26 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



GLOXINIAS 



This handsome hothouse plant is not everybody's flower, 

 and the number of nurserymen who grow it in quantity might 

 almost be counted on the fingers. But there are certain houses 

 where it is still a leading and paying line. Given an extra- 

 special variety named it is readily propagated from leaf 

 cuttings, but a really choice strain of seeds will produce varieties 

 as good as can be desired. Treat the seeds and the seedlings 

 exactly as laid down for tuberous Begonias, but grow on in 

 single pots in a hothouse. Flower them in 48*3 and market 

 them. The foliage rather resents contact with water, so that 

 care must be taken to water the plants without wetting their 

 leaves. 



PRIMULA SINENSIS 



Chinese Primulas are amongst the brightest, best-known, 

 and most useful of winter-flowering plants. The fimbriated 

 forms, both single and double, and the stellate forms are in 

 great demand for the decoration of table, window, and con- 

 servatory. Though perennial, they are treated as biennial, 

 and raised every year from seed. 



There are Primulas and Primulas, and it is true economy to 

 pay a slightly enhanced price for the seeds, to make quite sure 

 of procuring the finest strain. By " finest strain " we refer 

 to those with the largest fimbriated flowers and the choicest 

 range of colours, and these can only be procured from those 

 seed growers or merchants who have established a name for 

 their strain, and who have a reputation to lose. It is also 

 advisable to grow them to colour, an advantage made possible 

 only within the last few years. 



The first sowing may be made in May, and further sowings 

 in June and July for successive batches, a proceeding rendered 

 necessary whether the plants are intended for sale as trans- 

 planted seedlings or as flowering plants. Like Cinerarias, 

 Primulas prefer cool treatment, harshness and aridity being 

 poison to them. Partial shade should be afforded them during 

 their earlier stages those stages which are included throughout 



