110 FLORA HISTORICA. 



nally brought from the Levant, and were known 

 in our gardens as early as the Star Anemone, but 

 their cultivation was carried to a great extent both 

 in Holland and in France before they were much 

 known in England. Mr. Ray enumerates near 

 three hundred varieties of Anemonies, and our 

 modern seedsmen offer us nearly two hundred va- 

 rieties of the Poppy Anemone, through all the 

 varying hues of the last kind, and still more diver- 

 sified in the shades of their double petals : we shall 

 therefore desist from description, and say with 

 Miss Mitford, 



'Twere hard to sing thy varying charm. 



As our object is to improve the appearance of 

 the garden rather than to give the nurseryman 

 directions, we shall not speak of Anemone beds, 

 but advise the best method of planting clumps of 

 these flowers, whose gaiety so considerably contri- 

 butes to lengthen the floral year. 



To flower these plants in the greatest perfection, 

 a suitable compost must be prepared of good loam 

 and rotten cow-dung, adding more or less of the 

 latter according to the lightness or richness of the 

 loam. This should be well mixed, and if prepared 

 a year before and frequently turned over, so much 

 the better. Some persons prefer a clayey loam 

 with a fourth part of rotten dung. Where the 

 Anemonies are to be planted, let holes be dug of 



