THE ILANUNCULUS. 
173 
but the truth is, fresh clung ought never to be 
used. It should be fairly rotted into mould 
before it is used at all. A very recent 
writer has actually recommended the loam of 
which the bed is formed to be saturated with 
liquid manure, made of fresh, or rather new 
cow-dung. We will not say that it is impos- 
sible for the plant to succeed in such stuiF, 
but we do know that new cow-dung attracts 
a particular fly and breeds maggots enor- 
mously fast ; and that in most localities such 
a bed would be fatal. Those whose beds 
have been infested with such, will probably 
recollect to have used cow-dung that was not 
perfectly decomposed, and may pretty safely 
attribute the visitation of the pest to that 
cause. At all events, knowing as all ought 
to know, that there is a great risk of fresh 
cow-dung breeding maggots, the success of an 
adventurous experimentalist ought not by any 
means to prevent the caution which every pru- 
dent cultivator should observe in every step he 
takes. If the writers on the cultivation of this 
beautiful flower were right, how are we to ac- 
count for the many failures, and for numerous 
persons discontinuing its culture altogether ? 
The fair inference is that, however well 
some of them may have succeeded under 
particular circumstances, their plans must 
have been bad on the whole ; for certain it is 
that not one grows them now for twenty that 
cultivated them years ago, and the number 
has rapidly diminished, even up to within the 
last very few seasons. Mr. Lightbody, of Fal- 
kirk, and Messrs. Tyso and Sons, of Walling- 
ford, appear to be the best of the growers of 
modern days ; and in the metropolis of 
London Mr. Alexander, of Lea-bridge Road, 
and Mr. Groom, of Clapham, seem almost the 
only successful growers for sale ; Mr. Groom, 
the successor and representative of the oldest 
really floricultural nursery in the metropolis — 
Maddock, Curtis, Millikin, and Groom having 
successively worn the floral belt ; and Mr. 
Alexander, being a sort of London double to 
Mr. Lightbody, and growing them upon his 
plan. By way of parting advice, however, 
to all who desire to be foremost in the field, 
we would say, get, at any cost, the turfs cut 
three inches thick from a rich loamy meadow, 
and let them rot together ; turn them fre- 
quently after the first year to clear them of 
bots and grubs, wire worm, maggot, and 
other living pests ; and in this stuff without 
any addition — except clean sand if the loam 
prove too adhesive — grow your ranunculuses ; 
for no made up soil can beat it, and very few 
can make up a compost to equal it. The vege- 
table mould which must form a most important 
portion of the whole, is important to the 
growth of every thing ; the half decayed 
fibres keep it light and pervious, so that it 
rarely wants even sand ; and there are few 
subjects in the whole range of florists' flowers 
and plants that will not thrive in it, but 
especially those grown in the open ground, as 
tulips, polyanthuses, anemones, ranunculuses, 
hyacinths, pinks, &c. ; nor is there any thing 
so well adapted to form the staple loam for 
potted plants, mixed with peat or dung, 
or other matters, according to the family of 
plants which are to be cultivated therein. 
RAISING SEEDLINGS. 
The only way in which to produce new 
varieties is from seed, and generally speaking 
the best beds would afford but little chance ; 
indeed the blooms should be cut off the instant 
they are past their prime, for the sake of en- 
couraging the growth of the tubers ; so that 
to save seed, a selection should be made of 
the best flowers that are inclined to come 
semi-double, those, for instance, with thick 
large petals which have very smooth edges 
and desirable colours. Some of these should 
be planted in a place by themselves in the 
autumn, and some in the spring, for the sake 
of the double chance, for it will sometimes be 
found that the autumn ones will seed when 
the spring planted will not. In selecting these 
varieties, it is not necessary to have show 
flowers ; if you are in the habit of raising 
flowers, or know anybody that is, select those 
which do not close up in the eye, if there be 
any which possess other good properties, for 
if there be three or four rows of petals you 
will find double flowers among the produce. 
When those which are being grown for seed 
come into flower, they are not to be shaded, 
nor is the rain to be kept off, but as the best 
flowers rise, take off all the others from the 
plant, to throw the entire strength into the one 
bloom on each tuber, or at most let two re- 
main. Take care that they are all through 
their growth copiously supplied with water 
after the sun goes down ; let the entire space 
be saturated instead of, as is commonly the 
case, confining the moisture to the roots ; 
because when the bed is well soaked, the sur- 
rounding moisture keeps supplying the de- 
ficiency which the roots absorb, whereas, if 
the roots alone are soaked, the dry portions of 
the bed absorb faster than the roots, and take 
from them what they stand so much in need 
of. When the pods, or rather the heads of seed, 
begin to ripen, they must be watched and 
frequently examined, that all those sufficiently 
forward may be gathered. The seeds may 
be placed with the stems in a box, and be 
thoroughly dried, when they may be scraped 
off with the back of a knife, and mixed with 
very dry sand, in which they must be well 
rubbed together, so as to separate them pro- 
perly, because they cannot well be sown too 
