39G 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 5, 1885. 
these hard back in order to keep growth in the trees, and be 
certain that they are sufficiently vigorous to swell their fruits 
to a large size. It is undoubtedly a mistake to get the trees 
in such a fertile state that they produce annually nothing but 
fruit spurs. They must not by an unduly severe system of 
root-pruning be crippled. It is as necessary for the trees to 
produce every season a moderate amount of wood as it is for 
them to have fruit spurs for the production of fruit. Stunted 
trees may be renovated by lifting their roots and the removal 
of the fruit for a season or part of the crop. When these 
trees are lifted a few barrowfuls of good loam, with some half¬ 
inch bones and a little soot or wood aBhes mixed with it, 
should be laid amongst the roots. This in a season or two 
invigorates the trees and works wonders in bringing them 
back to health and vigour. Freedom from fruit-bearing alone 
for one season has a wonderful effect upon such trees. 
Where practicable all trees that are lifted should have a 
good mulching of manure as far round the stem as the roots 
extend. On light shallow soil we have found it a good plan 
to mulch all fruit trees annually. Root-pruning may be done 
any time during the autumn, and we have always found that 
the earlier it is completed the better. When lifted before 
the foliage falls the trees make a fair quantity of roots before 
winter, and start into growth the following season with 
greater freedom.—W m. Bardney. 
THE PRIMULAS. 
(Continued from page 357.) 
P. dentiflora, And .—I have never seen this in cultivation, 
although I hope it will arrive one day from some of the old gardens. 
It resembles P. cortusoides, and were it not for the very distinctly 
serrated petals might be mistaken for a form of that species ; the 
above character, however, which is said to be constant, is considered 
by many to be a good specific distinction. It has also the recom¬ 
mendation of flowering during the month of September, which 
should be enough for all growers of hardy plants. It grows about 
a foot in height, with a straight stem carrying from twelve to 
eighteen deep purple yellow-eyed flowers in a loose corymbose head. 
The leaves are the same shape, and not unlike P. cortusoides, not 
rough however, and not so deeply dentate. Syn., P. cortusoides, 
var., Lehm ; P. dentata, Don. 
P. Digenea, A. Kern .—A hybrid between P. elatior X acaulis ; 
Jieut, more interesting than beautiful, and not by any means a 
desirable garden plant. 
P. Dinyana, Lagqer (P. super-integrifolia X viscosa, Kern ).— 
Closely allied to P. Muretiana, another hybrid, which is sub instead 
of super-integrifolia. P. Dinyana is a first-rate garden plant, grow¬ 
ing with freedom even on the border, and never fading with a 
plentiful crop of its cheering flowers. It, however, requires well- 
drained sod, and is all the better of a few stones packed round the 
neck of the plants, as it is inclined to get leggy. The leaves grow 
about 4 inches long, curving down from the crown. They are ovate 
lanceolate, with ciliated and distantly dentated margins. The scape 
is from 3 to 6 inches high, terminated by about half a dozen lovely 
deep purple flowers, produced in April and May. Native of 
Bavaria. 
P. discolor, Leyb. (P. super-auricula X daonensis, Kern ).—A 
very beautiful plant from the West and South Tyrolese Alps, 
where it is found in the fissures of the granitic rocks at elevations 
of 6500 to 7000 and 8000 feet above the sea. It is amongst the 
easiest of this section to grow when in its element, granite. We 
manage it by tightly wedging the fleshy roots between the rough 
pieces ; and as it seems to prefer an almost perpendicular position, 
care should be taken that it does not want for water, and especially 
during the time it is making its growth. The habit of the plant is 
more in the way of P. Auricula than daonensis, as also are the leaves. 
They are nearly ovate, very slightly dentated at the margins, and 
sparingly covered with glandular hairs. The petioles are leafy, 
broadening to the clasping point. Flowers large for the size of the 
plant, lilac or violet purple, very striking and beautiful. It flowers 
during April. 
P. Dumoulinii, Stein .—A hybrid between P. subminima and 
spectabilis, Stein. This plant is nearly related to P. minima, the 
chief difference between them being in the shape of the leaves, the 
great number of flowers borne on short sturdy stalks, and the much 
deeper colour. On the mountain Trate in indicarien there seems 
to be a great variety of forms, the result of crosses between the 
above two species, some of which approach spectabilis and others 
Fachinii and minima. P. Dumoulinii forms pretty little tufts of 
jagged-edged rosettes, from which rise the numerous flower stalks, 
bearing each many flowers, and which if it were as plentiful would 
make it more preferable than P. minima. It thrives well on lime¬ 
stone, and seems to like a fully exposed situation. It flowered with 
us in April. 
It was named in honour of Count Carl Dumoulin of Bertolz- 
heiin, a Bavarian botanist of repute. 
P. ellietica, Royle (fig. 61).—Introduced a few years ago by the 
late Anderson Henry, Esq., Edinburgh, and sent out by him under the 
name of P. obtusiloba, a name by which a form of P. involucrata 
has also been distributed, probably through some mistake in label¬ 
ling the seed sent home. It grows well in the north, the home for 
Himalayan plants generally, but proves delicate in the south of 
England ; indeed it often dies after it has flowered, as so many 
plants from that region do in our hot dry summers. It may be 
described as a Primula rosea with bluish purple instead of rosy red 
flowers. The leaves are not at all mealy, about 2 inches long, ovate 
or ovate oblong, narrowing into a broadish petiole, the margins 
sharply toothed, and the upper surface dark green and shiny. It 
Fig. Cl.—Primula elliptica (after Royle). 
grows between 6 inches and a foot high, with from four to ten 
flowers in a loose umbellate head surrounded at the base by narrow 
bracts. The flowers are purple or almost blue, with broad deeply 
cleft lobes, and having an extremely variable tube. It is found at 
elevations at 8000 to 12,000 feet above the sea in Western Thibet, 
Peer, Punjab, Cashmere, &c., flowering in June and July. In 
peaty soil in shady positions. Syn., P. denticulata, Wight ; P. spa- 
thulacea, Jacquin’s MSS. 
P. e rosa, Wall .—Though quoted by Duby in De Candolle's 
“ Prodromus ” as a variety of denticulata, this has by modern 
botanists been thought quite deserving a specific distinction, and it 
is so given in the “ Flora of British India.” In aspect it is not 
unlike P. denticulata, and may readily be taken for a small form 
of that plant. It requires similar treatment, a partly shady spot 
on the rockery in peaty soil suiting its requirements well. The 
flower stems grow from 4 to 8 inches in height, supporting an um¬ 
bellate head of lavender or purple flowers covered with fine mea 
dust. The leaves are fully developed with the flowers, oblong 
spathulate or oblanceolate, coarsely or unevenly toothed, the edges 
appearing as if partly eaten away. They are generally a few inches 
long, but sometimes attaining the enormous length of 18 inches 
and entirely free from meal. It flowers in early spring. Native 
of the districts from Kumaon to Bhotan in the Himalayas, at eleva¬ 
tions of 4500 to 9500 feet above sea level. Syn., P. denticulata 
var. erosa, Duby. 
P. Facciiinii, Schott .—The author named considers this to be 
a cross between P. minima X P. spectabilis, and by Stein to be sub¬ 
minima X spectabilis. The latter I am inclined to favour, as the 
form in cultivation in this country has decidedly more of minima 
in it than of spectabilis. Schott in Reichenbacli’s “ Flora ” gives 
it a distinct place, while Nyman (“ Conspectus Europaea ”) reduces 
