54 OUR ROCK-GARDEN 



of their own megrims. Such ailments are often 

 imaginary, and for these an imaginary remedy 

 should be of the greatest value. 



The mealy primrose the Primula farinosa of 

 the botanist should, if possible, find a place in our 

 garden, if we can somewhere devise a bit of bog- 

 land ; and this we must certainly do, if at all 

 possible, or we shall fail to rear many charming 

 things the bog-bean, bog-pimpernel, bog-campanula, 

 and many others. The mealy primrose is common 

 enough in many parts of Northern England, the 

 moist meadowlands being sometimes quite tinted 

 over with its multitudinous lilac - pink blossoms. 

 These, like little primroses in form, all cluster 

 together at the top of each flower-stem. In a wild 

 state it seeds very freely, but if we have been at 

 all successful in its culture it is scarcely worth while 

 to trouble about seedlings, as the roots divide up 

 very readily. Down South it is a rather difficult 

 plant to rear. Parkinson, the author of a delightful 

 herbal written in the seventeenth century, gives us 

 his experience that it " would hardly abide culture." 

 If we give it too scanty a supply of water during the 

 Summer it will certainly die, but it can equally be 

 destroyed by too much wet in winter. The plant 

 derives its popular name from the grey, meal-like 

 look of the under surfaces of the leaves. The 

 primula frondosa, another of our charming rock- 

 garden plants, is very similar in general appearance 



