Phe Gardening World 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“Order is Heaven’s first law; and this contest, some are, ard must be, greater than the rest.’'— Pope. 
Veekly Prize 
FOR 
Short Articles. 
lie Proprietors of The Gardening World ) 
w give a oash prize of Ten Shillings for ) 
T] BEST PARAGRAPH, or SHORT ARTICLE, sent ) 
b- readers during the week. The Editor’s ) 
jijment must be considered final, and he will ( 
b at liberty to use any of the contributions ) 
a t in. The paragraph, or article, must not - 
e:eed one column in length, but the value, ( 
rher than the length, of the article will be < 
c.sidered in making the award. Competitors i 
ry send in items of news or comments on < 
Drs; HINTS OF PRACTICAL INTEREST to gar- ' 
diers or growers of plants, fruits, or flowers; ( 
scessful methods of propagating plants < 
daily considered difficult; or contributions ) 
O ANY SUBJECT COMING WITHIN THE SPHERE 
o gardening proper. Letters should be ? 
tressed to The Editor, marked “ Competi- < 
t n,” and posted not later than Friday night ; 
t insure insertion in the issue of next week. ; 
he following Coloured 
Hates have appeared in 
iccnt numbers:— \ 
lay 23-SAXIFRAGA GRISEBACHII, i 
lay 30. — DENDROBIUM NOBILE ( 
RTUNDIFLORUM and D.n. NOBILIUS. ) 
uly 4.—APHELANDRA AURANTIACA < 
F EZLII. 
lUgust 1.—BORONIA HETEROPHYLLA. ' 
feptember 12.—SIX NEW DAFFODILS. 
ictober 3 —LILIUM AURATUM PLA- > 
1PHYLLUM SHIRLEY VAR. 
fovembei 14.—ROSE MME. N. LEVA- ) 
V SSEUR. 
anuary 2-HYBRID TEA-SCENTED 
FiSE IRENE. > 
anuary 30. — TUBEROUS BEGONIA < 
OUNTESS OF WARWICK. i 
lack numbers may be obtained from the ) 
p ilishers, price 2^d. post free. < 
iis week we present a Half-tone- } 
Plate of t 
ARALIA SPINOSA. 
Ixt week we shall give a Half-tone 
Plate of 
PRIMULA KEWENSIS 
’ * The prize last week in the Headers’ 
C ipetition was awarded to “Longh- 
b ian,” for his article on “Rose and 
C matis Grafting,” page 178. ( 
Views and Reviews. 
Heredity and Variation amongst 
Primulas. 
As most gardeners are aware, the 
numerous varieties of Primulai sinensis now 
in cultivation have all been derived from one 
original species. The forms of the original 
wilding recently introduced and flowered in 
this country show to what extent the modem 
race lias been developed by cultivation, cro s- 
breeding, seed-sowing and selection. 
On this- 'Occasion we wish particularly tq 
refer to the remarks made by Mr. W. Bate¬ 
son, F.R.S., at the meeting of the Linnean 
Society on the 18th ult., when lie took for his 
subject Primula sinensis, which he had 
studied for the last five seasons in the nur¬ 
series of Messrs. Sutton and Sons, Reading. 
This lecture was illustrated by a series of 240 
plants lent by Messrs. Sutton to illustrate the 
phenomena of heredity and variation. The 
species was originally introduced to this 
country in 1820, and had probably been 
grown by the Chinese for ai great number of 
years previous toi that, because it was only 
known in a state of cultivation, about that 
date. 
The cultivated plant has given rise to 
numerous mutational forms, such as the Fern¬ 
leaved, Palm-leaved, Ivy-leaved, the steilata 
type and] others. It is more than probablei 
that all of these forms occur or did occur 
amongst the wild types at no distant date, 
because amongst the wild plants raised from 
seed in this country there were forms closely 
similar both to the Fern-leaved and Palm¬ 
leaved types. The Ivy-leaved form, also, 
sometimes teamed the Oak-leaved type,, may 
have been developed under cultivation, and 
in any case it would hardly be likely to exist 
long in a wild state unless, It possessed a 
more vigorous constitution! than that which 
we have seen in cultivation. The leaves are 
cut into several deep and simple lobes, hut 
the flowers are small and insignificant, and 
seem to have retained this character in more 
than one nursery for many years. 
Mr. Bateson considers that many of these 
forms 1 follow Mendelian rules in their in¬ 
heritance. The Pal in-leaded form is dominant 
over the Fern-leaved form and the Ivy-leaved 
type. This would simply mean that the 
Palm-leaved form was the original or, at all 
events, the moist constant form of leaf in the 
plant, and that being the case, under culti¬ 
vation the Fern-leaved type would revert, tol 
it more frequently than to reproduce itself. 
The effect of the one form on the other is 
best seem,, however, when the two are crossed 
together. This has the effect, of rendering 
the characters more unstable than when any 
particular type is fertilised by its own 
pollen. 
In like manner, the palei red stem is more 
frequent than the deep red stem or a green 
stem in, seedlings that have been crossed. 
Single flowers are more stable than double 
ones, as might be taken for granted when 
the two forms are crossed together. In 
some rare instances an intermediate form 
between the Fern-leaved and Palm-leaved 
occurs amongst seedlings, but it, is, of unusual 
occurrence, the two forms being usually veiy 
definitely either one or the other. 
When the plant was first introduced it 
produced only thrum-eyed 1 flowers. These 
would have been seized upon by the florist of 
the Auricula school as a good beginning in 
the building up of a good florist’s flower, but 
somehow cr cither the veiy reverse has been 
adopted by the improvers of the Chinese 
Primula. In, collections of seedlings, how¬ 
ever, the tlu'um-eye is still inclined to be 
produced, or in other words the flower re¬ 
verts to that when crossed. Homostyled 
foams have appeared ; that is, the styles and 
stamensi are hottta on the same level, but in 
seed-raising they give rise to both the pin 
eye and the thrum eye. The steilata, and) 
sinensis type blend well in crossing, but this 
is what might be expected, consideriflg that 
they are so closely allied and the steilata 
form more like the original wilding. 
In speaking of colours, he states that blue 
is often altogether disintegrated on crossing 
and may not appear again in the progeny. 
That would tendl to show that blue in 
Primula sinensis is not, only unstable, but 
an artificial product of cultivation and selec¬ 
tion. Pure white with a green stem is re¬ 
cessive to most colours. Pinks were reces¬ 
sive to nmuvesi, and consequently the latter 
colour could not be bred true without 
individual selection. 
From the above statements it, will be 
evident, to cultivators that a. great amount, 
of care on the part of Primula raisers is 
necessary to keep the various foams true to 
name. The various colours have to he 
singled out,, set by themselves, and only 
then' own pollen employed; otherwise a, 
lieiterogeny of forms would appear, many of 
them anything but beautiful. Since the 
Chinese Primrose was first introduced hun¬ 
dreds of forms and shades of colour have been 
produced, but a great number of these have 
