GLEXXY ON THE ANEMONE. 
31 
be at least eighteen inches deep; and many 
put two or three indies of rotten dung at the 
bottom. The soil being well mixed and 
returned to the beds, should be allowed to 
settle down a little, for it will stand a good 
deal higher than it ought, at first. In a fort- 
night or so it will have so far settled down as 
to be in no farther danger of sinking. The 
surface may now be levelled, and lines drawn 
along the bed from end to end, and quite 
tiglit; drills should be drawn three inches deep, 
and the tubers placed six inches apart in the 
bottom; the earth should be drawn upon them 
and gently pressed, so that they be covered a 
good two inches, or at first a trifle more, 
say three inches, because the rains which fall 
and wash the surface will lessen its depth. 
Here they may remain without any farther 
attention except the removal of weeds, if any 
come up. We have invariably had the beds 
four feet wide, and containing seven drills, 
with alleys two feet wide between. They are 
convenient, because we can reach to the 
middle row from either alley, and for appear- 
ance they can hardly be improved, besides 
which, they are as wide as can be conveniently 
covered. If there be any whose foliage has 
decayed, and their tubers are not yet taken up, 
no time should be lost in doing it, and those so 
delayed will make the best bloomers for the 
spring planting. 
November. — The directions for this month 
would be the same as last in every respect, so 
far as they would apply ; for instance, tubers 
that should have been planted last month 
would require to be planted this, and the same 
directions would be applicable. Any that ! 
ought to have been taken up and were 
neglected, would want to be taken up now and 
carefully (tried for storing within boxes and j 
bags. The necessity for weeding where weeds 
were troublesome, and of watering if the I 
month were hot ami the winds parching, will 
be obvious ; and if there be any small tubers 
among those intended for spring planting, the 
small ones ought to be parted now, as they are j 
better in than out of the ground. Examining 
the tubers for spring planting, and attending 
to mildew and damp, and their removal, is a 
subject of importance, and ought never to be 
omitted while you have tubers in stock. 
DeCEMBEB. — As the planted tubers will, if 
the weather has hi en mild, be now through 
the ground, you must provide some covering, 
either loose litter of some kind, or hoops to 
enable you to throw mats or cloths over, so 
that the sudden frost may not injure them. 
This covering may be put on at night, and if 
it be frosty remain on during the day ; the 
cloth should be transparent, tor the obseurance 
of light is always more or less injurious to 
growing plants. The covering, therefore, 
should admit the light, though not the air, 
if it be over hoops ; but litter like peas- 
haulm, which touches the earth itself, and sur- 
rounds the plants, protects them against 
wind, and keeps the natural warmth of the 
ground from going oif ; nor does it exclude 
the light altogether, and even in a long frost 
it so tempers the weather, or the effects of it, 
as to render the plants essential service. When 
covered with cloth over hoops, the cloth should 
be pegged down to the ground, and the hoops 
should be very shallow r , because the less room 
there is between the ground and the top, the 
better for the subjects under it. The ground 
should be turned out of the beds for spring plant- 
ing, eighteen inches deep, and the soil laid on 
two ridges, one on each side the bed ; here 
they should, during this month, be turned 
several times, and before sowing, it should be 
dressed or mixed with cow dung as directed 
for spring planting, so also should the bottom 
of the bed be dunged as before mentioned. If 
there be frosts, and the soil gets occasionally 
frozen, so much the better, for frost always 
opens the ground and ameliorates the soil. As 
soon as a thaw takes place the soil should be 
turned over again, that another surface may 
be exposed to the weather. 
As general instructions, the winter months 
should be taken advantage of for the collection 
of composts, and turves to be rotted into com- 
post, and leaves to rot into vegetable mould, 
which, if the loam were taken from below the 
turves instead of being rotted turves them- 
selves, would require leaf mould to compensate 
forthe absence of the large proportion of vegeta- 
ble mould that forms out of the turves and the 
roots when rotted ; the making of tallies or 
labels to mark the various kinds, and otherwise 
preparing for the more active summer duties. 
With regardto the properties of the Anemone 
there is no more known than there was a few 
years ago known about other florists' flowers. 
It is true there had been something published, 
something professing to be the criterion of a 
good flower of the sort treated of, but it was 
as indefinite and ridiculous as could well be 
imagined. We have the same thing published 
of the Anemone, the same indefinite, ground- 
less, and useless conditions, adopted without 
a principle to build them on, and put for- 
ward without any regard to whether it could 
make a flower better or worse: for instance, 
take Mr. Loudon as the authority, because his 
is the best, and we have the following criterion 
of a line double Anemone: — " The stem should 
be strong, elastic, and erect, not less than nine 
inches high. The bloom or corolla should 
be at least two inches and a half in diameter, 
consisting of an exterior row of large substan- 
tial well-rounded petals or guard leaves, at 
