polyanthus, L. Primula, French, 

 German, and Italian. In its wild state, the common primrose is too well known to 

 require any description, it produces its flowers on numerous peduncles ; but, by 

 cultivation, throws up a scape, bearing an umbel of numerous flowers, brown, purple, 

 red, and yellow. Linnaeus asserts, that the peduncles in the common wild primroses 

 spring from a scape, which being so short as to be concealed among the leaves, has not 

 been observed. Curtis, however, found it in a few plants, and also that wild primroses, 

 introduced into Dr. Buxton's garden, at Maize Hill, near Greenwich, produced flowers 

 both with and without a scape, and became, color excepted, perfect polyanthuses. Many 

 botanists consider, that the polyanthus, primrose, cowslip, and oxlip are one species ; and 

 the Rev. W. Herbert seems to have proved it, and the same thing as to Primula auricula, 

 helvetica, nivalis, and viscosa. (Hort. Trans, iv. 19.) It is sufficient for our purpose to 

 observe, that the polyanthus is a very permanent variety, which does not readily return 

 to the primrose, and that it is in high repute as a select and border flower, appearing in 

 March and April, when there are few others to decorate the flower-garden. 



6390. Varieties. These are as numerous as the varieties of auricula ; and, as in that 

 plant, single flowers are most esteemed. 



6391. Criterion of a fine polyanthus. " Its properties are, in most respects, similar to those of a fine 

 auricula, viz. the stem, peduncles, or foot-stalks, and formation of the bunch or truss ; therefore, a defi- 

 nition of its pips, or petals (fig. 607. a), only remain necessary to be considered in this place. The tube 

 of the corolla above the calyx, should be short, well filled with the anthers or summits of the stamens, 

 and terminate fluted, rather above the eye. The eye should be round, of a bright clear yellow, and dis- 

 tinct from the ground-color ; the proportion as in the auricula throughout the flower. The ground-color 

 is most admired when shaded with a light and dark rich crimson, resembling velvet, with one mark or 

 stripe in the centre of each division of the limb, bold and distinct, from the edging down to the eye, 

 where it should terminate in a fine point. The pips should be large, quite flat, and as round as may be, 

 consistent with their peculiar beautiful figure, which is circular, excepting those small indentures between 

 each division of the limb, which divide it into five or six heart-like segments. The edging should resem- 

 ble a bright gold lace, bold, clear, and distinct, and so nearly of the same color as the eye and stripes are 

 scarcely to be distinguished ; in short, the polyanthus should possess a graceful elegance of form, a rich- 

 ness of coloring, and symmetry of parts, not to be found united in any other flower." (Maddock.) 



6392. Propagation. By dividing the root, or by slips, for ordinary purposes : and by seed, for obtaining 

 new varieties. 



313 



