THE LADY’S MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
29 
The Derby Arboretum was assigned over to trustees by Mr. Strutt, on 
the 16th of September 1840; and the ceremonies which passed on that 
occasion, and on the succeeding days, will be found in the Derby news¬ 
papers of that week, in the Gentlemans Magazine for October, and at the 
end of the Catalogue of the Derby Arboretum. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
ON IMPROVING WILD FLOWERS BY CULTIVATION. 
“ An invalid lady living in a remote part of the country has long devoted 
herself to the cultivation of flowers. A great source of amusement has 
been to bring wild flowers into the garden, where they grow luxuriantly, 
but all the care and attention bestowed on them have not succeeded in 
making any of them double. The primrose, the daisy, and the buttercup, 
have long been denizens of her bushes; but all attempts have failed to 
produce even a variety in colour. Is there any truth in the old saying, 
that by planting a primrose with the head downwards it will change the 
colour of the flower ? And what is the proper method of doing it ? You 
would greatly oblige an humble admirer of your works, and one who rejoices 
to hear of your forthcoming Magazine for Ladies, by informing her, at the 
same time, how a primrose or polyanthus, daisy, &c., can be made double. 
Has that beautiful plant, the Chinese primrose, ever been seen double; 
and should the same method be pursued for a greenhouse plant as for a 
hardy one?” 
London, Dec. 16, 1840. 
The old saying respecting planting the primrose with its head down- 
Fig. 14. wards, is, I believe, one of those popular errors 
which have been handed down from generation to 
generation, without any one taking the trouble to 
examine into their accuracy. Roses which have been 
forced, and some other plants in pots, are, however, 
frequently kept by gardeners with their heads downwards, (see fig. 14,) 
for some weeks after their season of flowering is over, in order to throw 
them into a state of perfect rest, and also to retain the sap in their branches; 
as if it were suffered to descend to the root after the violent excitement it 
had undergone in forcing, the plant would probably waste its strength in 
throwing up suckers. 
