THE CULTURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF PRIMULAS. 51 
experience in that regard leads, in my view, to the conclusion, 
not only that we need not, but that we should not, trouble our 
heads about it. This for a reason which it will be well to give. 
A chalk soil is in no way essential to the culture of any Primula ; 
it is positively inimical to not a few, and even poisonous to some. 
And so, just as the tyro in horticulture is well advised to leave 
liquid manure alone, because, useful though it be in experienced, 
it is a dangerous tool in inexperienced hands, so the most of us, 
who have not enough knowledge of these plants to distinguish 
the calcareous from the non-calcareous species, will do well to 
leave chalk wholly alone, lest we give to some for food what 
may be in fact poison to them. 
The better opinion seems to be that the action of a chalk soil 
on the plants is only mechanical, and consists in its power of 
holding moisture. Thus those many plants which require much 
water will only be found in nature on soils which give it them. 
They may, so to speak, wander on to drier soils "on occasion," 
but perennially they will not exist there. Nature seems, unlike 
many of us, only to grow what and where she can grow well and 
easily. 
But if we do not mind the trouble of otherwise supplying the 
required moisture, experience conclusively proves that those 
Alpine Primulas which in nature are only found on calcareous 
soils can be easily grown in our gardens without a particle of 
chalk or lime in the soil. 
On the other hand, and be the reason what it may, those 
Primulas which in nature are only found on granitic or other 
Mow-calcareous soils generally resent being planted on chalk. 
Even the common P. viscosa will not live with me on my chalk, 
and has to be isolated from it in pots. In any other soil, how- 
ever ordinary, it grows with ease. 
Since writing I have been interested to see that Herr Kerner, 
who is a grower of these plants as well as a botanical speciahst 
in regard to them, confirms pretty exactly the opinions I have 
just expressed. 
And now, in conclusion, I think I may perhaps usefully do, 
in regard to Alpine Primulas, what I recollect our Secretary, 
Mr. Wilks, once doing in regard to Dafibdils, viz. commend a 
short selection of the best dozen or so — a "Baker's" dozen, I 
think, he appropriately chose for us. 
E 2 
