62 
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Such first selection may well be about the same, whether 
for the rockery, or the frame, or alpine house, and whether for 
a representative set of single plants, or for a showy collection 
with a dozen or twenty plants of each sort in a mass. 
I would emphasise the fact that many, perhaps most of the 
best, happen to be the commonest, as well in nature as in 
commerce, and also to be the easiest to grow. Indeed, it is 
natural, of course, that plentifulness and ease of culture should 
be found together. 
First (not necessarily in order of value), I name the well- 
known golden-yellow P. Auricula, which has the additional 
interest that it is certainly one of the original parents of our 
florists' Auriculas. I believe it is rarely, if ever, found in nature 
off calcareous soil, but in the garden it grows with the greatest 
ease in ordinary loam. It has been much improved by cultiva- 
tion, and the strains vary greatly in beauty and value. 
Next, that loveliest of white Alpine Primulas, P. viscosa 
nivalis, not to be confounded with the rarely seen P. nivalis of 
the Himalayas. 
It and the viscosa group generally are unhappy on chalk, 
and I mostly grow them in pots. But elsewhere it is of fairly 
easy culture, and grows, I know, in Scotland "like a weed." 
Thirdly, I will name P. rosea in its best varieties, grandiflora 
and s])lenclcns, Asiatic though it be, for inclusion with even 
the choicest European Alpines. Its colour is so unique, and its 
habit so neat, that it must be accorded a place among the best. 
Fourthly, if you want a large and robust Alpine species with 
crimson flowers to match with P. viscosa nivalis, take P. viscosa 
major (known to some, I think, as Peyritschi). 
So great is the number of fine forms and hybrids of this 
well-known viscosa that the next five of my items must be 
taken from their ranks, viz. P. ciliata (of gardens), with a good 
blue-purple flower ; P. ciliata picrjjuraia, a brilliant red or 
crimson-purple ; P. Balfouri, a beautiful Scotch hybrid of a 
rare tone of colour ; P. Lindsay ana, a scarce and fine hybrid 
from the same northern garden, I think ; and P. ciliata coccinea, 
of a rare red shade, which has not been happily translated 
coccinea. These two latter plants are very scarce. There are, 
however, a number of fine liybrid forms of viscosa, and some of 
them coiinnercially oU'ered under the name intermedia, which 
