the flowers, which are divided into fours instead of fives. The stamens, petals, and sepals are each four or divided into four, whereas in the other forms they are five or divided into five. Native of the Rocky Mountains. Flowers early summer.

D. Meadia (Common D.) is the best-known species. The leaves are all radical, stalkless, oblong lanceolate, thin and soft in texture, and pale green, obscurely toothed, dying off shortly after flowering. The flower-stems are 1 foot or more high, bearing a considerable umbel of elegant drooping flowers of interesting shape. The flowers are rosy purple, and divided into five broad much-reflexed segments. Flowers in April, May, and June, and in the north often blooming well through July. There are several varieties of this species of greater or less distinctness, which are often vended as species. The best of them are, D. M. elegans, syn. giganteum, remarkable for greater luxuriance in all its parts, and rather more delicate colouring; D. M. album, with white flowers suffused with rose; and D. M. lilacinum, with rosy-lilac flowers.

Hottonia. So far as is at present known, this pretty and interesting genus of aquatic plants comprises only two speciesthe one a native of North America, and unknown to cultivators in this country; the other inhabits ponds and sluggish streams in England and Ireland and other parts of central and northern Europe. H. palustris (Water Violet) is the European species. It is valuable for introducing into ponds and streams where aquatic vegetation is desirable, being interesting and ornamental for a long period during summer. The leaves and barren branches are all submerged; the former are deeply cut into fine thread-like segments, giving a feathery appearance to the submerged growth, and suggesting strikingly the other common name (Featherfoil) by which it is known in some parts of the country. The flower-stems are leafless, and rise erect above the water, bearing several whorls of rather large flowers, deeply divided into five broad lobes. The flowers are variously coloured in different individuals—pale purple is the most common colour, but blue and white and pink are also to be met with, and they appear in June, July, and August, and often also in September. It is easily propagated by division, and also by seeds. If the latter method is adopted—and it is the simplest, if they have to be transported a distance they should be sown immediately they are ripe in the quarters they are to occupy permanently, the only care requisite being the prevention of the washing of the bottom by floods if the pond or stream in which they are sown be liable to such disturbance, and the destruction that would be caused by waterfowls, till

such time as the plants are strong enough to take care of themselves, which they will be the year after sowing.

Lysimachia (Loose-strife).—This is a useful, showy, and freeflowering group of plants. There is some diversity of habit among them, but very little of colour, yellow predominating in the majority of the species. They are best adapted for culture in moist soils and situations, and are well fitted for naturalising in moist woods and by the sides of lakes or ponds and streams, and all are easily increased by division in autumn or spring. They succeed in any kind of soil if moist.

L. angustifolia (Narrow-leaved L.), from North America, is a very graceful species, growing to the height of 1 foot or 18 inches, with terminal leafy panicles of nodding pale yellow flowers. It is useful for the same purposes as the two last species, and is well worth a place in the mixed border. Like the others, it delights in moisture, and is not fastidious as to the quality of the soil. The flowers appear in June and July, and throughout the greater part of summer, in moist ground.

L. ephemerum (Willow-leaved), from several parts of the south of Europe, is very distinct from either of the foregoing species. It grows about 2 feet high, with rather graceful habit, and the stems and branches terminate in handsome racemes of white flowers. The corolla is rotate, with deeply-divided spreading lobes obovate in form. It flowers in July and August, and is most suitable for cultivating in the mixed border or the margins of shrubberies in good moist soil.

L. Nummularia (Moneywort L.) is one of the prettiest and most interesting. It is a dwarf prostrate plant, throwing many branches out in all directions from the centre, which in moist situations root at the joints and so spread many feet. The flowers are yellow and appear in June, and last on till September and October if occasionally pinched in to induce fresh growth, and kept moist. It is useful for a variety of purposes - for clothing rockwork, moist banks, front lines in mixed beds and borders, and for festooning the margins of rustic vases where such ornaments may with propriety of taste be introduced into flower-gardens. Native of Britain and Europe generally. A variety with yellow leaves or yellow variegated leaves, recently introduced, is of considerable value, and will, when more generally known, become a favourite in the flower-garden of any style.

L. thyrsiflora (Tufted L.), native of Britain and other parts of Europe, of Northern Asia, and America. It is 18 inches high, dwarf, with simple or unbranched erect stems. The flowers are

yellow, in rather dense racemes, and appear in June, July, and August. Useful for the same purposes as the preceding.

L. vulgaris (Common L.), like the last-named species, is a native of Britain, and Europe generally, appearing also in many parts of Asia and in Australia. It rises erect to the height of 2 or 3 feet, with branching stems terminating in loose leafy panicles of yellow flowers, which appear in July, August, and September. It is not at all a choice-looking plant, but it is valuable for introducing into moist open woods, and for planting on the banks of ponds and streams where the natural vegetation stands in need of improvement, and for lighting up masses of shrubs. It succeeds in any common soil, but delights most in partially-shaded moist places.

Primula. This is a very beautiful and interesting group of hardy border and rock plants, which in bygone years was much admired and extensively cultivated in this country, but latterly it has been entirely neglected, at least in the gardens of the rich. It is rather astonishing that it should be so, Primulas are so fragrant, so beautiful in colouring, and so neat in habit; and the majority of the species, flowering as they do in spring and early summer, present a character so desirable, that one would think lovers of flowers, whether professional or amateur, could not easily forget or forego them. There are signs, however, of the old love being taken up again. Some beautiful varieties of the Cowslip and Primrose are found very useful in the spring flower-garden, for which they are very fit; and the catalogues of florists and seedsmen are swelling with new species and varieties in addition to many old and well-known sorts. The majority of Primulas are very accommodating in cultivation, adapting themselves to many kinds of soils and situations, but are most at home in sandy loams, deep and moist, but well drained and in moderately shady positions. They are easily propagated by seeds,-remembering always that it often requires the exercise of patience and following directions already laid down, cuttings, and division, the last being the simplest and easiest process where large increase is not an object. In laying in first stock, seed is the best and cheapest way in the case of the varieties of the Auricula, Primrose, and Polyanthus, unless fine named sorts are wanted, when they must of course be purchased in plants, and by name, the same as with other florists' flowers; and the finer and more rare species must be got in the same way, because seeds of those are not always procurable true in this country. For a couple of months or more after germinating, the plants do not require much room, and are liable to be destroyed by slugs and other pests whilst

in the tender seedling state. A cold frame, hand-lights, or glasses, should therefore, if possible, be devoted to them, in which they will be more easily guarded against all enemies than if they were in the open ground. Small pots should be used to sow in, and they should be plunged in sand or coal-ashes. The soil should be sandy loam, peat, and well-decayed leafmould, in equal proportions, with plenty of sharp sand to keep the whole sweet and open. Sow thinly, and keep the soil regularly moist till the plants appear, when caution in watering will require to be exercised to prevent damping, to which Primulas are all rather liable in their first stages from seed. As soon as the plants are big enough to handle, they must be pricked out thinly in pans, pots, or boxes, and returned to the frame, or set in a shady, warm, sheltered place, and well attended to with water, taking care, however, not to allow the soil to become stagnant with too frequent waterings, which would very soon be followed by sickness and death to the plants. Primulas delight in moisture in the growing season; but a good sound watering at intervals, not daily driblets or sprinklings, is what they want. When the plants have made sufficient roots and bulk of leaves they may be transferred to their permanent quarters, and well watered after planting, when they will need little more attention for the season beyond keeping them clean. In the case of getting up large quantities of Primroses and Polyanthuses, for the purpose of planting out in woods and suchlike places, the foregoing directions would be troublesome and expensive, as they are only meant for the more valuable and rare species and varieties. The common varieties are best sown on a warm border in the beginning of April, in beds, broadcast or in drills, and, when fit to handle, planted out in nursing-lines in rich soil well manured with old hotbed dung. Cuttings are best put in in spring, when growth has fairly begun the same soil as recommended for seeds is suitable for cuttings. Division should be done immediately after flowering is over, unless large increase of particular sorts should be desired, or when the plant is very weak and would obviously be invigorated by being divided immediately before flowering commences; in such cases everything should be done to prolong the growing period, and all flowers removed as soon as they can be got hold of. Under the name P. veris, Linnæus included the three forms of Primula most common in this country, the Primrose, P. vulgaris; the Oxlip, P. elatior; and the Cowslip, P. veris of modern botanists, being considered by him essentially the same for the purposes of science. But to gardeners and florists it is convenient to distinguish between the

three forms, which are well marked and pretty constant in cultivation. The common flower-stalk in the Cowslip rises considerably above the leaves, supporting an umbel of flowers; and in the single varieties, the corolla is small and cup-shaped -features that are lost sight of in the double varieties, or florists' Polyanthuses. From this form there are many varieties, some of which are most beautiful things in their season, and worthy a place among choice plants. The commoner single sorts are suitable for planting in woods and on banks, and about the edges of masses of shrubs.

P. amona (Beautiful P.) is perhaps the finest of the cortusoides section. The leaves are of the same form as those of P. cortusoides, but narrower and less acutely toothed; the flowerstalks are stouter, and rise to the height of 9 inches or 1 foot; the umbels are larger, as are also the individual flowers, which are bright lilac, with a clear pale eye. A moist but well-drained position on rockwork is the most suitable for it, and peat and loam, with plenty of gritty sand, the most congenial compost. Flowers in March, April, and May. Native of the Caucasus.

P. Auricula is the parent of the well-known varieties of stage and border Auriculas. In its native habitats on the German, Swiss, and Italian Alps, it is rather a variable plant, but not to such an extent as to shadow forth, even remotely, the endless and beautiful combinations that have sprung from it in the florists' hands. Yellow and red are the most common colours in nature, with purple occasionally; and Selfs are more common than variegated varieties, which is also true of the majority of florists' varieties raised, only the variegated forms are the most favoured. It would take more space than can be allowed here to notice in detail the method of cultivating and raising the finer varieties, which have been most favoured by florists; and it is the less necessary to do so, because treatises on the subject have been long in existence, and give details ample and curious enough to satisfy the most particular inquirer. Almost any of the varieties are worthy of cultivating, were it for no other purpose than that of yielding early crops of cut flowers out of doors. Where these are wanted in quantity, the fragrance and pretty colours of the Auricula render them very desirable. All that are suitable for this purpose may be grown in the borders of the kitchen-garden, about the margin of shrubberies, &c.; and they will succeed in any common garden-soil, if not too heavy and wet.

P. cortusoides (Cortusa-leaved P.) is a very pretty species from Siberia. It forms compact tufts of bright-green, heartshaped, bluntly-toothed leaves; the flower-stalks, slender and