Cultivation of the Ranunculus and Anemone, #c. 373 



rooted plants, the strength of the blossom depends upon the 

 impulse that is given to the plants in the season in which 

 they flower, but not so in bulbous roots; their strength de- 

 pends upon the quantity of sap that is laid up in the roots 

 by means of their foliage during the preceding year. Now 

 it is generally supposed that the roots of the Anemone and 

 Ranunculus are very impatient of frost, and thev are, in con- 

 sequence, planted so late in the spring, that there is not suf- 

 ficient moisture (which is so very essential in the early stages 

 of their growth) nor even time for the roots to throw out such 

 a sufficiency of leaves as to insure the future strength to the 

 roots, before the north-east winds set. in, which in this coun- 

 try, at least of late years, have generally prevailed during 

 the month of March, and sometimes much later: these 

 winds, which dry the soil very rapidly, must be prejudicial 

 in proportion to the lightness of the compost; and when 

 roots are stunted in the earlier stages of their growth, the 

 bloom of the present year has but little beauty ; no skill can 

 possibly make them exhibit a fine bloom in the succeeding 

 season ; and frequently two or three years must elapse, be- 

 fore sufficient strength is given them to cause them to blow 

 in perfection. 



I therefore conceive that these roots require not only a rich 

 but a compact soil ; and were I to recommend any compost 

 to be made for them, it would be a stiff loamy clay, enriched 

 by the addition of at least one-fourth part of good rotten 

 dung : but if the soil of the garden be of a loamy quality no 

 manure is necessary. 1 find that of my own garden to be 

 so congenial to them, that I have never yet failed to exhibit 

 a fine bloom; it is a rich hazlc loam of about two feet in 



