220 



REPORT OX THE 



of the florists' flower, P. Goblii (superauricula x villosa, Jacq.), originating in 

 Upper Styria, and first named by Kerner, in 1875, in his paper " On the 

 Hybrid Primulas of the Alps," Vienna, 1875, offers meal in abundance. Anyone 

 who saw the splendid specimen exhibited by Messrs. Backhouse of this wild 

 hybrid, would see the close resemblance exhibited by it to the " tamed " plant, 

 and it must be remembered that Upper Styria was one of the regions searched 

 by Clusius and his friends ; and as the butterflies were no doubt as busy in the 

 work of fertilization in those days as now, P. Goblii may well have existed 

 then and been brought down into lowland gardens by Clusius or others. 

 I have been on the ground, but was only successful in finding the other hybrid 

 (subauricula x villosa, Jacq.), viz., P. Kerneri, Stein. — G. C. Churchill, in 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, May 1st, 1886, p. 562. 



Mr. Bolton then, ou behalf of the Rev. F. D. Homer, read 

 the substance of the following paper : — 



On the Improvement of the Genus Primula. By Rev. 

 Francis D. Horner. 



I only take up this question at the direct request of my 

 brother florist, Mr. Samuel Barlow, of Stakehill. The subject 

 could not have been in better hands than his, nor associated with 

 a name more known and honoured among florists. There is, 

 however, this one thing to temper my regret, that I must take 

 his place, and to add value to my paper, that the question I am 

 to introduce is a very old and interesting one between Mr. Barlow 

 and myself. Through all the years of our intimate friendship 

 have we stood together over the Auricula in bloom, and taken 

 careful thought as to the yet richer development of this highly- 

 cultured flower, a favourite with us both from boyhood. 



Mr. Shirley Hibberd, in his introductory paper, historical and 

 descriptive, will have given some definite idea of what the 

 florists' Auricula is ; so that I shall not here be using technical 

 terms altogether strange to those not conversant with the pro- 

 perties of the flower, some of which had not been acquired in the 

 dawn of its culture some 300 years ago, nor are even dimly 

 visible in the simplicity of its supposed wild ancestry. If any 

 of the points for improvement should seem minute — perhaps 

 fanciful — I can only say that the highest qualities have, as a 

 rule, been gained only by such gentle gradients and slight curves 

 as these. It is often some delicate touch, small in itself, but 

 great in its effect, that raises a flower at once above the inferior 

 or commonplace. To the accustomed eye the Auricula has an 

 intense mdividuality, and very slight variations of feature alter 

 an expression, and enhance or detract from a type of beauty. 



