September 2, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
207 
whole affair very nearly involved the Society in a lawsuit. I mention 
these matters in order to show the difficulty which exists in restricted 
classes, and that we should be landed in never-ending squabbles if one 
made classes such as have been advocated in the Journal. I do not dis¬ 
parage the advantage of growing a good number of ltoses, but I wish to 
show that small Rose growers are not so grievously handicapped as it 
has been endeavoured to make out. Where the larger numbers are grown 
it is, of course, likely that on the day before the exhibition there may be 
a large number of blooms to gather from ; but it may also be otherwise, 
and I do not think (as the examples I have given indisputably show) 
that a small grower need despair of winning laurels in the Rose contests. 
—D., Beal. 
THE CULTURE OF PRIMULA SINENSIS. 
Since my success last March at the Preston Show I have 
had many letters asking me for information on growing Primulas, 
and such as I can give is embodied in the following notes. 
Most gardeners have a good show of Primulas during four 
months of the year, but a display may be maintained for fully 
seven months, as was the case with us last year. First as to 
seed-sowing. Many persons fail to get a sufficient number of 
the seeds to germinate. They labour under the mistaken idea 
that the seeds require to be sown in a very fine soil, if not sand 
itself, and very often, I believe, Primula seeds are condemned as 
being bad while the fault might be traced to the above system of 
sowing. 
The mode of treatment I have found most suitable is to pre¬ 
pare a small quantity of moderately fine loam and leaf mould in 
about equal parts, with just sufficient sand to keep the whole 
porous. Two or three 6-inch pots are cleaned and half filled 
with crocks; on these is placed a little rough soil or fibre, and 
the pots are then filled with the compost prepared in the usual 
way. Sow the seeds and lightly cover them, but do not add sand 
to the surface of the soil, as it is this which causes it to set close, 
and often a green scum will form, which in some degree prevents 
germination. We sow early in M>rch and again by the end of 
April. From the first batch we have plenty in succession from 
the first week in October till the end of January; from the last 
sowing we get a good succession till the end of April or May. 
As soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle they 
should be pricked off into 6-inch pots or small pans with good 
drainage. The latter is a very important point in all stages of 
growth. The Primula dislikes a close compost, and will never 
thrive in such; therefore good drainage and a rather rough soil 
should be strictly adhered to. Where Primulas “damp off’’ it 
may generally be traced to the stagnant moisture in the soil. 
After the young seedlings have been pricked off as advised 
return them to a stove temperature and slightly shaded, and 
very soon all will be growing again. In about a fortnight the 
seedlings are ready for another shift. My treatment from this 
stage onward is somewhat different from the ordinary course or 
procedure; for instead of giving them small thumb pots we 
again prepare boxes or pans —either are suitable. We then 
plant them in the boxes 2 inches apart, when each box will 
contain from thirty to fifty plants, according to the size, and 
after being supplied with tepid water an early vinery is a very 
suitable place for them until they are started, when they should 
be gradually hardened to a greenhouse temperature. 
My reasons for placing the seedlings in boxes instead of 
using thumb pots are two. The first is, when Primulas are 
placed in such small pots we are compelled to use what the 
Primula dislikes—namely, very fine soil, and it is also difficult to 
keep them all in a moist and genial condition, and under the 
strictest attention there is generally a third of them dry, while 
the remainder are wet and often struggling between life and 
death; and it is in this stage when Primulas are lost by scores, 
or if not lost they receive a severe check, from which at the best 
they only partially recover. But when planted in boxes as 
advised they are much easier kept moist, and will make plants 
twice the size of others that are started in thumb pots. 
After the plants have filled the space allotted to them in the 
boxes they will require potting in large 60’s or small 48’s, and in 
three or four weeks later they will be ready for their second or 
largest pots, which should not be less than 5 and 6 inches in 
diameter. After this potting cold frames are the most suitable 
8‘ructures, where they are at hand. Slight shading from very 
bright sun is beneficial, and a light dewing overhead with the 
syringe every evening after bright days will be found to suit 
them. During August a few flowering spikes will be pushing 
up, and these may with much advantage to the plants be removed 
as they appear until the middle of September, after which it is 
neither necessary nor of any advantage to remove flowers; and 
by October the cultivator will be rewarded by fine sturdy 
plants worthy of the name, and these will continue flowering 
until the end of January or beginning of February. 
I must now notice our second plants, as it is from these we 
get our supply through March and April. These are treated in 
every way the same as the first until the middle of September, 
when they should be placed in pots of various sizes, but not less 
than 7 and 8 inches in d ameter, according to the strength of the 
plants, and it is very important to bear in mind that this last 
potting should be done just at the right time, or any delay is 
sure to be the cause of disappointment. There is a very general 
custom of removing all flowers as a means of retarding the 
flowering period ; but this is a mistaken impression, and instead 
of retarding or checking the flowers it is certainly shortening 
the season by the succession of bloom spikes coming much 
sooner than they would otherwise have done where the first 
flowers were allowed to develope. The only means of checking the 
early flowering of Primulas is to repot them as advised directly 
the pots are filled with roots. They will then continue growing 
instead of sending np flowers. This is the secret of having late 
Primulas in first-rate condition, for if once they are allowed to 
become rootbound up come their flowers. A small quantity of 
soot added to the soil is very beneficial.—A. Waters. 
DIOSMA UNIFLORA. 
The D'.ofmis are a genus of beiutiful Heath-like shrubs from the 
Cape of Good Hope. They are of easy culture, vtrying in height 'r m. 
1 to 4 feet, are graceful, yet compact in habit, and are exceedingly 
floriferous. The colours of the flowers are mainly white, or white and 
pink ; the plants afford nice sprays for cutting, which they endure with¬ 
out injury. Those who enjoy hardwooded greenhouse plants which do 
not require the nice attention and skilful management of Heaths would 
do well to turn to the Diosmas. 
Besides being of elegant appearance by their Heath-like foliage and 
attractive by their multitude of star-like flowers, the plants, like other 
Rueworts, emit a powerful perfume. From this characteristic is their 
name derived—viz., from dios, divine, and osmc, odour. These plants are 
not extensively cultivated, probably because they are less showy than the 
usual class of summer greenhouse plants which are now in repute, yet 
they possess a sober quiet beauty which should, irrespective of their 
perfume, entitle them to more general cultivation. Ihey are readily 
propagated by cuttings in sand under a bellglass, and do not rcquiie 
much heat, or they will elongate instead of emit roots. When rooted 
they should be potted in peaty soil and be grown in a light intei mediate 
house, duly pinching the shoots to keep the plants compact and bushy. 
