86 
THE FLORIST. 
flowering, just as they begin to make a start; and I prefer 
this plan to that adopted by many growers, of shifting when 
the plants have made their wood, which I like them to do when 
placed in a vinery that has been at work. I use a mixture 
of turfy loam and peat-soil, adding a little rotten manure and 
silver sand. Beneath the shade of the vines they make their 
growth, and form their flower-buds ; and during this time I 
supply the plants plentifully with water, and occasionally give 
them a little weak liquid manure, using the syringe freely 
after a hot day. I then harden the plants off gradually, and 
place them out of doors in the shade for a few weeks, which 
I think a great advantage, before arranging them in a cool 
greenhouse for their winter quarters. By following the above 
treatment, I have succeeded in getting a good head of bloom 
upon my plants, and preserving them in a healthy condition. 
J. Nicholson. 
Taplow Court, near Maidenhead. 
REMINISCENCES, BY DR. HORNER, 
THE POLYANTHUS. 
As this is the first of florists’ flowers to greet us in the spring-, 
and as the time of its growth or flowering is that at which a plant 
most effectually bespeaks attention, I shall now offer some reminis¬ 
cences on the culture of the Polyanthus. 
The Polus-anthos, Poly-anthus (many-flowered), is a direct de¬ 
scendant from the Primula vulgaris, the common primrose; yet, 
“ quantum mutatus ab illoC what a change have the labours of the 
florist wrought here !—so great, indeed, that we are compelled to re¬ 
sort to the more exact science of botan} 7 , to assure us of its undoubted 
origin.. For, not only has cultivation imparted to it a new as well 
as. a distinct arrangement of colours, but the sessile stem of the 
primrose has been converted into the scape, or elevated stem, bear¬ 
ing an umbel of flowers, as in the recognised Polyanthus of florists. 
That the Polyanthus is, indeed, thus derived, the florist is too often 
vexatiously reminded, in witnessing among his cherished hopes, in 
a bed of seedlings, a fair sprinkling of primroses, both plain and 
coloured; while the cultivated seed of the primrose will not unfre- 
quently produce coloured flowers, and that on an elevated stem. 
Amongst* the whole range of florists’ flowers, not one is of more 
easy cultivation than the Polyanthus; and yet I know that I rightly 
tell the experience of the majority of florists when I say, that with no 
