hite, with a meal-like covering.

In stiff soil and a damp situation this little gem does well, or it will
be equally at home in a vegetable soil, such as leaf mould or peat, but
there must be no lack of moisture, and it is all the better for being
screened from the mid-day sun, as it would be behind a hedge or low
wall. So freely does it bloom, that it is not only worth a place in the
garden, but repays all the trouble required to establish it in proper
quarters, after which it will take care of itself, by producing offsets
and seedlings in abundance.

Flowering period, April to June.

Primula Marginata.

_Syn._ P. CRENATA; MARGINED PRIMROSE; _Nat. Ord._
PRIMULACEAE.

A native of Switzerland, so rich in alpine flowers; this is but a small
species, yet very distinct and conspicuous (see Fig. 77). As its
specific name denotes, its foliage has a bold margin, as if stitched
with white silken thread, and the whole plant is thickly covered with a
mealy substance. So distinct in these respects is this lovely species
that, with, perhaps, one exception, it may easily be identified from all
others, _P. auricula marginata_ being the one that most resembles it,
that species also being edged and densely covered with farina, but its
foliage is larger, not toothed, and its flowers yellow.

[Illustration: FIG. 77. PRIMULA MARGINATA.

(Two-thirds natural size.)]

_P. marginata_ has bright but light violet flowers on very short scapes,
seldom more than 3in. high; these and the calyx also are very mealy. The
little leaves are of various shapes, and distinctly toothed, being about
the size of the bowl of a dessert spoon. They are neatly arranged in
tufts on a short footstalk, which becomes surrounded with young growths,
all as clear in their markings as the parent plant, so that a well grown
specimen of three years or even less becomes a beautiful object, whether
it is on rockwork or in a cold frame.

The flowers are produced and remain in good form for two or three weeks
on strong plants, and for nearly the whole year the plant is otherwise
attractive.

I scarcely need mention that such plants with mealy and downy foliage
are all the better for being sheltered from wind and rain. In a crevice,
overhung by a big stone, but where the rockwork is so constructed that
plenty of moisture is naturally received, a specimen has done very well
indeed, besides keeping its foliage dry and perfect. When such positions
can either