536 THE PLEASURE, OR [APRIL. 



6. The Cherry and Rose ; the name denotes their colours, which 

 are on a white ground. 



Breeders, are self or plain coloured tulips, obtained by sowing 

 the seed, which in time, by being planted in a proper compost of 

 lime rubbish and poor soil, accidentally, break out into stripes and 

 variegations, by which new varieties are annually obtained. 



I have been the more particular in my account of that glorious 

 flower, the Tutifia gcsncriana, or garden tulip, as it is now in more 

 general estimation, than any other flower whatever. 



Mr. SAMUEL CURTIS, Florist, of Walworth near LONDON, had 

 sent me last autumn, upwards of two hundred varieties of the most 

 elegant sorts of tulips, and, at the same time, informed me, that it 

 is very common for him to receive from fifty to eighty pounds 

 sterling, for a single root, of a new variety. Such is the present 

 rags for tulips in England. 



For the most suitable soil, and best method of planting, see the 

 Flower-Garden for October. 



Ranunculuses. 



April showers, and frequent rains in May, are essentially neces- 

 sary to the growth and vigour of Ranunculus's : 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 bet- 

 ter to avoid watering the plants themselves, as it might chill them 

 too much, and stagnate their juices. The consequences of omit- 

 ting 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 atmo- 

 sphere 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 succours, although the plants may appear to suffer for the 

 moment, 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 replen- 

 ished with water, not so congenial to vegetation, as that ordained 

 by nature for the purpose. For their further treatment see the 

 Flower-Garden in ATay. 



