FIBROUS-BOOTED FLOWERS. 



45 



Corona Regalis, or royal crown ; re- I Aconite, the winter 

 quires shelter in the winter I Sisyrinchium 



AURICULA, RANUNCULUS, ANEMONE. 



These early and beautiful flowers deserve peculiar notice, for 

 no garden looks well without them, and their bright tints delight 

 the eye and mind. The commonest kinds are handsome and use- 

 ful in small clumps, and a little care and trouble will raise superb 

 varieties. 



The Auricula loves a soil composed of kitchen-garden mould, 

 sand, and cow-dung, well mixed together ; they also like a cool 

 situation. The seed should be sown in September, and when 

 sown give it a gentle watering. By sowing the seed in pots or 

 boxes, you can remove them from heavy rains, &c, without 

 trouble, and shelter them in the outhouses or tool-house. The 

 seed seldom appears under six months, and it has been sometimes 

 a twelvemonth producing itself, therefore be not in despair, but 

 remain patient ; these freaks of nature cannot be accounted for. 

 When they flower, you must single out the plants which bear 

 the finest and most choice blooms, and transplant them into pots 

 filled with the compost above described. The common sorts 

 may be planted in the borders, to remain out and shift for them- 

 selves. By keeping the fine auriculas in pots, you preserve them 

 through the winter easily, for heavy rains and cutting winds do 

 them harm. You can sink them in their pots during summer in 

 the flower-beds, but let them be sheltered during the winter, if 

 you wish to preserve the blooms uninjured. 



Auriculas multiply also by suckers, which grow on their roots. 

 Take off these in February, and plunge them into pots of the 

 mould they like best, to root freely. They will do so in two 

 months. Auriculas should not be too much watered, as it makes 

 them look sickly, and the leaves become yellow. When you pot 



