66 FLOWEKS AND THE FLOWER GABDEN. 



Hake the surface very fine, and make in it furrows to 

 receive the anemone roots, five inches apart and two 

 inches deep. Plant the roots, buds upwards, four inches 

 apart, strewing some sand in with them ; little bits 

 which break off may be planted, and they will become 

 roots. The anemones, as they shoot, must be protected 

 from frost with mats, stretched over hoops, or any 

 efficient covering of the sort ; and this must be removed 

 whenever the weather permits, or the roots will suffer 

 from damp. "When the plants grow, let them be watered 

 with rain water, enough to save the fibrous roots from 

 withering from drought. When they have done flower- 

 ing, the beds should be covered again with hoops and 

 mats to keep them from wet, and in about a month the 

 leaves will have withered, when the tubers may be taken 

 up, thoroughly dried, and kept in a dry safe place until 

 the season for replanting them conies round. 



For raising seedling anemones, the seed should be 

 cleared from the fluff, and sown in August, and the 

 young tubers may be taken up when the leaves wither 

 the following summer, and planted again in autumn, to 

 flower the year after. To increase the varieties, divido 

 the tubers, but not too much, or the plants will come weak 

 The beds may be kept longer in bloom, if the roots are 

 put in at three different dates : the end of September, 

 October, and very early in spring. They will not do in 

 a stiff soil. If the leaves are distorted, the earth pro- 

 bably wants more draining. To prevent mildew, mix a 

 little salt or sea sand in making the bed ; to try to cure 

 it, sprinkle with sulphur. 



The points of a good single anemone are : a strong 

 elastic erect stem, nine inches high, or more ; flower two 

 &nd a half inches across ; petals large and stout, standing 

 out horizontally at first, and then turning upwards into a 

 shallow cup ; colour, when mixed, clear and distinct ; 

 when unbroken, brilliant and striking. Double ane- 

 mones should have the outer petals quite flat, the second 

 range shorter, the third shorter still, and so on, with the 

 centre full ; the flower should form a rather flat hemi- 

 sphere. The double anemones must be pelf coloured. 



