PRIMULA CONFERENCE. 



189 



result from this Conference on the Primula. Therefore, I con- 

 sider that these meetings are of very great value, and I for one 

 shall hope to see them continued in the future, and whenever an 

 opportunity occurs I shall be glad to give my vote in favour of 

 the continuance of the Conferences. 



I now call on the Secretary to read some letters which I think he has 

 to read, and then we will go on with the business of the meeting. 



Dr. Masters (Secretary) : I have a letter from the Hon. and 

 Kev. J. T. Boscawen, who regrets that he is not able to be 

 present, but who has sent us a very splendid collection of 

 varieties of the coloured Primrose, found wild in Cornwall. 



Then there are other matters to be laid before the Con- 

 ference that deserve notice. First and foremost I should place 

 the List of all the Species and Varieties of Primula, drawn up by 

 Mr. Dewar, of the Eoyal Gardens, Kew. (See Appendix, p. 275.) 



Mr. Stein, the Director of the Botanic Gardens at Breslau, 

 has sent, for distribution, a similar list, not so complete as 

 Mr. Dewar's, being devoted to the European species only, which 

 are cultivated in the Breslau and other Botanic Gardens of 

 Germany. These, also, have been distributed, as far as their 

 numbers permitted. (For abstract of Mr. Stein's list see 

 Appendix, p. 268.) 



A very valuable collection of seeds of Himalayan Primroses, 

 from the Calcutta Botanic Garden, has been sent by Dr. King 

 and others from Dr. Duthie, of Saharunpore, and Dr. Watt. 

 These came previous to the meeting, and have been distributed 

 amongst the leading Primula growers, as far as their numbers 

 permitted, as these seeds comprise many species hitherto 

 unknown in English gardens. 



There is a very beautiful collection of accurate water-colour 

 drawings, sent by Mr. Sendtner, of Munich. Some of these 

 are, through the courtesy of the Director of the Koyal Gardens, 

 Kew, exhibited in frames, and represent an extremely interesting 

 series of our European Primroses. Many of them are the more 

 interesting because they are taken from plants collected by the 

 artist himself and cultivated in his own garden. 



M. Franchet sends a short communication of considerable 

 interest to botanists, as to the native country of the Chinese 

 Primrose. Till lately, we have had no more than hearsay evidence 

 that it grew wild in China. M. Franchet now tells us that the 



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