30 
THE LADY’S MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
The best method of changing the colour of any of the primrose family 
to red, is to water them with water in which cow-dung has been steeped ; 
but sometimes the colour will change much more readily than at others. 
To make the flowers double, they should be grown in a very rich soil, 
composed of equal parts of loam and thoroughly rotten manure from an 
old hotbed, to which a little vegetable mould may be added. A small 
quantity of loam may be purchased for a shilling at many of the nurseries ; 
as, for example, I buy what loam I want for my own plants, at Mr. 
Hopgood’s nursery, Craven Hill, Bays water, and I procure other soils, 
such as peat, silver-sand, &c., in the same manner. The vegetable mould 
is nothing but thoroughly decayed leaves sifted, and mixed with a little 
garden mould; and it may be omitted if it cannot be readily obtained. 
When the proper soil has been prepared by mixing it with a trowel or 
small spade in a box, or large flower-pot, a square hole or pit, about a 
foot deep, rather more than less, and a foot across, should be dug in the 
border, and it should be filled with the prepared soil, raising it a little 
above the general surface of the flower-beds, to allow for sinking. The 
primrose, or other wild flowers, should then be planted, taking care to 
spread out the roots carefully, cutting off any that may be bruised or 
otherwise injured, and not to bury the collar, that is, the part the roots 
spring from. The roots should then be covered, and the earth pressed 
lightly down, and the plant should be watered regularly twice a day in 
warm dry weather. This treatment will generally produce a striking 
effect on primroses, which it will 
render double and very beautiful; 
but daisies do not require it, and a 
double polyanthus is not admired so 
much as a fine single one. If it 
is wished to have the flowers very 
large, half at least of the buds should 
be pinched off as soon as they appear. 
Double Chinese primroses may be 
obtained at Mr. Henderson’s nursery, 
Pine-Apple Place, Edgw r are Hoad ; 
and they are very beautiful, particu¬ 
larly one, the flowers of which are 
quite white. 
The common Chinese primrose 
(Primula prcenitens )—see fig. 15— 
is a very useful greenhouse or window 
plant at this season, as it continues in flower all the winter. It is very 
