204 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 378. 



Almost every year the Pines are invaded by some wan- 

 dering plant from foreign parts, which settles down and 

 makes itself at home among the old inhabitants. This 

 spring, for the first time, I see the Sherardia arvensis has 

 become a fixture on our roadsides. It is welcome, as it is 

 a little delicate thing with whorls of six small leaves around 

 the square stems, and small blue flowers surrounded by a 

 thick involucre. This pretty plant can never become a 

 pest, like its European relative, Galium Mollugo. 



Pyrus arbutifolia is in flower, as well as some belated 

 specimens of Amelanchier, but the latter is mostly in fruit, 

 and promises an abundant harvest. The Swamp Maples 

 are handsome with thick clusters of flaming red keys, and 

 it will not be long before the brilHant Laurel and the Mag- 

 nolia and Xerophyllum, with many other attractive flowers, 

 will amply repay excursions in the Pines. 



In the garden a white single Rose, one of the Rugosa 

 type, commenced blooming on the loth of May, and is 

 now white with large beautiful roses. This is one of Mr. 

 Dawson's plants. Other single white Roses in the garden 

 are from two to three weeks later than this. 



Great clumps of the German Iris are making a good dis- 

 play in the border, and some of the more choice Colum- 

 bines are very attractive. But for brilliant color there is 

 nothing better than a mass of scarlet Poppies, which are 

 now in all their glory. 



Vineland, N. J. 



jl/ary Treal. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



Primulas. 



THE genus Primula has a special fascination for horti- 

 culturists, a large number of species being included 

 in our popular plants for the Alpine garden, while others 

 are valued as pot-plants for cultivation in the conservatory. 

 The Ro}^al Horticultural Society holds a special exhibition 

 of Primulas every year, accompanied by the reading of 

 papers and discussions by specialists, which are of suftl- 

 cient interest and importance to be called a Conference. 

 At the exhibition this year a large number of plants were 

 shown in flower, and papers were read by Mr. Baker, 

 F.R.S., and others. Although the season has been most 

 unpropitious for plants of the nature of alpine Primulas, 

 yet the collections shown were almost, if not quite, equal 

 to those of previous years. The Auriculas were well rep- 

 resented, and, as usual, received a large share of attention 

 from the laity, who are, as a rule, uncertain whether they 

 ought to admire or be amused by such quaintly colored 

 flowers. Polyanthuses are not popular in English gardens 

 nowadays, and yet there are few herbaceous plants that 

 will produce such an effective display of brightly colored 

 flowers as these do in spring under the most ordinary treat- 

 ment. But after all, the species, true and undefiled, are the 

 elite of Primulas. Mr. Douglas showed a first-prize collec- 

 tion of twelve, which were a delightful picture ; they were 

 P. mollis, P. Japonica, P. rosea, P. denticulata, P. verticil- 

 lata, P. Cashmeriana, P. floribunda, P. Auricula, P. obconica, 

 P. amoena, P. intermedia and P. decora. These are all 

 first-class garden-plants. One of the most charming cor- 

 ners in the rock-garden at Kew just now is a peat-bog of 

 about four square }'ards filled with tufts of P. rosea, all in 

 full flower, and as bright in its rose color as the Chionodoxa 

 was in its blue a few weeks ago. 



A list of the species of Primula in cultivation in English 

 gardens would comprise at least fifty. There were thirty 

 in flower in the Alpine house at Kew a few days ago. Mr. 

 Baker, in his interesting remarks on the botany of the 

 Primula, said that whereas twenty years ago the number 

 of species known was between seventy and eighty, vve 

 now know about one hundred and fifty. The increase is 

 largely due to discoveries in India and China. To quote 

 Mr. Baker's own words : "We have now about one hun- 

 dred and fifty species, of which, in round numbers, fifty 

 are Chinese and Japanese, fifty are Himalayan and the 

 other fifty are spread through Europe, northern Asia and 



America." There are some distinct and handsome plants 

 among the new discoveries in western China, which, how- 

 ever, have still to be introduced into cultivation. It would 

 be worth the while of some enterprising nurseryman to 

 send a collector into the districts madd botanically famous 

 by the missionaries, David and Delavay, and by Dr. Henry, 

 many of the plants collected in Yun-nan, etc., by them 

 being such as would find general favor with horticulturists. 



A paper by Mr. Self-Leonard, an enthusiastic trade- 

 grower of Alpine plants of all kinds, 'dealt with the culti- 

 vation of Primulas. He divided them into three classes : 

 (i) Species for the greenhouse, comprising P. obconica, 

 P. Sinensis, P. mollis, P. verticillata, etc.; (2) large, strong- 

 growing, hardy species, generally of the easiest culture, 

 and comjjrising such noble garden-plants as P. denticulata, 

 P. Japonica (an excellent plant for massing under trees), 

 P. capitata, P. Sikkimensis, P. Stuartii, etc.; (3) the smaller 

 and choicer Alpine species. For these he claimed a style 

 of beauty altogether their own, which made their separa- 

 tion from their coarser brethren, both in the garden and in 

 the exhibition hall, essential. 



The cultural requirements of the plants of the third class 

 were not, in Mr. Self-Leonard's opinion, of a special char- 

 acter, but, broadly speaking, they thrive under the same 

 treatment as the Auricula, except that they do not require 

 so complete a rest in midwinter, and at other times they do 

 not need the continuous care and studied culture necessary 

 to produce good Auriculas. Protection from the excessive 

 wet in winter and spring rather than from cold is needed, 

 most of them enjoying the low winter temperature if kept 

 dry. On the other hand, many of them are all the better 

 for protection from summer heat. The cooler climate of 

 northern Europe always suits Primulas better than that of 

 the south ; for instance, they grow better in Scotland than 

 in most parts of England. 



The soil recommended was loam with a little sand, rather 

 heavy than light, and an avoidance of peat in every case. 

 A chalk soil is not, in his opinion, essential to the culture of 

 any Primula and is poisonous to some of them. "Expe- 

 rience conclusively proves that those alpine Primulas, 

 which, in nature, are only found on calcareous soils, can 

 be easily grown in our gardens without a particle of chalk 

 or lime in the soil." Mr. Self-Leonard, like all experienced 

 cultivators, attaches comparatively little importance to the 

 soil. He condemns " nostrums " and commends an intel- 

 ligent interpretation of nature's teaching by the light of the 

 cultivator's experience. 



A third paper by Mr. Douglas on the Auricula dealt 

 chiefly with their cultural requirements if intended to win 

 prizes at exhibitions. He condemns indiscriminate cross- 

 ing, especially between plants of the different sections, a 

 bastard, inferior in all respects to its parents, being gen- 

 erally the result. The Auricula has had its devotees in 

 England for about three hundred years, but only during 

 the last century have the show varieties been classified 

 according to the variegation or coloration of the flowers. 

 Thus now we have (i) green-edged varieties which have 

 white centres, black or blackish maroon zones and a mar- 

 gin of dark green ; none of the plants in this class have 

 powdered leaves ; (2) gray-edged varieties, characterized 

 by a thick coating of white farina on the outer margin, 

 through which the ground color partially shows ; (3) white- 

 edged varieties, in which the powder on the margin is 

 thick and uniformly white ; (4) selfs, which have white 

 eye-like centres and an unshaded margin of blackish ma- 

 roon, purplish blue or red ; in fact, any color that can be 

 obtained, but it must be clear and unshaded. The meali- 

 ness of the foliage in some of the varieties is so excessive 

 that they are known in some localities as the "Dusty Mil- 

 ler." Mr. Douglas exhibited a fine specimen pan of Pri- 

 mula auricula grown from a little plant collected on the 

 Swiss Alps fifteen years ago, and which he has had under 

 garden-culture in rich soil ever since. Although, as he 

 says, it had increased a hundredfold, it had not altered in 

 the slitrhtest in the size, form or color of the flowers. In 



