PRIMULA CONFERENCE. 



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that is covering with coal ashes or cocoa-nut fibre during their 

 resting period, especially in the case of the deciduous species, 

 which if so treated will suffer less from the frequent atmo- 

 spheric changes that occur in the lowlands ; but as soon as the 

 resting period is over, I think we should deluge them with water 

 as far as lies in our power. With regard to the soils, I consider 

 that it is not so much a question of the nature of the soils in 

 many species as it is of the altitude in which they are found in 

 their native habitats. In my own experience, I have found 

 Primula minima has succeeded very well under most opposite 

 conditions to those which it grows in its native home. In our 

 English lowland homes it is one of the most difficult plants to 

 grow, but in the higher grounds of Scotland we find it growing — 

 I might almost use the word — rampantly. It grows most 

 luxuriantly ; it flowers freely, and in fact from a remark which I 

 heard from a friend of mine recently, it is planted in ordinary 

 soil and grows without any trouble whatever. That is a point 

 we should give some consideration to. Then, again, I would 

 mention P. capitata. That is one of the so-called "miffy" 

 Primulas, but in Mr. Dod's garden, at Malpas, it thrives wonder- 

 fully. I think Mr. Dod has confirmed my remarks by his com- 

 ments on some of the species in some of the horticultural papers. 

 That species in some cases is the most fastidious to deal with — it 

 dies off without any warning. I have had great difficulty in 

 overcoming this tendency. That many plants of this species go 

 off in this remarkable manner has been a subject of consideration 

 and lament to a great many lovers of Primulas, and it does not 

 bear out the view that many people have of the soil being all in 

 all as regards the culture of these " miffy" species of Primula. 

 I think for my own part, that altitude, and the thick covering 

 which they get in winter during the resting period, have far more 

 to do with the successful culture generally than all the soils we 

 have in the lowlands. Then, of course, there is the melting of 

 the snows in spring, which supplies them with abundant water 

 during their growth. I do not think they get any special benefit 

 from granitic or calcareous soils ; at any rate, many of them do 

 remarkably well on other soils. I think I have grown some 

 twenty-five so-called species, and I have treated them with soils 

 composed of about two- thirds of a rich maiden yellow loam, 

 which I procured from Epsom Downs, one-third manure, and a 



