January 13, 1S33.] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



21 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Dav 



Dw- 



of 



elt 



\fnth 



Week. 



13 



Tu 



14 



W 



15 



Th 



ie 



F 



17 



S 



is 



Sns 



19 



M 



JANUARY 13-19,1563. 



Primrose flowers. 

 Bsjerus b. 1677. B. 

 Snowdrop flowers. 

 Crowfoot flower*. 

 Caspar Bauhin b. 1550. B. 

 2 Sunday after Epiphany. 

 J. Amman d. 1741. B. 



W>:ATHEIt 



NEAR LON'DOX IN 1362. 



Barometer. 



Tbermom. 



Wind. 



Rain in 

 Inches. 





decrees. 







29r.92-29.59G 



51—35 



W. 



•12 



29.720— 29.4S2 



44-31 



N.E. 



•03 



29.910-29.S74 



43—25 



N.E. 



— 



30.03S— 29.97.1 



41-20 



S.E. 



— 



30.005—29.997 



35—19 



S.E. 



— 



29.971—29.950 



36—17 



S.E. 



— 



29.900-29.76S 



29-24 



S.E. 



— 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Jlonn I Clock 



Sun Rises Moon's before Day of 



Sets, and Sets Age. j Sun. : Year. 



m. h. m. It. m. !). 

 4afS Hafi 59 



1 8 

 8 



VII 



5S ; 



16 



17 

 19 

 20 

 22 

 24 



47 4 

 53 5 

 40 U 



sets 



c 



8 



51 



24 



9 



10 



25 



9 



38 



26 



9 



59 



27 



10 



19 



28 



10 



39 



o 



10 



58 



14 

 IS 

 16 

 17 

 13 

 19 



Meteorology of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-six years, the average highest and lowest 

 temperatures of these days are 42. 2 3 and 30.6° respectively. The greatest heat, 60', occurred* on the 19th, in 1S23 ; and the lowest coid, 4|° 

 below zero on the 19th, in 183S. During the period 147 days were fine, and on 105 rain fell. 



THE PERSIAN RANUNCULUS: 



A PLEA ON ITS BEHALF: 



HAVE often wondered 

 why this very beau- 

 tiful flower is not 

 more largely culti- 

 vated than it is. My 

 own earliest associ- 

 ations as a lover of 

 flowers are connected 

 ■with it. I could not have been 

 more than twelve years old 

 when a schoolfellow took me 

 to see his uncle's garden in the 

 neighbourhood of Dublin. It 

 ■was a small plot, just such as many of those suburban 

 residences have attached to them ; and would, with its 

 straight narrow beds, have given a landscape-gardener a 

 fit of the blues. But the old gentleman's speeialite was 

 the Persian Ranunculus. He was no florist ; but being, 

 I believe, someway connected in business matters with 

 Holland, had managed to bring together a very nice col- 

 lection. Whether it was that my eyes were more easily 

 satisfied then than they are now, or that the garden was 

 well adapted for them, I know not ; but although some 

 thirty years and more have rolled over my head since 

 then, and many a scene of far greater importance has 

 passed from my memory, I see those beds of Ranunculus 

 as clearly now as if they were veritably in bloom before 

 my eyes. All shades of colour I recollect were there — 

 ashy grey and purplish-black, brilliant yellows and glow- 

 ing crimsons, all kinds of spotted and edged varieties, 

 and, I can verily say, such a bed I have never seen 

 since ; and if I have ever given the readers of The 

 .Iotbnal of Horticulture any information that has 

 been of use or stirred-up their flower-loving spirit, that 

 bed of Ranunculus was the exciting cause of all my after- 

 taste. It will hardly be wondered at that it should be 

 a favourite flower, and that I should feel surprised at 

 its not being more widely cultivated. Years after this 

 a well-executed plate in the " Florists' Journal " stirred- 

 up the old love which, perhaps, other plants had taken 

 the place of, and I then set about growing them. My 

 garden at that time was on a cliff overhanging the sea, 

 exposed to every wind that blew : and yet, by dint of 

 contrivance and perseverance I had a very nice bloom. 

 Since then under varying circumstances I have cultivated 

 them. Five or six years ago I had a beauteous bed of 

 them in my garden here ; but since that time my success 

 has not been such as I had then. As next month is 

 the best period for planting them I have thought that, 

 perhaps, a few observations on them now might not be 

 out of place. 



I believe that one great reason for their being, com- 

 paratively speaking, so little grown, is that they are 

 somewhat capricious in their blooming. But this applies 

 mainly to the old Dutch varieties, many of which, such 

 No. 94.— Tol. IT., New Seblbs. 



as those that I saw in my boyish days, are perhaps now 

 extinct ; but during the last thirty years several very 

 successful florists have been engaged in raising seedlings 

 in this country, the two most celebrated being Mr. George 

 Lightbody, of Falkirk, and Mr. Carey Tyso. of Walling- 

 ford, Berks. These seedlings are remarkable for their 

 vigour of growth, great size, and above all, comparative 

 certainty of bloom ; and when we recollect that a flower 

 whose home is the Levant has been acclimatised and 

 made to seed in the cold uncongenial quarters of North 

 Britain, we might naturally expect that it had acquired 

 some hardiness of constitution. So in truth it has ; 

 and at the same time one cannot help admiring the zeal 

 and perseverance of our northern florists, who, nothing 

 daunted by frost and snow, have in so many florists' 

 flowers taken the lead of us in the south. To any one 

 beginning their cultivation, I do not think I could give 

 better advice than, Put yourselves into Mr. Lightbody's 

 or Mr. Tyso's hands ; tell them what you want, and you 

 may rely on being well served. I know more of Mr. 

 Lightbody's flowers than I do of Mr. Tyso's, and can 

 unquestionably recommend them ; and at the end of this 

 short paper have given the names of a few I know to be 

 good. 



soil and situation. 

 A good deal has been said on this subject ; and the 

 great expense which is recommended by many growers 

 has oftentimes, I am persuaded, frightened florists from 

 attempting them. It is, I dare say, true that they can 

 be best grown by taking out the soil of the bed in the 

 autumn, and placing a good layer of well-decomposed 

 cowdung about 6 inches below the surface : but this is 

 not necessary. Any good rich garden soil, but without 

 fresh manure, is suitable for them. When the natural 

 soil is not good the beds must be made for them and 

 filled-up with a mixture of loam, manure, and leaf mould, 

 all well rotted together. As the Ranunculus delights in 

 moisture an arid soil or a sunny situation does not suit 

 them so well ; but neither must the bed be placed under 

 the drip of trees. In my own garden this is one of the 

 great difficulties I have to contend with in the successful 

 cultivation of the flower. We receive so much sun that it 

 counterbalances the natural good condition of the soil, 



MANAGEMENT. 



The beds should be prepared in autumn, so that they 

 need not be much disturbed in the spring when planting 

 takes place. Should the weather be frosty it is a good 

 plan to throw the surface up in small ridges to sweeten 

 (as this winter we have not had a night's frost here, that 

 has been impossible) ; and when the time for planting 

 arrives the bed should simply be raked down smooth. 

 It is a great mistake to raise the beds ; they should be 

 not more than an inch above the level of the walks. 

 The 12th of February is the day which I have always 

 fixed for planting ; and in the successful execution 

 of this depends half the future results. The bed being 

 made quite flat, drills should be drawn about 5 inches 

 from one another. In the bottom of this drill some white 

 No. 746.— Vol. XXIX., Old Sebtxs. 



