542 THE PLEASURE, OR [Oct. 
three, four, or five roots in a place, and covered from three to four 
inches deep, according to the strength of the roots and lightness of 
the soil. > 
Planting Ranunculuses. 
Ranunculus roots may either be planted before or after winter; 
if the soil and situation is remarkably cold and wet, it will be better 
to defer planting till the first opening of spring, but then the ear- 
liest opportunity of planting them should be embraced. 
In favourable situations, and where due attention can be paid to 
the protection of the roots from severe frosts, the early part of this 
month is the most preferable period and should be embraced, as 
the roots will have more time to vegetate, and form themselves, and 
will, of consequence, bloom stronger, and earlier, than those planted 
in spring. 
The ranunculuses are originally natives of a warm climate, 
where they blow in the winter, or more rainy season of the year: 
they are of course partial to coolness and moisture, exempt from 
wet and frost, which the more delicate sorts cannot bear, in any 
considerable degree, without injury. 
A fresh, strong, rich, loamy soil, is preferable to all others for 
ranunculuses. 
The bed should be dug from eighteen inches to two feet deep, 
and not raised more than four inches above the level of the walks, 
to preserve a moderate degree of moisture: at about five inches 
below the surface should be placed a stratum of two years old rotten 
cow dung, mixed with earth, six or eight inches thick; but the 
earth above this stratum where the roots are to be planted, must 
be free from dung, which would prove of more injury than benefit, 
if too near them. The fibres will draw sufficient nourishment from 
it at the depth above mentioned; but if the dung was placed deeper 
it would not receive so much advantage from the action of the air, 
which is an object of some importance. 
The surface of the bed should be raked perfectly even and flat, 
and the roots planted in rows at the distance of about five or six 
inches from one another. It is better to plant in shallow trenches, 
made nearly two inches deep, than to make holes for the reception 
of the roots: there should be a little clean sand sprinkled in the 
trench, and the roots placed with their claws downwards, each dis- 
tant from the other about three or four inches according to its size 
and strength: when the roots are thus laid in, fill the trenches up 
level, with the same earth that was taken out, so as to cover the 
roots exactly one inch and a half deep, which is the only true depth 
to produce a good bloom: it is pointed out by nature in a singular 
manner; for when these roots have been planted either too shal- 
low or too deep, in either case, a second root is generally formed 
at a proper depth, by which the plant is weakened to such a degree 
that it seldom survives a repetition of it. It will be of considerable 
service to have the bed framed around with boards, or brickwork, 
a few inches higher than its surface, in front, and rising gradually 
