pri'mula. 



229 



PROPAGATION. 



good sorts should be marked, and the 

 less admired kinds pulled up and 

 thrown away. "When the seed is not 

 sown immediately after being gathered, 

 it may be kept till the following 

 March, and treated as above men- 

 tioned. Auricula seed requires ex- 

 actly the same treatment ; excepting 

 that it is generally sown in pans of 

 soil composed of a mixture of leaf- 

 mould and loam, and the seedlings 

 are transplanted into larger pans, or 

 into single small pots. The seed of 

 common border Auriculas may be 

 treated like that of the Polyanthus or 

 Primrose. 



Primula cortusoides is a very 

 ornamental species, which produces its 

 red flowers from May to July ; it re- . 

 quires a loamy soil, kept moist, and a 

 shady situation, and therefore cannot 

 be treated like a common border 

 flower. 



Primula decora, P. nivalis, P. 

 villosa, P. marginata, P. helvetica, 

 P. farinosa, P. Palinuri, P. 

 scotica, and several others, might be 

 named as rare and beautiful species, 

 natives of alpine regions, and requiring 

 to be cultivated with care in loamy or 

 peaty soil, kept moist, in an open and 

 airy, but yet shady situation. 



P. prcenitens, the Chinese Prim- 

 rose, is a very beautiful greenhouse 

 plant, of which there are varieties 

 with pink, with white, and with semi- 

 double flowers. All these are parti- 

 cularly valuable, as forming neat 

 little plants and flowering throughout 

 the winter. They are propagated by 

 seeds which generally come true to 

 the variety ; or by cuttings which 

 must be struck in sand under a bell 

 glass, and with bottom heat. They 

 are only biennials, and therefore new 

 plants require to be raised every year. 

 They are generally grown in pots, 

 which should be well drained with 

 potsherds, and filled up with a rich 

 compost of equal parts of loam, peat, 



or sand, and rotten dung or vegetable 

 mould. 



Prince's Feather. — Amarantus 

 hypochondriacus. — See Amaran- 

 tus. 



Pri v nos. — Rhamnacece. — Hardy 

 North American shrubs, that will 

 grow in any light soil, though they 

 prefer peat, and any situation. They 

 are generally propagated by layers. 



Privet. — See Ligustrum. 



Propagation. — The tendency of all 

 plants is to multiply themselves most 

 commonly by producing seeds, but 

 frequently also by the extension of 

 bud-bearing roots under ground, and 

 by root-bearing shoots above ground, 

 or, in other words, by runners, suck- 

 ers, and offsets. In propagating by 

 seeds, all that is necessary is to col- 

 lect them when ripe, and either to 

 sow them immediately, which may in 

 general be done with the seeds of all 

 indigenous plants in their own coun- 

 try, or, what is safer, preserving them 

 till the following spring. The seeds 

 should generally be sown in a some- 

 what lighter and finer soil than that 

 in which the parent plant thrives ; 

 and the covering should be two or 

 three times the thickness of the seed, 

 the soil being gently pressed down 

 before sowing, and the seeds being 

 thinly distributed and gently pressed 

 into the soil before being covered. 

 This gentle pressure, first of the soil, 

 and afterwards of the seeds, prevents 

 any of the latter from being too 

 deeply buried and consequently lost, 

 and prevents them also from being 

 unequally covered. All round seeds 

 sown and covered in this manner will 

 be found to come up ; while many of 

 those sown in loose soil, and covered 

 loosely without pressing, will be 

 found to be lost. Surface runners, 

 such as those of the Strawberry, and 

 underground runners, such as those of 

 the Mint, require merely to be cut 

 off and planted ; and suckers and 



