246 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAPtDENTXG. 



detached, will have an appearance resembling bran, 

 and in the centre of those seeds possessing the vital 

 principle a small brown speck is observable. A free, 

 light soil is necessary, and the seed mu.st be sown 

 in boxes or pots, on a level surface, about an eighth 

 of an inch apart, watered through a very fine-rose 

 watering-pot, and covered with a sprinkling of 

 fine dry mould thrown over them, only just sufii- 

 cient to cover the seeds. It is necessary to keep 

 the soil moist by gentle waterings with soft water, 

 and the best place in which to put the seed-boxes is 

 a cold frame, where they can rest on a thick layer of 

 ashes. The seeds will come up in about a month, and 

 then care is necessary to prevent slugs and other 

 insects from destroying them, and also to keep dry- 

 ing winds from playing upon them. If a growth of 

 green spreads over the surface of the soil, it should 

 be removed, and a little fresh soil added. About the 

 second week in May the boxes maybe plunged up to 

 the edge in the open ground, where the plants can 

 have only the morning sun. At the commencement 

 of July the foliage will begin to turn yellow, water 

 must then be given sparingly, and the roots suffered 

 to go to a state of rest ; the roots should then be 

 taken from the seed-boxes, and stored away in dry 

 sand. The next season they can be planted in the 

 usual way ; but as some of the roots will be very 

 small, and have one or two claws, it is wise, as a pre- 

 cautionary measure, to plant these in boxes of fine 

 soil in October, about an inch apart, and keep them 

 growing through the winter in a green-house or cold 

 frame, protected by mats in very cold weather. 



In the case of a wet season the roots may be 

 lifted as soon as the foliage turns yellow ; but if the 

 weather be dry they may remain" in the ground 

 until it turns brown. The Ranunculus is apt to 

 vegetate again immediately after it is brought 

 to a state of rest ; care is, therefore, required when 

 the weather is moist at this season to select and 

 take up the roots as they ripen, and not to wait 

 until the whole are fit. Some varieties are espe- 

 cially prone to vegetate immediately. Such should 

 be lifted with soil attaching, potted in dry earth, 

 and kept in a cool room until matured. 



We have already described the process of raising 

 seedlings. There is a method of increasing any par- 

 ticular fin,e variety, by a division of the roots. Unlike 

 the Tulip and other bulbs, the root of the Ranunculus 

 usually attains maturity in one season, and it may be 

 divided into two or more perfect tubers, fit for 

 planting at the ordinary time as directed. 



So many of the fine named varieties have become 

 lost, that were we to give a list of what we know to 

 be good flowers, scarcely one of these might be ob- 

 tainable. Our advice to a j'oung beginner would be 

 to obtain some roots of Persian or Scotch Ranunculus 



in fine mixture, grow them as directed, and then by 

 saving seed, according to the rules we have laid down, 

 endeavour to improve the strain under cultivation. 

 We are never weary of pointing out the great and 

 peculiar pleasure that accompanies the raising and 

 blooming of seedling plants. 



THE HAEDY FEUIT GAEDE^sT. 



By D. T. Fish, assisted by William Carhichael. 



VARIETIES OF THE APPLE. 



THESE are so numerous that the difficulties and 

 dangers of selection are very great. So long ago 

 as the days of the Commonwealth there were said 

 to be five hundred varieties in this country. Xow, 

 including synonyms, there are probably fully five 

 thousand. Some of our nurserymen grow from a 

 thousand to fifteen hundred named varieties. Hence 

 the difficulty of picking out, say, fifty or a hundred 

 of the best, especially as tastes so widely vary that 

 it may almost be said that what is one man's favourite 

 Apple is another man's aversion. 



And then qualities vary almost as the tastes of 

 their eaters, and the sizes, colours, and forms of the 

 Apples. Yet there are a few Apples of such ex- 

 ceptional excellence as almost to have established 

 their claim to universal esteem. For example, at 

 the latest great show of Apples, out of eighteen 

 dishes shown for flavour, six were Cox's Orange 

 Pippin, five Ribston Pippin, and two Margil, leav- 

 ing five dishes to be made up from all other sorts. 

 On the same occasion the first and second prizes 

 were awarded to Cox's Orange Pippin, and the 

 third to Ribston Pippin. 



It is, however, quite a mistake to grow too many 

 varieties. Site and local climate powerfully affect 

 the Apple, and it is but seldom that more than 

 fifty, or at most a hundred, will thrive almost 

 equally well in any given locality, unless in such 

 favourable counties as Kent, the home of the Apple 

 and other hardy fruit. It is also, as a rule, ■ far 

 more profitable to grow a dozen, score, hundred, or 

 thousand trees of one variety than one or more each 

 of a hundred or a thousand sorts. Should our lists 

 prove too long, it would puzzle many readers to 

 make a judicious selection from them. Were they 

 too short, not a few might miss favourite sorts, or 

 fail to obtain a sufficiency of variety. Hence we 

 will endeavour to hit the happy mean, and also 

 the desire for novelty and keeping abreast of the 

 times, by first of all naming some of the newer sorts 

 worthy to rank among the best, and some old ones 

 of the highest mei-it that may have been re-named, or 

 are less known than they deserve to be. 



