102 



THE PL OWE E G-ABDEX. 



white and various shades of pink varieties, with fringed 

 and plain edgings, single and double. Chinese Primroses 

 have not yet been made to render mu'ch service in the 

 open ground. Though the roots will survive several years, 

 they do not do much after their first season of flowering, 

 and may be as well thrown away, to be replaced by 

 seedlings annually raised, and pricked out in pots filled 

 with a mixture of leaf-mould and sandy loam. There are 

 also several Alpine species of Primula, which well deserve 

 a nook in a shady border. 

 JReed. — See Grass. 



JRocket. — The Double Yellow Socket, Brassica eruca, 

 would be rather handsome were its petals not so fleeting. 

 Grows in any good garden-soil, is increased by cuttings 

 and root-division. The Double White or Garden Eocket, 

 Hesjjeris matronalis, is really a noble flower, when well 

 grown, which is not always. The first essential to have 

 fine Sockets, is a rich, deep, strong loam, even inclining 

 to clayey, like the best wheat-lands ; the next is, to shift 

 the plant annually to a fresh spot, and divide the stools, 

 which afibrd the means of propagation, as also do cuttings. 

 The Garden Eocket varies in colour from light blush or 

 Trench white, to light purple or violet. The scent of the 

 spikes of flowers, somewhat resembling that of Stocks, 

 is more powerful towards night ; whence its generic name, 

 Hesjjeris. Though hardy, requires looking to. and resents 

 neglect. 



St. John's Wort — Hypericum. — Yellow flowers,- very- 

 similar in appearance in the different species, though 

 varying in size. The large St. John's Wort (sometimes 

 erroneously called Star of Bethlehem) has a very showy 

 flower, almost filled with a silky tasselled tuft of stamens 

 with red anthers, but of short duration. It spreads 

 rapidly by its creeping stems, in light, dry. sunny soils, 

 such as gravelly banks ; and if not wet at root, will 

 bloom abundantly in spite of trees overhead. Tutsan is 

 a hardy shrubby St. John's Wort, largely employed in 

 shrubberies and pleasure-grounds by gardeners of the 

 last century ; but it has now, for the most part, retired 



