106 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



for sonif time theronfter was Imt jioorly o'l-owiij and had 

 no sucli lieauty as it has now. Oar iigare represents it as 

 it usually a])peared in the early days of its advance in the 

 way of improvement. Within the past few years the pro- 

 (jress of impro\'ement has been really wonderful^ for we 

 have great variety of leafage^ the leaves being in many 

 eases elegantly lobed^ and constituting a, race called " fern- 

 leaved primulas ; '•' while the flowers are single and double, 

 smooth and fringed, and of all C(jlours, from piTre white to 

 fiery red, ap^iroaching' pure scarlet. 



To grow these plants from seeds rec[uires only moderate 

 care, and one of the important points is to have really good 

 seed to begin with. To be sparing of the cost of seed is to 

 be committed to a sort of " wild goose chase ; ■'■' and as the 

 hnest seed in the world is cheap enough for the poorest 

 cultivator, there can lie no excuse for the waste of labour 

 upon a p)oor strain of plants. It may almost be said that 

 the seed may be sown at any time, but the best time is 

 from ^Nlarch to jNIay ; a sowing may be made, however, as 

 late as Julv for a late bloom. To speak generally of the 

 Chinese ]irimula, it maybe said that, the same treatment 

 as advised for tlie cineraria or the herbaceous calceolaria 

 would suit, it fairly well. But such an " offhand ■'•' direc- 

 tion is scarcely proper in the present ease. Having Ijeguu 

 with good seed tlierefore, the next thing is to sow it, and 

 this is really a delicate operation. The seed-jjans must be 

 perfectly drained, or the business will fail at the lirst 

 chapter. Stagnant moisture and sour soil are deadly at 

 any time to this primula, but especially so in its earlier 

 stages. Therefore we begin with shallow seed-pans, in 

 ^\liich are pached some scientific potsherds. Then we 

 lill u]i with lirst aliout a handful of flaky manure from an 



