378 On the Cultivation of the Ranunculus and Anemone. 



I have usually washed the roots after they are taken up r 

 though it is a matter of no real utility ; they should at first 

 be placed upon the floor of an airy room, where they may 

 dry gradually, and then be separated, and securely laid by, 

 ready for planting in the following season. 



The increase of these plants is effected by three different 

 methods, by seed, by offsets, and by cutting the roots. 



The only method by which new varieties can be obtained 

 is from seed. It is well known that the seed which is pro- 

 duced from those flowers which are already partly double, 

 is more likely to produce either double or semidouble flowers, 

 than the seed from single ones. The first object is therefore 

 to procure roots which produce semidouble flowers ; for were 

 they quite double no seeds could be had from them, the 

 stamina being entirely destroyed by the impletion. I have 

 heard many persons complain of the difficulty they experi- 

 ence in making the seed vegetate ; this arises from bad ma- 

 nagement ; and if the following directions be attended to, I 

 am convinced success will be certain. In the first place the 

 seeds must be sown early, for moisture is essential to their 

 vegetation : and as they frequently remain six weeks or two 

 months in the ground before they come up, it is absolutely 

 necessary to sow early in the year to secure a certainty and 

 continuance of moisture. I have sown the seed from the 

 beginning of September to the end of January, with various 

 success : if the winter be mild the autumnal sowing is much 

 to be preferred. My practice now is to sow half my seed 

 in the autumn ; it then appears in the beginning of Novem- 

 ber, and the other half as early as in the month of January 

 as the weather will allow; the first sowing will succeed, 



