APRIL] FLOWER GARDEN. 35 7 



RANUNCULUSES. 



April showers, and frequent rains in May, are essentially necessary 

 to the growth and vigor of ranunculuses : if these fail, soft water must 

 be administered in sufficient quantities between the rows, by means 

 of a common watering pot, with a long tube or spout held low, so 

 as not to wash the earth into holes : for it is better to avoid watering 

 the plants themselves, as it might chill them too much, and stagnate 

 their juices, and has a tendency to rot the crowns. The consequences 

 of omitting to water, when necessary, are these, viz : The plants will 

 make little progress; the blossom buds of the strongest will be small, 

 and the weaker plants will not bloom at all ; the grass or foliage will 

 put on a sickly yellowish appearance, from which it will not recover 

 during the season; and lastly, the roots when taken up will be small 

 and lean. 



But such kinds of watering, however necessary, are by no means 

 so salutary to these, or any other flowers or plants, as fine warm, 

 natural showers; as they can neither be so equally dispensed, nor are 

 the plants naturally disposed to receive them when the atmosphere 

 is dry ; because their pores and fibres are contracted, and they are, 

 as it were, in the expectancy of dry weather. 



Since it is evident that artificial waterings are, in all respects, so 

 much inferior to natural, it is, therefore, better to wait a day or two, 

 in hopes of a change of weather, than to be too hasty in affording 

 these succors, although the plants may appear to suffer for the mo- 

 ment by the omission; for if such a change should fortunately take 

 place, they will receive infinitely more benefit from it than when both 

 themselves and the soil are already saturated or replenished with 

 water, not so congenial to vegetation as that ordained by nature for 

 the purpose. (For their further treatment, see the Flower Garden 

 in May.) 



ANEMONES. 



The beds of anemones, for the present, will require exactly the 

 same treatment as the ranunculuses ; therefore it is not necessary to 

 say more in this place respecting them. 



AURICULAS. 



The auriculas, towards the middle of this month, will be advanc- 

 ing in their flower stems. If any plant is possessed of more than 

 one or two principal stems, it is advisable to pinch off the pips or 

 flower buds of the smallest and weakest, in order to render the blos- 

 soms of the remaining larger and more vigorous than they would be 

 if this was omitted to be done in due time. 



When the pips become turgid, and begin to expand, they must be 

 preserved from rain; nor should the early plants be suffered to remain 

 in a situation exposed to cold winds ; on the contrary, they ought to 

 be selected from the rest, and removed to a shady corner, where they 

 should have hand-glasses suspended over them, or placed on brick- 



