280 FLOWER GARDEN. 



direction. The petals should be broad, and have per- 

 fectly entire well-rounded edges ; their colors should 

 be dark, clear, rich, or brilliant, either consisting of 

 one color throughout, or be otherwise variously diver- 

 sified on an ash, white, sulphur, or^ fire-colored ground, 

 or regularly striped, spotted, or mottled, in an elegant 

 manner. 



The ranunculus requires a stronger and moister soil 

 than most other flowers. Maddock prefers a fresh, 

 strong, rich loam. Hogg recommends a fresh loam, 

 with a considerable portion of rotted coW or'horse-dung. 



The Rev.- Mr. Williamson {Hort. Trans., yo\. iv.) 

 uses a stiff clay loam, with a fourth of rottisn dung. 

 " The bed should be dug from eighteen inches to two 

 feet deep, and not raised more than four inches above 

 the level of the walks, to preserve the moisture more 

 effectually : at about five inches below the surface should 

 be placed a stratum of two-year-old rotten cow-dung, 

 mixed with earth, six or eight inches thick ; but the 

 earth above this stratum, where the roots are to be 

 placed, should be perfectly free from dung, which would 

 prove injurious if nearer. The fibres will draw suffi- 

 cient nourishment at the depth above mentioned ; but 

 if the dung were placed deeper, it would not receive so 

 much advantage from the action of the air." Other 

 florists have recommended to put the manure at least 

 two feet and a half below the surface of the earth. 

 The principal object, however, is to maintain through- 

 out the bed a genial moisture ; and this is to be done 

 by avoiding all hot gravelly earths, and particularly 

 soils that are apt to cake. The tubers are planted late 

 in autumn, or early in spring, in rows five or six inches 

 apart, and three or four inches separate in the rows. 



