88 New hybrid Primroses. 



nearly so many young ones are obtained. Those which are 

 raised from hollowing out, as well as those from the crosscuts, 

 do not produce any leaves on the surface of the bed the first 

 year. Both should be planted separately, in a suitable part of 

 the garden, and in the kind of earth used for hyacinths. 



September. — Packing should goon during this montii ; and 

 it nmst be particularly remembered that all those beds on which 

 hyacinths or other bulbs are to be planted must now be dug 

 1^ or 2 feet deep, so that planting may begin in the following 

 month. These beds, which had been already dug deep in the 

 months of January and February, and in which (as has been 

 mentioned) the dung was dug 1 ft. deep, were cropped with 

 vegetables or annuals during summer. 



Art. VII. Notice respecting some new hybrid Primroses raised 

 between the Polyanthus and the Chinese Primrose. By James 

 Seymour, Kitchen-Gardener to the Countess of Bridgewater, at 

 Ashridge. 



I ENCLOSE three blossoms of seedling Prinmlge ; one a fine lilac, which was 

 raised between a dark polyanthus and a fringed Chinese primrose ; and the 

 other two, shades of pale lilac, the result of a cross of the pink variety of 

 Chinese primrose with the white. I have other seedlings, the produce of a 

 cross between the common primrose and Primula sinensis ; their foliage par- 

 takes much of that of the common primrose, but they have not yet flowered. 



To have good Primula plants to bloom early in the autumn, I sow the seed 

 about the middle of February, in a light sandy soil, in pans well drained, placed 

 in a frame with a gentle heat, and where they can have both air and light. 

 When the plants come up, and are large enough for potting, 1 prick them out 

 into small pots in a compost of leaf-mould, white sand, bog soil, virgin loam, 

 and a little sheep's dung, mixed all well together. The plants are kept grow- 

 ing, and shifted into larger pots as they require ; taking care not to give them 

 too large a pot at once, and to keep them well drained. I give the plants occa- 

 sionally a little sheep-dung water, which I have found is of great use. They 

 must not want water at any time, and yet too much must not be given to 

 them at once ; for, if the soil be suffered to become sodden at any time, the 

 plants are apt to give way at the collar ; and if, after being wet, they are sud- 

 denly dried, and exposed to a hot sun, it does them much harm, and particu- 

 larly if they are in bloom, as the flowers are then sure to fall off. When I 

 want a few plants more bushy than usual, and to flower in the winter and 

 spring, I cut the flower stems out in the autumn. The pots ought to be 

 pretty well filled with roots before the winter ; as this will prevent the plants 

 from damping off. I likewise make a sowing in June, to have them in bloom 

 late in the spring ; always selecting the best-shaped flowers, with good colour, 

 and fringed, for saving seed from. I generally impregnate the pin-eyed ones by 

 taking the pollen of a superior rose-eyed one with a penknife, and putting it 

 upon the stigma of the other ; to impregnate the rose-eyed ones, I put my 

 mouth to the flower, and gently draw my breath, and return it into the bloom. 

 If I want a fine specimen plant in bloom, I take a pair of grape scissors and 

 thin the blooms, as well as the flower stalks, altogether. 



The changeable-flowered variety, wliich changes from a pure white to a rosy 

 pink, had 9 flower stems, with 58 flowers in bloom, and 71 buds; makmg a 

 total of 129 buds. Flowers 2 in. in diameter; leaves 5 in. each way. Plant 



