THE RANUNCULUS. 
175 
saving. It happens too, generally, that the 
most single and useless bloom the most early, 
so that all things favour the plan of planting 
at short distances. It must, howerer, be kept 
in mind that as it is necessary the better ones 
should have attention and room, the bed must 
be examined daily, and as fast as any that are 
of no value develop themselves, they should 
be removed. A short spud to thrust down 
to the tuber, and force it up, is the readiest 
mode of removing the bad ones, although 
they would come up easily enough by pulling 
out like a weed ; the only drawback to this 
quicker mode being, the chances of leaving 
offsets in the ground, and so being perplexed 
with mixtures afterwards when you come to 
plant others in the ground. Those which 
appear worth saving should be numbered 
accurately, one, two, three, and so on, with 
the date of the year, on neat labels first painted 
with white paint, and the numbers made with 
a black-lead pencil while the paint is wet ; 
these labels should be kept ready for the oc- 
casion. These numbers should be entered 
into a book, with an accurate description of 
the flower to each number, and in this de- 
scription should be carefully noted every par- 
ticular, whether the petals be thin or thick, 
whether the edges be smooth or notched, 
whether the flower be double, single, or semi- 
double 5 large, small, or medium size ; what 
is the colour, or whether it be edged or spotted 
or striped ; and what particular property is 
so striking as to induce the saving of it ; 
because we have a right to suppose that a 
flower may be so striking in some particular 
as to be worth saving for the purpose of seed- 
ing from, and yet be very deficient in some 
other particulars, so as to be good for nothing as 
a show variety. Each variety must be kept 
separately, in a distinct bag or box with the 
number attached to it, so as to be able to 
refer for its characters to the book without 
difficulty ; any, however, that are good enough 
for show flowers may be at once transferred 
to their proper places among the best flowers, 
and may receive their names if they are to be 
named at all. It is in fact better to name them 
at once if they are to be grown in collections, 
though many who are too sanguine in select- 
ing from seedling beds had need try them 
again before naming. Of those to select, 
there are three classes : — The first should be 
only such as are really fit for naming and 
adding to collections, on account of their 
being new and good, better than we already 
possess of the same colour. The second 
should be such as are not good enough to 
name, but w T hich may come better, and there- 
fore are worth another trial ; such as are 
nearly perfect in the eye or centre, but not 
quite, and will be good enough if they in 
the least improve, but condemned if they 
remain as they are or get worse in another 
year's growth. The third should be such as 
have some excellent property, but are de- 
ficient in others, and are therefore saved to 
seed from. These must be kept separately, 
and the next year the class which has to be 
tried again may be added to those intended to 
be seeded, because if they were good enough 
to be tried again as show flowers, they must 
be good enough to give seed from which much 
may be expected ; the very fact of their being 
not quite double enough to name, renders 
them fit for growing for seed, for they seed 
more freely than the very double varieties ; 
but unless there is something very striking in 
the petal, or the form of the flower, or the 
colour, that is a fair advance upon what we 
have, there is nothing to justify their being 
saved even for the chance of being better, or 
for saving seed from. 
We proceed now to the mere routine busi- 
ness for the different months, which will serve 
as a kind of remembrancer, even to those who 
are somewhat experienced : — 
January. — The whole of the tubers should 
be examined and sorted, or arranged for plant- 
ing, taking care that blooming roots only be 
depended on for the best bed, and if there be 
any offsets attached, they should be removed. 
If grown for exhibition or stock only, the best 
way is to keep all the sorts together, but if the 
bed be intended for ornament and not for 
exhibition, some attention should be paid to 
the arrangement, and regard should be had to 
colour and height, the tallest being in the 
centre, the shortest at each edge, and the 
middling ones in the second and third rows 
from the edge : again, the flowers should be 
the same on one side of the bed as the other; 
that is, the variety at the edge on one side of 
the bed should be similar to that on the other, 
so also the variety that is second on one side 
should be similar to that in the second row on 
the other ; for although we have already given 
an example of two rows, with their names 
arranged after a different fashion, it was 
simply to explain the mode of keeping the 
book. The arrangement should be (if the 
bed is to be perfect) as under — 
D C B A B C D 
H G F E F G H 
This will illustrate what we mean by this 
uniform arrangement ; a bed made in this 
way will be found so superior as an object to 
all other modes of planting, that no one who 
desires to see a fine collection will ever do it 
in any other way after they have once seen it. 
Besides the uniformity there should be an eye 
to contrast, for the less they are like those next 
to them the better. These things observed, and 
