THE RANUNCULUS. 265 
off from the parent bulbs, and nursed-in separate buds till 
they be full grown. New varieties are raised from ‘seed ; 
they are from five to seven years old before they flower, 
and, if raised from promiscuous seed, they often turn out 
worthless, Early in the eighteenth century, the distin- 
guished Scottish cultivator, Justice (already mentioned as 
‘a most successful cultivator of hyacinths), was eminently 
successful in raising fine seedling tulips; and some skillful 
florists of our own day, such as Mr. Oliver, of Edinburgh, 
succeed in breaking their seedlings into colors equal to the 
choicest bybloemens of Holland. They save the seeds from | 
the first-rate sorts, the stigma of the intended parent flower 
having been fertilized with the pollen of some other excel- 
lent variety. Seedling tulips, it may be remarked, present 
this anomaly for the first two or three years, that they 
form their new bulbs several inches below the old ones, so 
that an inexperienced cultivator is sometimes apt to miss 
them at the time of lifting. 
The Ranunculus (R. Asiaticus) is, like many other of 
the florists’ flowers, a native of the Levant, where it isa 
favorite of the Turks. It has sported into innumerable 
varieties, and those now in cultivation in England are 
mostly of British origin. The plant is of small stature, 
furnished with decomposite leaves, and rising from a root 
formed by a bundle of little tubers. 
According to the canons of floral criticism, the proper- 
ties of a fine double ranunoulus are the following: The 
stem should be strong, straight, and from eight to ten 
inches high, 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 of the flower, which should 
ke well filled up with them. The blossom should be of a 
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