8.74 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



111. 



6393. By seed. The plants from which seed is to be saved are to be separated from the stems, and 

 treated in the same manner as seed-bearing auriculas. When ripe, it should be cut oft' with part of the 

 stem, and so preserved till the sowing season, which, as well as the mode of procedure, are, according to 

 Maddock, the same as for the auricula. Emmerton says, flowers intended for seed should be selected on 

 the same principle as he directs for the auricula ; and he recommends Pearson's Alexander and Nichol- 

 son's Tantarara as excellent flowers to breed from. Knight's mode of castration may be adopted. 



6394. Justice says, he " has had great success in raising polyanthuses and primroses from seed." He 

 gathered the seed generally about the 25th of June, and sowed it ten days afterwards in boxes, placed in 

 the open air, under a wall or hedge with a north aspect. In July, he directs to " prepare a nursery-bed of 

 the same earth in which they were sown, and plant them care'fully out, taking up as much earth about 

 their roots as you can, so as not to disturb their young fibres, planting them twelve inches asunder, and 

 shading them from all sun until they have struck new roots ; keep them clear from weeds, and give them 

 gentle waterings, and let this nursery-bed bo made in such a situation as to have the morning sun only. 

 Some of them will show their flowers the same autumn, and many of them in the spring following. Select 

 the best, and plant them in a bed by themselves in a shady moist situation. In November, top-dress the 

 plants, which will greatly strengthen them for the succeeding spring. They require to be transplanted 

 every two years." (Brit. Gard. Direct. 218.) 



6395. Soil. Maddock and Emmerton recommend the same compost as for auriculas, but with more 

 loam. Justice used the following : " to one load of well rotted cow-dung, or leaves of trees, take half a 

 load of fine white sand, and two loads of fine hazelly loam, taken from a pasture some months before, and 

 which has had the sward rotted amongst the earth :" mix all well together before using." 



6396. Hogg says, " the primrose and polyanthus require a much greater portion of sandy loam than the 

 auricula, a very small quantity of rotten dung, and a little leaf-mould or heath or peat earth, mixed with 

 them : in this they are found to grow extremely well." 



6397. Manner of growing. Maddock says, they may be grown in the same sized pots as the auricula, and 

 be treated in the same manner ; but as they are "more impatient of heat and drought, and partial to shade 

 and moisture, they may, with equal propriety, be planted on cool and shady beds or borders. This is the 

 general practice of almost all the growers of this flower. 



6398. General culture. The polyanthus is very hardy, and seldom perishes in the coldest and wettest 

 seasons ; but, during the heats of summer, they are frequently destroyed by snails and slugs, and by a small 

 red spider. " This insect," Maddock observes, " seldom attacks such plants as are in a state of vigor, or 

 when the weather is cold and wet ; it generally commences its depredations in the early part of summer, 

 and continues them as the heat and dryness of the weather favor its existence : the juices also of the plants 

 being then more viscous and saccharine, afford it more suitable nourishment than at any other season. 

 Such plants as appear infected should be immediately selected from the rest, taken out of the earth, and 

 soaked for two or three hours in a strong infusion of tobacco-water, and be replanted in a fresh soil or 

 compost, and removed to another situation remote from the 



former. If the whole bed or border of polyanthuses is over- 

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

 them in the same manner, and plant them elsewhere. The 

 bed or border from whence the plants have been taken, 

 should be immediately dug up or trenched, and suffered to 

 remain fallow till the following season, or be occupied with 

 some crop not liable to the same calamity." (Florist's Di- 

 rectory, 228.) 



6399. The primrose (P. vulgaris, L. (Eng. Sot. 

 4.) Primevere, Fr. ; Shaftlose Primule, Ger. ; 

 and Primavera, Ital.) (Jig. 607.) has a perennial 

 root, appearing as if bit off at the end, with a 

 singular smell like that of the anise. It is a na- 

 tive of most parts of Europe, in woods, coppices, 

 and sheltered lanes, particularly in a clayey soil. 

 The flowers of the wild plant are almost always of 

 a brimstone-color, but sometimes of a purple hue ; 

 they appear in March and April. 



6400. Varieties. The double varieties produced by culture are in most esteem, of which there are 



607 



The stemless white 



Crimson 



Hose-in-hose 



Scotch 

 White 



Yellow 

 Brimstone. 



6401. The cowslip (P. veris, L. (Eng. Sot. 5.) Primel, Fr. and Schlusselblume, Ger.) 

 (jig. 608.) is distinguished from the primrose, by smelling more strongly of anise, by 

 shorter leaves, and by an umbel with a leafy involucrum. It 

 is a native plant, and found in moist pastures, in open situations, 

 flowering in May. 



6402. Varieties. Both double and single varieties arc in esteem ; but the 

 plant has not been so much cultivated as the primrose. Gibbs, nursery- 

 man, Brompton, has lately raised a great many very beautiful varieties from 

 seed, differing in color, magnitude of the umbel, and in some being double, 

 and in the hose-in-hose form. " May 19th, 1818, Gibbs sent a large col. 

 lection of flowers of varieties of the common cowslip, from his garden at 

 Brompton. He had raised them from the seed of plants, originally derived 

 from the wild cowslip, which had sported into varieties, and by frequent re- 

 production had attained their present excellence. The changes that have 

 taken place are in the magnitude of the trusses, and the size and color of 

 the flowers ; the selection appearing to have been from the darker hues, 

 though some paler flowers were in the collection. However great the vari- 

 ation was in the points alluded to, yet none of the specimens appeared to 

 have lost the general character and appearance of cowslip, not running either 

 into the oxlip or the primrose ; but some of them had become what florists 

 term hose-in-hose, which appears to be the conversion, more or less, of the 

 calyx, into the appearance of the corolla." 



6403. Theoxlip (P.elatior, L. (Eng. Bot. 51 8. )Bamllon, Fr. and 

 Gartenprimel,Gcr.)(jig.6Q9') is distinguished from the primrose by its many-flowered scape- 



