672 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



of the bed, and wlion the petals of many 

 ilowers begin to drop off, the awnings should be 

 taken down and the mats replaced as before, to 

 throw off heavy rains. As the leaves and petals 

 fall off from a plant, the seed vessel should be 

 immediately broken off from the stem; for if 

 suffered to remain, it wiU delay the maturity of 

 it, and weaken the root considerably. The bed 

 may remain in this state about a fortnight longer, 

 by which time the grass or foliage will become 

 of a yellowish brown; and two or three inches 

 of the top of the stem will wither, dry up, 

 and become purplish. This denotes the critical 

 period to take up the roots, because if done 

 earlier they will be weak and spongy, and if 

 deferred later, their juices will become gross. 

 This will be apparent at the succeeding bloom 

 by too great a redundance of colour in the petals, 

 and the flowers being what is generally termed 

 foul. 



The early dwarf varieties are best adapted 

 for forcing in pots and water glasses. The bulbs 

 are to be treated in the same way as described 

 for hyacinths; and after blowing, they are to be 

 recovered by putting them into earth. Tulip 

 bulbs are liable to few diseases, and are in gen- 

 eral healthy. If attacked by the grub or wire- 

 woiTO, the bulb must be totally removed, and 

 replaced by a fresh one. A fungus sometimes 

 attacks the bulb, and in this case transplanta- 

 tion into a fresh soil is necessary. 



The Ranunculus ("r. asiaticus). Natural 

 family raiiunculacece ; polt/andria, polygynia, of 

 Linnaeus. The wild ranunculus crow foot, or 

 butter cups, are a well known family of weeds, 

 of which there are many species. The garden 

 ranunculus is esteemed as being a double flower, 

 and as possessed of great beauty, and variety of 

 colours of the numerous petals. It is a native 

 of the Levant. The leaves, which are bipartite, 

 spring from a bunch of tubers. The stem is 

 erect, branched, and the flowers are teiTuinal. 

 It was introduced into Britain by Gerard, in 

 1696, and soon became a favourite in the flower 

 garden. No flower is so prolific in varieties. 

 Maddock enumerates not less than eight hundred 

 sorts; and he states that a variety will last for 

 twenty-five years. 



The necessary qualities of a perfect double 

 ranunculus are a strong straight stem, from 

 eight to twelve inches in height, supporting a 

 large, well formed blossom, at least two inches 

 in diameter; consisting of numerous petals, the 

 largest at the outside, and gradually diminishing 

 in size as they approach the centre, which should 

 be well filled up with them. The blossom 

 should be of a hemispherical form; its compon- 

 ent petals should be laid over each other in such 

 a manner as neither to be too close and compact, 

 nor too widely separated, but have rather more 

 of a pei-pendicular than horizontal dii'eotion. 



to display their colours with better effect. The 

 petals should be broad, and have perfectly entire, 

 well rounded edges; their colours should be dark, 

 clear, rich, or brilliant, either consisting of one 

 colour throughout, or otherwise variously diver- 

 sified on an ash white sulphur, or fire coloured 

 ground, or regularly striped, spotted, or mottled 

 in- an elegant manner. 



The ranunculus is propagated by seed for 

 obtaining new varieties, and for perpetuating 

 approved sorts by offsets, or by dividing the 

 tubers into as many portions as there are eyes. 

 According to Maddock, the seeds in no instance 

 ever produce two flowers alike, or the same as 

 the original stock. He directs it to be saved 

 from such half double flowers as have tall strong 

 stems, a considerable number of large, well 

 formed petals, and rich, good colours, the darker 

 chiefly to be preferred, though not to the exclu- 

 sion of a proportion of lighter coloured, if good. 

 The seed should remain on the plant till it has 

 lost its verdure, and becomes brown and dry. 

 It may then be cut off and spread abroad upon 

 paper, and exposed to the sun, that it may be 

 thoroughly dried, after which it should be put 

 into a bag, and preserved in a warm, dry place. 

 The seed may be sown in October or January, 

 in beds prepared with frames and glasses. It 

 should be strewed thickly on the surface of the 

 prepared soil, and then covered with a sprink- 

 ling of mould, not exceeding in thickness the 

 eighth of an inch. The plants usually appear 

 in about a month. They are regularly watered, 

 and air is admitted day and night, except in 

 severe frosts when they are covered with matting. 

 In summer the roots are taken up and preserved 

 till the following February, when they are planted 

 with the general stock. 



The offsets from the tubers of the ranunculus, 

 unlike those from the hyacinth and tulip, will 

 flowerthe same season in which they are removed. 

 In minutely examining the crown of a tuber, 

 several small protuberances will be found, from 

 each of which a shoot will arise, and the root 

 may therefore be divided by a sharp knife into 

 as many parts as there are protuberances; but 

 these sections will not blow till the second 

 year. 



The best soil for the ranunculus is a fresh, 

 strong loam, with a quantity of rotten cow 

 dung; the situation of the bed should be open, 

 but not too much exposed to high winds, or 

 currents of air. The bed should be about eigh- 

 teen inches in depth, and raised about four inches 

 above the walk. The dung should be put five 

 inches below the surface, the soil above this 

 being kept perfectly free from manure. Fresh, 

 full tubers, with prominent buds, are to be 

 selected; and the time of planting maybe either 

 in the end of autumn, or early in spring. If the 

 soil and situation be very cold and wet, it will 



