42 
CULTURE OF THE RANUNCULUS. 
when the leaves are dead, take them out of the soil and remove the offsets, and lay 
them in an airy situation until the time of planting-. 
If grown in water glasses, they require to be placed in a light airy situation, 
and the water will require to be changed once in three or four days. If drawn up 
weakly, it will be necessary to support the stems with sticks, split at the bottom so 
as to tit on the edge of the glasses at the top. This however will not be necessary 
if they be kept in a light and airy situation. When out of flower plant them in pots 
of soil to perfect their leaves, and treat them as above ; they will then flower again 
the succeeding year. The Narcissus too requires a treatment perfectly simple ; and 
for Cape bulbs see page 8, where the whole process of culture is detailed. 
CULTURE OF THE RANUNCULUS. 
The species of Ranunculus most worthy of the cultivator’s care are, rutcefolius , 
isopyroicles , glacialis , alpestris, aconitifolius , platanifolius, ample xicaulis, Pyre- 
nceus , gramineus, gracilis, fumaricefolius, Illyricus , acris Jlore-pleno , repens jlore - 
pleno, macropetalus, Krapfia , Asiaticus and parnassifolius. 
The first section in this genus are all aquatic plants, and not worth cultivation. 
The aquatilis makes a handsome show in our ponds and rivers. Dr. Pulteney con- 
tradicts the assertions of its deleterious qualities, and proves that it is not merely 
innoxious, but nutritive to cattle, and capable of being converted to useful purposes 
in agricultural economy. “ In the neighbourhood of Kingswood, on the borders of 
the Avon, some of the cottagers support their cows, and even horses, almost wholly 
by this plant. A man collects a quantity every morning, and brings it in a boat 
to the edge of the water, from which the cows eat it with great avidity, insomuch 
that they stint them, and allow only about twenty-five or thirty pounds to each 
cow daily. One man kept five cows and one horse so much on this plant, with the 
little that the heath afforded, that they had not consumed more than half a ton 
of hay throughout the whole year, none being used except when the river was frozen 
over. Hogs are also fed with this plant, and improve so well on it, that it is not 
necessary to give them any other sustenance till they are put up to fatten. This 
property of water- crowfoot is the more remarkable, as all the species have been 
deemed acrimonious, and some of them are without doubt highly so.” — Don's 
Miller s Diet. 
The rutcefolius , isopyroides , glacialis , alpestris , aconitifolius, pyrenceus, 
amplexicaulis, parnassifolius, gramineus, acris fore-pleno, and repens fore-pleno, 
will thrive in any kind of soil, but moist situations suit them best. Th.e parnassi- 
folius is rather scarce, on account of its being so subject to the attacks of snails 
and slugs in the spring months. As these plants are generally grown in beds, the 
Bygrave slug-preventer, figured page 17, will effectually prevent the depredations 
of these crawling enemies, and it could be fixed round the bed with little trouble. 
The soil in which they thrive best is equal parts of hazelly loam, vegetable mould, 
and peat. The usual mode of propagation is by. seeds. 
