General Noliccs. 319 



pasture, I put it at the bottom, sixteen or eighteen inches below the surface, 

 covering it up witli the soil thrown out. In the month of February I made 

 the surface fine and even by raking the soil; I then drew off the soil to the 

 depth of an inch and a half or two inches, marking tlie place where each 

 root should be planted by putting down a small pinch of silver sand, in 

 which I inserted each root ; and now, in order to carry out the directions 

 given me, and tliat I might not cover them over much, or too little, I stuck 

 in a few pegs, leaving just two inches out of the ground, so that I might 

 cover them very exactly, and when the soil had settled, they would be just 

 an inch and a half deep. 



Thinking that ranunculuses often suffered from droughty weather, I tried 

 to obviate this by setting up a thin screen of branches, six or eight feet high, 

 on the south side of the bed, partially to break the rays of the sun, but not 

 altogether to exclude them. This done, they lay still for some weeks, when 

 all came up, except No. 1, which, like the bubbles on t!ie river after which 

 it is named, had glided forever out of being. The weather now being dry, 

 I occasionally sprinkled them over with water : and being fairly up, in order 

 to compress the soil around the necks of the plants, I carefully walked 

 through and through. Under this treatment they grew most luxuriantly, 

 raising my expectations every time I inspected them, especially as all who 

 Baw them declared they never beheld such plants. At lengtli they nearly 

 all came into bloom ; but now comes ray task of giving a correct description 

 of their beauty and growth. 



Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Johnson were amongst the giants of the bed, 

 most beautifully formed and sweetly marked ; Archibald looking over the 

 head of his fair lady full four inches, slie having raised her lovely face no 

 less than seventeen inches high. Those are gems of the first water. Near 

 by, were the lovely Jenny Deans and Nydia, Avith delicate red edging, on 

 pale yellow ground, rising to the height of seventeen or eighteen inches. 

 Roxalana, quite as stately, very large and showy, but not quite so chaste as 

 those above. Petrel, seventeen inches high, certainly more like an eagle, 

 with gold-tipped wings, rising to meet the sun, than a bird of storm, was 

 brilliant yellow, tipped with red, of the finest form. Felican, rising to the 

 same hciglit, exquisite in form, with a clear rose edge, on white ground. 

 Phroine, William Bradshaw, Aboukir, Zebina, Cyra, Prince of Wales, and 

 Commodore Napier, with Thomas Hood and Little Nell, all attained to fifteen 

 inches, and formed an assemblage of beauty rarely equalled. Liffey, Sul- 

 tana, Delphos, Ashwelthorpe, Baritola, and Hon. Robert Wilson, fell an inch 

 lower than the above group, still they were equally beautiful. Philomel, 

 Charybdis, and Claudiana, beautiful, especially the last, were thirteen inches. 

 Emily, Dr. Horner, and the lovely Anne Hathaway, were one foot. And 

 now, to end this long, and, I am afraid, tedious description, I shall just no- 

 tice the lowest, rising only to eight inches here, Mackenzie, the author of 

 " The Man of Feeling," seems to stoop to those chaste, lofty, and beautiful 

 personages around him, to adore and admire. I may just add, that although 

 the flowers were not very much larger than usual, there were those amongst 

 them of the finest form and color, from two to three inches over, while some 

 had stems a quarter of an inch or more thick. 



