200 
THE GARDENING WORLD. November 28, 1885. 
CHINESE PRIMULAS. 
During tlie dull and dreary month of Decem¬ 
ber and onwards till March, visitors to the Portland 
Nurseries of Messrs. Sutton & Sons, at Reading, will 
be able to see one of the finest collections of these 
charming flowers ever presented to view. One of the 
spacious new span-roofed houses in three divisions is 
completely filled with them, and they are appropriately 
grouped in varieties, which adds greatly to the effec¬ 
tiveness of the particular types, and enables the most 
complete and favourable comparisons to be made. 
Other houses on the nursery contain large quantities 
of plants also, but those alluded to above are the 
forwardest, and have recently been shifted into 32- 
pots. Messrs. Sutton & Sons have selected early, 
mid-season, and late-flowering varieties, and thus a 
good succession of bloom is maintained ; but it is found 
that the earlier the plants bloom, the less seeds do they 
produce, and thus it is that instead of flowering their 
plants inf 48-sized pots as hitherto, they are placed in 
32-sized pots in order to carry on the period of bloom 
farther into the spring and early summer, and thus 
assist them in producing larger quantities of seed. 
All the large plants now in 32-sized pots were raised 
from seed sown in April last. By March they will 
have formed specimens of large size, and will be bearing 
grand heads of bloom. The smaller plants were raised 
from seeds sown in June, and they will flower later, 
when the growing warmth of spring takes the place of 
the artificial heat necessary at the present season of the 
year. One general characteristic is seen in all the 
types—a vigorous, short-stemmed, compact habit of 
growth, but healthy and clean in the extreme ; and 
this is true of palmate and fern-foliaged types alike. 
One of the oldest is Superb Red, a fine type of an 
old form that is constantly being improved by selec¬ 
tion. Ruby King was the next advance, a colour so 
rich as to bear description as “deep blood red,” in 
addition to its richness of colour, the flowers are of the 
finest form and substance ; opening somewhat pale, 
but increasing in tone and hue as the blossoms become 
mature. It is also of an excellent compact habit. 
This originated in 1879. Reading Scarlet followed, of 
a colour so bright and glowing as to merit being termed 
Scarlet ; the flowers are perhaps a little undersized, but 
the colour is very striking, the blossoms stout and 
handsomely fringed. Pearl is in all probability a 
selection from Sutton’s Superb White, but it is larger 
in the flower, very handsomely fringed, and of a close, 
compact, dwarf habit. Princess Beatrice is of a delicate 
rosy lilac colour, and having a yellow eye bordered 
with a circle of white ; fine both in flower and habit. 
Reading Blue represents the latest development in blue 
Chinese Primroses. Slowly, but surely, new tints of 
deeper colour appear. But seedlings are certain to 
show some variation in the blue tints, and the raiser 
must not be surprised if a few of the older types of 
Primulas appear among them also. Habit and flowers 
alike are being improved, but seed will always be scarce. 
This variety needs a little more heat to bring it to 
perfection than is generally required for Primulas, and 
it is necessary that any check in its growth should be 
carefully avoided. The foregoing have the old type of 
palmate foliage. 
Some of the new types of fern-leaved varieties are 
surprisingly fine. Snowdrift is a beautiful pure white 
form, with a dwarf compact vigorous and handsome 
habit of growth, the flowers large, of the purest white, 
lasting a long time, and it is very early to flower. It 
precedes the White Pearl in point of time, while it is 
so thoroughly distinct in foliage that the two can be 
grown side by side; Rosy Queen is of a delicate salmon- 
rose, it has a very compact habit, and the flowers are 
thrown well above it; it is very cheerful and effective 
in colour ; but the most distinct of the fern-leaved 
type is Gipsy Queen, it has such a marked individuality 
of its own, that the visitor contemplates it with some¬ 
thing akin to wonder ; the foliage is of a deep russet- 
brown or nearly black colour, and from amid them 
there is thrown up bold trusses of pure white flowers, 
that change to a spotted and flaked with rose character 
as they mature, while the eye becomes of clear pale 
orange colour. The contrast is remarkable, and it is 
easy to perceive this type makes an excellent subject 
for the table. 
Then there is a section of handsome semi-double 
varieties obtained from seed. There are the double 
pure white, and the double forms of red, carmine, and 
lilac ; but these, useful and good as they are, are less 
in value than the double scarlet, a new type, of a very 
bright rich crimson colour, most effective in every 
respect ; the leaf-stalks and leaves dark, the habit all 
that can be desired. This is truly a great acquisition. 
Crosses are made with so much attention and judg¬ 
ment at Reading, that it is not to be wondered at 
striking novelties putting in any appearance. This is 
the way to produce new types of definite character, 
marking steps of progress in the way of the production 
of novelty. — 11. D. 
of the runners, which is done about the first or second 
week in May, according te the weather. I should, 
however, here remark, that early in March a quantity 
of fine leafy soil is sifted over the plants growing in the 
frames, and is well worked in amongst the runners by 
the hand. Into this they almost immediately send 
forth roots—and are, when planting time arrives— 
what may be more properly termed plants than runners. 
Soil and Situation.— According to my experience, 
the position that is found the most suitable for one 
variety, is not always suitable for another : for instance 
'/? NATURAL SIZE 
Nepenthes Rajah. 
CULTURE OP VIOLETS POR 
WINTER BLOOMING. 
To have a good supply of double Violets during the 
dreary months of Winter, must be a great source of satis¬ 
faction to any gardener, as, doubtless, it is to those for 
whose pleasure and enjoyment they are produced. As 
many, however, fail to grow and bloom them with any 
degree of certainty, I am pleased to send you the 
details of a system of culture adopted by me with much 
success, in the hope that some who have attempted 
then culture and failed, may be induced to make 
another effort, and that others who have never tried 
their hand, and yet have the n.eans, may be tempted 
to do so. I will, therefore, commence with the taking 
—Maria Louise succeeds well on an east border where it 
can enjoy a fair amount of sunshine ; whereas the 
Neapolitan thrives best under the shade of a north 
wall, entirely screened from the sun’s rays, the reason 
being that the latter variety is harder in the texture of 
the leaf, and suffers more from the attacks of red spider 
when grown in an exposed position. The soil in which 
my plants are grown is somewhat light, but annually, 
previous to planting, I give it a thick coating of leaf- 
mould and road sweepings well mixed and dug deeply 
into the borders, afterwards laying on another slight 
coating and pricking it in just below the surface, this 
last addition gives the plants a good start. 
After Treatment of the Plants.—As soon as 
the plants are pricked out into the borders 1 ft. apart 
