THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 17 



in, in the way that beans are sown by farmers ; but the best plan is 

 to drill them. 



Choose a fine day ; have your tubers sorted as you mean to plant 

 them, and your zinc or wooden tallies ready. You have already at 

 the fire-side planned how the colours and sorts are to be arranged, 

 and have entered in your note-book all necessary heads, so that when 

 you begin planting you will have to work only, and not to consider. 



First rake the soil so as to give the bed a gentle convexity ; then 

 put down the line for the first row, and with a small-pointed hoe, or 

 the corner of a common one, draw the drill exactly two inches deep. 

 The orthodox depth is an inch and a half, but I prefer, and there- 

 fore recommend, a trifle deeper, on the principle of giving the root 

 free work before the foliage appears, as w^ell as to escape as much as 

 possible the eftects of the very late frosts to which we have been 

 subject for some years past. 



Into the drill spriukle a ver^^ little fine sand, then proceed ac- 

 cording to your book, and plant the first row of tubers, inserting the 

 proper label at o/ioe, not trusting to memory a single jot. Each 

 tuber must be gent'y pressed into the soil to about half the length 

 of the claws, care being taken that none of the claws are broken in 

 the process. The drills may be five inches apart, and the roots four 

 inches apart in the drills, though some growers prefer six or even 

 eight inches distance every way. The first mode will not be injuri- 

 ously close, and it forms a very rich bed. 



When the drills are filled and tallied, sprinkle a little sand over 

 the tubers, and then neatly rake down the soil over them, and dress 

 up the bed as you intend it to remain. It may be as well to state 

 as a last word on this point, that if the roots are planted too deep, 

 they will not flower, for instead of throwing up the flowers they will 

 exhaust their energies in forming new tubers near the surface. Be 

 careful, therefore, never to make the drill more than two inches 

 deep. 



As soon as the plants begin to push through, the bed should be 

 carefully trod over between the rows, firmness of the soil being a 

 prime element of success in the general cultivation. If the weather 

 is dry, they may be watered night and morning, and if the soil has 

 not been so liberally, manured as it ought, weak manure water may 

 be used. The ranunculus likes a moist and generous soil, but 

 nevertheless it is a mistaken notion to water it either frequently or 

 copiously. Artificial watering never does as much good as is ex- 

 pected of it, and if it can be dispensed with it will be better for the 

 plants. It is a good plan to mulch the bed with moss or old tan, or 

 even ancient and well-sweetened manure, placing the dressing neatly 

 along the rows. Such a procedure will frequently obviate the neces- 

 sity for watering, and carry the plants through till the rain falls. 



This is a flower which rarely disappoints us, if it is properly 

 treated. It needs a quiet sort of culture. Excessive drought, 

 moisture, manure, and stimulating nostrums of all kinds, are inimical 

 to success. The tubers should never be placed in immediate con- 

 tact with manure ; they should never be planted deeper than two 

 inches ; and should be arranged with the nicest care. Then for 



VOL. I. — NO. I. 2 



