ry, during the blooming season, to look over the flowers daily
and remove inferior kinds as soon as proved, so that neither their seed
nor pollen can escape and be disseminated. This part of the operation
alone will, in a few years, where strictly carried out, cause a garden
to become famous for its primroses. Seasonable sowing, protection from
slugs, and liberal treatment are also of the utmost importance.

Briefly stated, the _modus operandi_ should be as follows: Sow the seed
at the natural season, soon as ripe, on moist vegetable soil; do not
cover it with more than a mere dash of sand; the aspect should be north,
but with a little shade any other will do; the seedlings will be pretty
strong by the time of the early frosts; about that time they should, on
dry days, have three or four slight dressings of soot and quicklime; it
should be dusted over them with a "dredge" or sieve; this may be
expected to clear them of the slug pest, after which a dressing of sand
and half-rotten leaves may be scattered over them; this will not only
keep them fresh and plump during winter, but also protect them from the
effects of wet succeeded by frost, which often lifts such things
entirely out of the earth. In March, plant out in well enriched loam, in
shady quarters; many will flower in late spring. Another plan would be
to leave them in the seed bed if not too rank, where most would flower;
in either case, the seed bed might be left furnished with undisturbed
seedlings. The main crop of bloom should not be looked for until the
second spring after the summer sowing.

The double forms are not only less vigorous, but the means of
propagation are limited; offsets of only healthy stock should be taken
in early summer. A rich retentive loam suits them, or moist vegetable
soil would do: shade, however, is the great desideratum; exposure to
full sunshine harms them, even if well moistened at the roots; besides,
in such positions red spider is sure to attack them. This mode of
propagation is applicable to desirable single varieties, as they cannot
be relied upon to produce stock true to themselves from seed. In
planting offsets it is a good practice to put them in rather deeply; not
only are the new roots emitted from above the old ones, but the heart of
the offset seems to be sustained during the warm and, perhaps, dry
weather, by being set a trifle below the surface. This I have ever
proved to be a sure and quick method in the open garden