260 MISCELLANY OF NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



may be quite realised in the noon of day by a certain adjustment of the various 

 tints required to delineate the distance in perspective. The effects of contrast 

 are also worthy of attention. The light poplar bending over the Portugal laurel ; 

 the portly bay or the sturdy holly, overshaded by the handsome birch ; the 

 brawny trunk, overgrown by ivy, standing out in bold relief among foliage of a 

 less decided character ; all these, when tastefully distributed, are far more im- 

 posing and interesting than when jumbled together without design. The taste 

 that dictates the clipping of holly or fir, box trees, trees and thorns, is of a very 

 questionable kind; and but for regulating the natural habit, no shrub ought to 

 be subjected to the knife or the shears. It is far prettier to see a bush growing 

 unconfined than to see what we are not warranted in looking for, viz., a growing 

 pyramid, a cone, or beehive. Again, strong cutting winds are sure to nip and 

 stunt trees and shrubs of a soft texture ; and, therefore, while we endeavour to 

 make the shrubbery interesting, we must bear in mind that our trouble will be 

 much augmented, unless we calculate the probable effects of winter and spring 

 blasts. Some trees and shrubs will thrive and look very well for a time in one 

 situation ; but, perhaps, in a year or two we lose sight of them, from their not 

 having kept pace with the others. Tkatkx. 



On the Ranunculus. — So much has been written on the culture of the Ra- 

 nunculus, that the young florist has ample means of knowing how to manage 

 this lovely flower with the fairest hopes of success; but I apprehend that a few 

 remarks on the habits of this class of plants may not be unacceptable to your 

 readers. From the experience of forty year?, I am prepared to say that the 

 Ranunculus delights in a moist soil and a rainy season. Last year was the most 

 congenial to this class of plants I ever recollect of. Indeed so prosperous was it 

 that many of the old varieties, such as Naxara, Variat, La Tendresse, Brelange 

 dts Beautes, and several others, sent up fine pericarps, commonly called eyes, 

 from which, by impregnation, good seed has been saved. The frequent showers 

 of 1843 induced most of the best seedlings which have for some years maintained 

 a high character as good show flowers to yield large seed-vessels, so that many 

 of the flowers were unfit far exhibition; tut for this trick of youth they have 

 amply compensated by producing a greater abundance of prime seed. The 

 showing of the eye may be thought by many a great drawback on the value of 

 a flower; yet it should be remembered that no flower shows such a perfect crown 

 as one whose petals are supported by the seed-vessel, though it is well known 

 that they will not do for exhibition after the pericarp is developed. But it is 

 also certain that those that are semidouble will come perfectly double in a few 

 years ; and many thut produce large seed-vessels in a congenial season will, in 

 a dry spring, be entirely destitute of them, but generally inferior both in size 

 and colour. 



There is also in the Ranunculus what is by florists called a sportive character ; 

 that is, they run from their original colour : though this defect is not so glaring 

 as in the Tulip and Carnation, yet it causes great disappointment to the ardent 

 florist. Some that have yellow grounds delicately spotted will come plain yellow, 

 and some red and white striped will come plain red ; sometimes the colours will 

 mix, and the flowers will become dingy. I have a beautiful modest flower, 

 which some years ago obtained a first seedling prize; I called it "Innocent ;" 

 but the year before last it came so foul, that I wrote against it " Guilty." Last 

 year, however, it resumed all the beauty and purity of its youth, which induced 

 me to write against it " Acquitted." Cathcart, when it first bloomed, was a 

 white ground, beautifully mottled with crimson ; now it frequently comes with 

 only a crimson spot; but in good seasons it will display all the beauties of its 

 )outh. Sometimes the flowers will be as green as the grass of the plants from 

 which they grow. Some of the finest seedlings are weak, and therefore die in a 

 few years, though for a shoit time they had gieat renown ; such has been the 

 case with Abbe St. Andrew, Quixos, Viol le vrai Noir, Grand Berger, and Rose 

 Incomparable, and some others of later date. But there are others of first-rate 

 character which are remarkably strong, and increase abundantly, such as At- 

 tractor, Felix, Saladin, Edgar, Euieka, Victor, and many others. If the last 





