CULTURE OF THE ANEMONE, OR WIND-FLOWER. 
17 
Poppy, or Garland, Anemone {Anemone coronaria). Both the single and 
double varieties of this species are numerous, and common in our gardens, in which, 
when in flower, they are great ornaments. They are very hardy, easy of culture, 
and flower at almost all seasons of the year. 
The history of this flower is curious. It is said to have been brought to 
France in the early part of the eighteenth century. The kind first introduced was 
the semi-double, or the seed-bearing variety. The gentleman who brought it to 
Paris was exceedingly jealous of his flowers, and no entreaty could prevail upon 
him to part with one of them ; but they were at last procured by a trick. 
A person to whom he was showing his parterre, let fall his cloak, as if acciden- 
tally, on the Anemone bed ; and, hastily gathering it up, with an apology for his 
awkwardness, some of the seed, as was intended, stuck to the velvet, which a 
servant, who was in the secret, hastily picked off and concealed. The seed thus 
obtained was sown, grew, and, by the liberality of the ingenious plunderer, the 
flower soon became common in Paris and throughout Europe*. 
Criterion of a fine double Anemone. — A perfect double Anemone should 
have its flower-stem from eight to nine inches in height, and of proportionate 
strength ; its blossom at least two inches broad ; its guard leaves f large, rounded, 
horizontal, and turning a little upwards, forming thereby a shallow cup, filled in 
richly with long fine petals, regularly piled one over the other (not crowded con- 
fusedly) whose colours, as well as those of the exterior leaves, should be bright, and 
distinctly marked in variegated flowers ; and, as it were, should be too brilliant for 
the eye to rest upon, in those that are of a single colour, which are termed self- 
coloured. 
Anemones require very similar treatment to Ranunculuses, but are much 
hardier. 
1. The soil in which Anemones thrive best, is a fresh loam, rather inclined to 
be strong than otherwise. A small portion of very rotten dung, or leaf-mould, is 
necessary, but scarcely so much as the ranunculus. In preparing the bed, take out 
the old soil one foot deep ; lay about six inches thickness of well-rotted cow-dung 
at the bottom of the trench ; then obtain some good rich loam (the top spit from a 
pasture), break it well, and mix with it about a tenth or twelfth part of very rotten 
cow-dung, at least two years old. Fill the trench with this compost to six inches 
above the level of the surrounding surface, sloping it on each side from the middle. 
This should be done not later than the beginning of October; and, for early 
flowering, not later than the middle of September. 
2. The seasons for planting are September, October, November, December, 
February, and March. Those planted in September will flower in the beginning of 
April ; those in October, will flower by the end of April ; those planted in 
November, flower in the middle of May ; those in December, flower by the end of 
May ; those in February, flower the beginning of June ; and those planted in March, 
* Hort. Reg. Vol. ii. p. 28. 
VOL. II. — NO. I. D 
f Outer row of petals. 
