90 FLOWERS AND THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



the young plants are grown, sink the boxes in the open 

 ground, and water them until the leaves wither, which 

 will be about July, and after that take up the roots, 

 keep them in bags until February, plant them then, and 

 they will flower the June after. The general mode of 

 propagation is separating the offsets from the larger 

 roots. 



For getting the ranunculus to flower in winter, keep 

 back some tubers from planting, plant them in pots the 

 beginning of August, and force them a little before they 

 are wanted. 



These are pretty showy flowers for the garden, and 

 there are several common kinds often grown in gar- 

 dens : the white and yellow bachelor's button, globe 

 ranunculus, and several others. 



The cultivation of the Tulip, now almost out of 

 fashion, was once a mania, and in truth a tulip bed in 

 full flower is a gorgeous sight. The best situation is a 

 spot which is open to the south and south-east, and well 

 sheltered from north, north-east, and north-west winds. 

 The tulip bed must be well drained ; where there is 

 depth of good loam, on a dry gravelly or sandy subsoil, 

 very little draining will be required. "When, however, 

 for want of good draining subsoil, the bed has to be 

 made, dig out to the depth of 18 inches ; below this lay 

 draining tiles along the middle of the bed. Cover them 

 and the bottom of the bed to the depth of three or four 

 inches with rubble, small stones, clinkers, and such like. 

 Place over this a layer of straw or brushwood, a layer 

 two inches thick of well rotted cow-manure, and then 

 fill in partly with the earth, which should be good loam, 

 mixed with a sixth part of thoroughly decomposed hot-bed 

 manure, and fill up quite with the same mixed with 

 about a third of river sand. The bed should be flat ; and 

 if the locality be unfavourably damp, it had better be 

 some inches above the surrounding surface, the edges 

 well supported with slate or board edging. September 

 is a good time for making the bed. Tulip fanciers con- 

 sider the best time for planting the bulbs to be as near 

 as possible to the 10th of November, but the best rule 



