January 17 , 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
37 
N OWHERE as a rule is superior culture so apparent as in trade 
establishments where special attention is devoted to particular 
kinds of plants, either for sale in the best markets or for the 
production of seed. It is quite true that the plants under notice 
are admirably grown in many private gardens, and in a few of them 
Primulas especially are of remarkable excellence, plants in 6-inch 
and 7-inch pots measuring most of 2 feet in diameter, and the 
trusses forming pyramids of flowers a foot wide at the base and 
18 inches high. But these are exceptions, for such specimens are 
only produced by expert growers who give particular attention to 
them, often, but not always, in view of November exhibitions at 
which they are intended to win some of the offered prizes. Nor are 
such large plants coveted for general decorative purposes by the 
majority of cultivators, smaller examples, robust in habit, and with 
large trusses of handsome flowers, being better adapted for the 
positions they are intended to occupy in conservatories, green¬ 
houses, and rooms. 
That high culture can be represented in medium-sized Primulas 
is very evident at exhibitions, and it is not at all uncommon to 
find second and third prize cards attached to specimens half as 
large again as those that secure premier awards. The best judges 
now-a-days, and especially those of them that have had much ex¬ 
perience as cultivators, are not “ carried away ” by mere size, but 
look to quality as the chief test of merit. If many of the flowers 
on the largest plants are small and dingy in colour, and the foliage 
more or less drawn and yellow, they are passed in favour of plants 
less in size, but with robust, fresh, dark green leaves, stout stems, 
and flowers of the best form, size, and substance, the whites pure 
and the dark varieties rich and glowing. Only when unusually 
large plants possess those properties, as a few do, are they accorded 
the chief awards, which they undoubtedly deserve. The point to 
enforce is that the best of culture can be displayed in plants of 
moderate size, and that such meet with the greatest acceptance is 
evident by the supply of them in 5-inch pots in Covent Garden, 
for if there was a demand for larger plants they would assuredly 
be forthcoming. And let it be remembered the demand would 
not be so great as it is for the medium-sized examples if they 
were not presented in almost faultless condition in both foliage 
and blooms. Such plants command purchasers in markets and 
even admiration at home ; but not in all gardens are they produced; 
nor in half of them. In some they might be better no doubt, but 
in others the growers are so greatly handicapped by lack of con¬ 
veniences and the extraordinary pressure of work that these and 
other plants cannot have the attention they require at the right 
time, hence suffer accordingly. A check to the growth of plant 
which have to be perfected in a limited period means a loss of time 
which can never be regained. It is, in fact, a shortening of the 
short time at disposal for raising the plants and presenting them in 
the best condition ; and obviously the greater and more frequent 
the chetks the greater the loss of time, and the greater the fall 
below the standard of excellence that so many strive for, but so 
comparatively few attain. 
It is not to be understood that these remarks are intended to 
suggest that there is anything like a general deterioration in the 
cultivation of Primulas in private gardens. That is not so. It 
may be conceded, taking a broad view of the subject, that a marked 
No. 447.—Vol. XYIIL, Third Series. 
improvement is perceptible. Primulas were more numerously 
staged at the last November shows and of better quality than- 
during any previous year. At some shows, Birmingham for in¬ 
stance, it is not easy to imagine room for material improvement; 
but a few years ago the first prize plants at most shows might or 
might not have won a third prize at Birmingham, whereas at 
several exhibitions last autumn the Birmingham standard was-' 
approached, and in some reached. This may be the result of prizes 
stimulating to higher culture, for visitors to shows, if they do not 
exhibit, are impressed with the good work of others, and determine- 
to equal it if possible. Most owners of gardens gain rather than; 
lose by affording their gardeners facilities for attending good ex¬ 
hibitions of garden produce, for most of them who are observant 
and earnest in their calling will go home the wiser. All may not 
admit this, and a few may feel they have “ nothing to learn but 
these are not the best men by any means, only the most vain as a 
rule, and there is a good deal of difference between vanity and’ 
ability. Yet though Primula culture has been improved by com¬ 
petition at public exhibitions, the last cool and dull summer may 
have had a beneficial influence, great heat and a dry atmosphere 
during their period of growth being the reverse of favourable to 
these plants. 
The secret of success in Primula culture rests in steady con¬ 
tinuous growth. There must be no check through either am 
excess of wet or drought arresting root movement ; nor through' 
repotting the plants before they need it, or leaving them too long 
undisturbed. Mistakes of the nature indicated paralyse the plants,, 
and instead of making steady progress they stand still for a time,, 
and perhaps never make a good start again. Extremes of tempe¬ 
rature are not conducive to the health of the plants ; coolness in 
summer is desirable, and night dews refreshing, while gentle 
warmth in winter is not the less acceptable—just enough to keep 
the roots moving, and no more. For producing very large flower¬ 
ing plants in November, some growers raise them in August or 
September of the previous year, and grow them under compara¬ 
tively cool conditions throughout. Others sow early in the year,, 
growing them for two or three months “ in heat,” to have them 
strong by May, though they are sometimes weak. Still other 
cultivators do not sow till April or May, and by the attentive care- 
they bestow on the plants have them in the best form by November, 
occasionally placing those second in competition that are at the 
least six months older. So much for the power of cultivation, of 
which no pretence is made to give details, but only to indicate 
principles for the guidance of these who need them, and if these 
are not in the majority, they constitute a very large minority,, 
which however, is is hoped, will become smaller year by year. 
Cyclamens when well grown are not less beautiful than- 
Primulas. They are, indeed, more beautiful over a longer period ; 
and the man who has plants in 5-inch pots with fleshy leaves 
3 or 4 inches across on short thick stalks, and a hundred large 
flowers expanded with a hundred buds to open, within twelve 
months of sowing the seed, will be prouder of his work than 
of growing prize Primulas. It is not customary to see Cyclamens- 
of that character in private gardens, though they are produced in 
some of them ; but thousands are produced by growers of these 
plants for market and for the production of seed. Though prizes; 
are offered for Cyclamens at many November exhibitions they are 
not nearly so well competed for as are those for Primulas, and it is- 
certain that Cyclamen culture is either not well understood, or 
those who attempt to grow the plants have not the requisite con¬ 
veniences for doing so successfully. Yet a warm light greenhouse 
in winter and cool frames in summer are the chief structural 
requisites, sowing the seed in October. The plants so raised and 
grown throughout without check from any cause will be attractive 
j by the October following. The next uest time for sowing is 
during the present month, growing the seedlings in a cool stove 
| temperature of GO 0 or thereabouts in a light position for keeping: 
l No. 2103.—Vor,. LXXX., Old Series, 
