THE RANUNCULUS. 265 



off from the parent bulbs, and nursed in separate bods till 

 they be full grown. New varieties are raised from seed j 

 they are from five to seven years old before they flower, 

 and, if raised from promiscuous seed, they often turn out 

 worthless. Early in the eighteenth century, the distin- 

 guished Scottish cultivator, Justice (already mentioned as 

 a most successful cultivator of hyacinths), was eminently 

 successful in raising fine seedling tulips ; and some skillful 

 florists of our own day, such as Mr. Oliver, of Edinburgh, 

 succeed in breaking their seedlings into colors equal to the 

 choicest bybloemens of Holland. They save the seeds from 

 the first-rate sorts, the stigma of the intended parent flower 

 having been fertilized with the pollen of some other excel- 

 lent variety. Seedling tulips, it may be remarked, present 

 this anomaly for the first two or three years, that they 

 form their new bulbs several inches below the old ones, so 

 that an inexperienced cultivator is sometimes apt to miss 

 them at the time of lifting. 



The Ranunculus (R. Asiaticus) is, like many other of 

 the florists' flowers, a native of the Levant, where it is a 

 favorite of the Turks. It has sported into innumerable 

 varieties, and those now in cultivation in England are 

 mostly of British origin. The plant is of small stature, 

 furnished with decomposite leaves, and rising from a root 

 formed by a bundle of little tubers. 



According to the canons of floral criticism, the proper- 

 ties of a fine double ranunculus are the following : The 

 stem should be strong, straight, and from eight to ten 

 inches high, supporting a large, well-formed blossom at 

 least two inches in diameter, consisting of numerous petals, 

 the largest at the outside, and gradually diminishing in 

 size as they approach the centre of the flower, which should 

 be well filled up with them. The blossom should be of a 



12 



