SOME OLD FAVOURITES AND NEW 69 



give greater space to the latter now. Both of 

 these two are grown in Holland, and both in 

 something the same manner, though ranunculi 

 want a heavier and moister soil than anemones. 

 There is one kind of ranunculus, the Turban 

 ranunculus, which is planted in December and 

 covered rather thickly to protect it from frost, 

 but the asiaticus is treated just as anemones 

 are. Both are set in early spring, both har- 

 vested in August ; both are strikingly beautiful 

 when in flower, making very gorgeous stripes of 

 colour in the garden where they are. Both are 

 old flowers in Holland, they were certainly there 

 by the middle of the sixteenth century ; we in 

 England had anemones from thence somewhere 

 about 1596, ranunculi probably not much later. 

 Both have been much cultivated and varied ; but 

 the one, Ranunculus asiaticus, is curiously out 

 of favour, especially in England. Fifty or sixty 

 years ago there were as many as eight or nine 

 hundred varieties catalogued, now there are not 

 as many dozen. In England we know that 

 the early Victorians approved the ranunculus ; 

 indeed, in the old Language of Flowers the 

 scentless rosette blossoms are given an honourable 

 place. An admirer giving a bunch (we do not 



