162 PINK BEDS. 
QUICKLIME, QUITE DRY AND FRESH FROM THE KILN, 
A PREVENTIVE OF DAMP IN PLANT FRAMES. 
Havine had some plants in a hot-bed frame more than a month since 
that were damping off, I placed lumps of quicklime on pans and in 
garden-pots among them, and found ina day or two after its use a 
check of the disease. I may be too sanguine, but from the apparent 
beneficial result of my trials, an anticipation is entertained by me that 
the application of quicklime to absorb the damp from plants in pits 
under cover, will prove a great benefit to horticulturists in many cases 
where no other means can be applied so readily. The lime will not 
be deteriorated for other purposes, and supplies of it fresh can be 
introduced as required. I have not a hygrometer or other instrument 
to ascertain the absorbing power of lime, but the absence of drip and 
the revival of the plants were facts to be seen.— Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
RANUNCULUSES. 
Av a recent meeting of the Kingsland branch of the Society for 
Encouraging Floriculture in Great Britain, the subject of Ranunculus 
culture was discussed in the presence of forty members, many of them 
highly successful cultivators. -All of them agreed the following were 
essentials to success. Growing in the cleanest and best-seasoned loam, 
having a layer of well-decomposed dung below it; shading from the 
heat of the sun when in bloom; keeping the roots liberally supplied 
with water, and preventing its evaporation during the period of bloom, 
if possible, by laying tiles between the rows; keeping the earth well 
stirred at the surface in all the early stages of- their growth, and close 
about the stems; also to take up the tubers as soon as they turn 
yellow. 
PINK BEDS. 
LateELy we called, for the first time, upon one of the first-rate Pink- 
growers, and found that he had suffered the misfortune of the loss of 
nearly all his stock, which consisted of, he said, thirty thousand 
lants. 
: This occurred from an attack of mildew. The garden is about half 
an acre ; the greater part surrounded by buildings and a brick wall of 
about three yards high, by reason of which the place was kept damp ; 
and having a well whose supply of water was nearly up to the surface 
of the ground, it tended to increase the dampness of the garden. The 
Pink beds were formed so as not to be more than two or three inches 
higher than the general level of the ground. These combined cireum- 
stances promoted the mildew, and the loss resulted in consequence. 
We mention this occurrence in order to suggest to our readers the 
necessity in all cases of having a Pink bed upon a dry substratum, 
either naturally, or one must be formed, and the bed must be raised 
six inches higher than the general surface around. If there be a pos- 
