CURRENT GARDEN LORE. 



185 



tity. This reminds me of a most signal failure I had 

 some years back, when I had nearly all staminates. A 



^ower-Wh 



late frost made an almost clean sweep, yet left consider- 

 able fruit on the pistillates, — Samuel Miller, in Garden, 

 ing Illustrated . 



Primula imperialis. — Numerous attempts were 

 made to introduce this Javanese giant into England. 

 But the plant could not be brought over alive, nor would 

 "mported seed germinate. When Alfred Wallace vis- 

 ted the Malay Archipelago he saw this primula grow- 

 ng on the summit of Mount Pangerango, in Java. At 

 9,000 feet we first met with the beautiful royal cowslip 

 {^Primula imperialis), which is said to be found nowhere 

 else in the world but on this solitary mountain summit. 

 It has a tall, stout stem, sometimes more than three feet 

 high; the root-leaves are eighteen inches long, and it 

 bears several whorls of cowslip-like flowers instead of a 

 terminal cluster only. It only exhibits its elegant blos- 

 soms under the damp shade of the thickets. Seeds of 

 the Java plant were now and again sent to Kew, and by 

 way of experiment some of these were soaked in hot 

 water at the time of sowing. The result was that some 

 of them germinated, and in June last a group of plants 

 in flower were sent to a meeting of the Royal Horticul- 



tural Society. Naturally they attracted considerable 

 attention. There are not many species of primula with 

 the flowers arranged in several 

 whorls on an erect scape. In culti- 

 vation we have only four, viz., P. 

 Japonica, P. prolifera, P. Poissoni, 

 and P. imperialis. The last named 

 may be called a yellow-flowered 

 gigantic form of P. Japonica, for the 

 two are much alike in general char- 

 acters. P. imperialis has leaves 

 eighteen inches long by five inches 

 wide ; a scape half an inch in diame- 

 ter at the base and from three to 

 four feet high, bearing four to six 

 whorls of from twelve to twenty 

 flowers each. The tube of the 

 flower is half an inch long, and the 

 expanded portion is three-quarters 

 of an inch across ; the color is rich 

 deep yellow tinged with orange. It 

 is not unlikely that P. imperialis 

 will prove as hardy in England as 

 P. Jat>onica. — Gardeners' Magazine 



Apples Along the Roadsides. 



— The pleasure derived from watch- 

 ing the growth and the fruitage of 

 the different varieties is a delight 

 that the uninterested know not of. 

 A marvel of productiveness is the 

 Yellow Transparent apple, a tree of 

 which fruited the first time on my 

 grounds last season. The clear 

 whiteskin becomes pale yellow when 

 mature; flesh crisp, tender and 

 juicy, moder- 

 g ately acid; rip- 



ens about the 

 \ast of August; truly a valuable 

 acquisition. Primate, ripe about 

 the same time, is another excellent 

 variety. Sufficiently sour for cook- 

 ing, it is also much esteemed for 

 eating out of hand ; very produc- 

 tive and hardy ; should have a 

 place in every collection of early 

 apples. The old Early Harvest 

 belongs with the early sour sons ; 

 its merits are well and 

 widely known. The old- 

 time Sweet Bough, Early 

 Strawberry and Golden 

 Sweet are worthy atten- 

 tion ; all ripening a little 

 later than the foregoing, 

 form a succession of p^ant of Primula imperi.m 

 early apples that afford 



pleasurable satisfaction to those having exercised the 

 proper forethought. I have trees of all of the above 

 planted by the roadside ; vigorous and productive ; of 



