54 



CASSELL'S POPULAE GARDENING. 



the divided pieces they should be placed in small 

 pots, and be buried just beneath the soil, which 

 should be pressed firmly about them. 



The following is a selection of the best varieties : — 



Alba grandiflora, pure 

 white. 



Beauty, briglit red. 



Cliarmer, soft pale mauve. 



Cordelia, jmle lavender. 



Exquisite, pale lilac. 



Fasciuation, deep lavender. 



Gaiety, deep violet-blue. 



Hermia, rosy-lilac. 



Laciniata, deep purplish- 

 red. 



Lilacioa, veined lilac. 



Mauve Beauty, white and 

 mauve, 



Peach-Wossmn, pink. 



Purpurea, bright mauve- 

 purple. 



Ruby, deep red. 



Rosalba, rosy- pink. 



Violacea laciniata, deep 

 violet. 



Vivid, bright magei ta. 



Yincseflora, rich lilac. 



F. farinosa is the Bird's-eye Mealy Primrose, a 

 small i^lant with little blossoms of a beautiful lilac 

 colour, arranged in full clusters like a garden 

 Verbena ; the leaves and the stem are covered with 

 a white powder or meal. " No sweeter flower holds 

 up its head to kiss the breeze that rustles over the 

 elevated bogs and mountain pastures of Northern 

 England, and it should be doubly interesting to the 

 British cultivator because it is a true native, found in 

 Lancashire, North Yorkshire, Durham, Northumber- 

 land, AVestmoreland, and Cumberland, and in some 

 parts of Scotland. It is, however, a local plant. To 

 find it in early summer morning, as one ascends the 

 Helvellyn range for the first time, is to a lover of 

 wild-flowers a great pleasure, and one that will be 

 long remembered" (Robinson's _F/o?re?-s). It 



is easy to cidtivate in pots, the chief want, whether 

 in pots or in the open, being abundance of water in 

 summer, and where this does not fall naturally it 

 shovild be supplied artificially. If planted out in the 

 open ground it should be in deep moist soil, and it 

 would be well to cover it with cocoa -fibre or leaf- 

 mould in hot and drying weather. 



There is a stemless variety of the preceding known 

 as P! fari>iosa acaidis, a very diminutive form, re- 

 quiring considerable care in its culture. 



F. (jhitlnosa is a beautiful and distinct species, 

 very dwarf and pleasing, and producing brilliant 

 bluish-purple flowers in early spring. It is found on 

 the Tyrolese mountains. It should be grown in pots 

 in a cold frame, or plunged out of doors in a bed of 

 sand. 



F. wtcffvi folia is a diminutive Primrose, very 

 common on the higher parts of the Pyrenees, and to 

 be met with in abundance in elevated pastures in 

 North Italy. It produces rose-coloured flowers in 

 early summer. F. (jlancesccns is said to be a deeper- 

 coloured variety of this, and it does well in thoroughly 

 drained peaty loam. 



F. inrohtcrata, also known as F. Mimroi^ is a native 

 of the Himalayas, growing on very high elevations 

 on the mountains of Northern India, in the vicinity 

 of water, and bears creamy-white flowers with a 



yellowish eye. It is a deciduous species, dying down 

 in summer and lea\-ing at the surface of the soil a 

 number of small pea-like tubers. As soon as the 

 leaves have faded, these should have a covering of 

 soil placed over them to prevent them from being 

 washed away by rain. It does well in pots, which, 

 in the growing and blooming season, should stand in 

 saucers of water. 



F. Japonica is a fine species introduced from Japan, 

 flowering in early summer, throwing up stout flower- 

 stems, carrying many flowers arranged in whorls, 

 but, unfortunately, it is difficult to get many whorls 

 in flower at one time. It is a strong-growing 

 subject, doing well in pots and in the open ground : 

 it makes a conspicuous object on rock work. There 

 are a few varieties of it, and all can be raised from 

 seed, which they produce freely. 



F. latlfolui, the Broad-leaved Primrose, comes from 

 the Pji'enees and from various moimtain chains of 

 Southern Europe ; when well grown it produces 

 from two to twenty violet flowers in a head, borne on 

 a stem. It does well jjlanted out or potted in deep 

 rich loam and peat, and is a remarkably fine species 

 when well grown. It is of a deciduous character. 



F. Jongijiora is related to the Bird's-eye Primrose, 

 but distinct from it, and considerably larger than 

 even the best varieties of that species ; the flowers 

 are large, rosy-purple, with long tubes, and musk- 

 scented. It should be planted in a free moist 

 loam. 



F. Ititcola is a free-growing species, with long- 

 lanceolate smooth leaves, bearing bright yellow 

 flowers, and does well in heavy loam on shaded spots. 

 It is a charming subject for pot-culture. 



F. marg'wata is a distinct and attractive species^ 

 and is readily distinguished by the silvery margin of 

 its greyish, toothed, smooth leaves, caused by a dense 

 bed of white dust which lies exactly on the edge of 

 the leaf, and by its sweet, soft, ^dolet-rose flowers, 

 appearing in April and May. It is a native of the 

 Alps of Tauria and Dauphiny. It is veiy free- 

 growing and does well in pots, throwing up many 

 young growths when well established. There are 

 two varieties of this — one named coendea, the other 

 f/randlfora, both distinct and well worthy of culti- 

 vation. 



F. minima is the Fairy Primrose, for its size a 

 singularly ornamental kind, with very small leaves, 

 prostrate, and rather deeply notched at the ends ; but 

 the flowers make up for the very diminutive leaves, 

 being not unfrequently nearly an inch across, 

 and quite covering the minute rosette from which 

 they spring. It is a native of the Alps of Austria, 

 flowering in early summer, the stem rarely bearing 

 more than one, but occasionally two flowers, rose- 

 coloured, or sometimes white. It does best in the 



