456 
ACCLIMATATION OF PLANTS. 
few terminal subtrifid truncate floating leaves 
are found ; the flowers are large, white. 
Flowers in May and June. Found in brooks, 
streams, and rivers, frequently. This plant 
is the It. Jiuviatilis, It. peucedanifolius, and 
H. pantothrix, of different authors. 
The three last-named species of water 
Crowfoot — H. aquatilis, It. circinatus, and 
JR. fluitans, with their varieties, are very 
pretty water plants ; especially JR. aquatilis, 
Avhich during the summer months decks the 
surface of the water with a close carpet of its 
pretty white flowers : these flowers, when 
elevated just above the surface of the water, 
are rendered the more conspicuous from the 
contrast between their beautiful shining clear 
■white colour, and the dark green of the stems 
and leaves seen beneath the water. It was at one 
time supposed that these plants were equally 
poisonous with some others of the genus ; this 
does not, however, appear to be the case, as the 
cottagers on the banks of the river Avon are 
in the habit of feeding their cattle with them. 
There is some difference between the wild 
species of Ranunculus, and the rich varieties 
of the eastern species (JR. asiaticus), which 
owe their existence to the skill and persever- 
ance of florists ; but, nevertheless, many of 
our wild ranunculuses are not to be despised, 
though they are passed by from their common- 
ness, and the want of variety in their colour. 
Looking at them with an eye unprejudiced in 
favour of any preconceived notions of beauty, 
one cannot but admit that their intrinsic ele- 
gance of habit, and brilliancy of colour, entitle 
them to much higher estimation than the 
" buttercups of the field" usually have be- 
stowed- upon them. Some of the double- 
flowered varieties rank among the handsomest 
of common perennial flowers. 
ACCLIMATATION OF PLANTS. 
Johnson, in his "Principles of Gardening," 
treats this subject as seriously as if there were 
anything in it but a chimera; as if the con- 
stitution of a plant could be permanently 
altered ; and after all it is these great theorists 
who mislead themselves first, and their fol- 
lowers afterwards. In this case there is no 
new fact adduced. The old humdrum tale 
about Aucuba japonica and Pceonia Moutan 
having been stove plants, removed first to the 
greenhouse and then out of doors, is of course 
resorted to as a presumed confirmation of the 
doctrine of the acclimatation of plants, as if 
it were fact instead of fiction. 
So far as these illusions of great men in- 
duce experiment, they are not without their 
good effects. Mr. Johnson's error lies in pre- 
suming that the mere fact of a plant from a hot 
country being grown in the open air, is indi- 
cative or proof of a change of the plant or of 
its constitution, whereas it is nothing more 
than the proof of its qualities of endurance. 
He says, " Every plant has a peculiar tempe- 
rature, without which its functions cease, but 
the majority of them luxuriate most in a cli- 
mate of which the extreme temperatures do 
not much exceed 32 degrees and 90 degrees. 
No seed will vegetate, no sap will circulate, 
at a temperature at or below the freezing 
point of water, yet the juices of the plant are 
not congealed even at a temperature far more 
depressed ; and I know of no other more 
satisfactory proof, that, like a cold-blooded 
animal — the frog and the leech for example, 
it becomes torpid though life is not extinct, 
unless excited by a genial temperature." 
Something very much bordering on our 
notions which are founded on practice, may 
be found in Mr. Johnson's reasoning, but his 
conclusions are altogether opposed to us. 
He says, " No cultivation will render plants, 
natives of the torrid zone, capable of bearing 
the rigour of our winters, although their 
offspring reared from seed may be rendered 
much more hardy than their parents." 
We quite agree with this, because we have 
shown and proved over and over again, that 
cultivation will not change the powers of en- 
durance either for heat or cold ; but the steps 
which Mr. Johnson and other writers on 
acclimatation recommend, are perfectly right 
and proper to be taken, not as they allege 
to acclimatise the plant, but to prove what 
it will endure. 
If the British oak were cultivated in a 
stove, it would no more be a stove plant for 
that operation, than a dog would be a horse 
for being kept in a stable ; but an oak brought 
up in a stove, must not be planted out from 
the stove to the open ground in mid-winter, 
because the sudden check might kill it, and in 
all probability would kill it, though it is able to 
endure intense frost when properly managed. 
Therefore all plants to be grown in the open 
air, ought to be raised in the open air, or if 
necessarily grown first in a stove, should be 
gradually instead of suddenly brought to lower 
temperature. 
Whoever can afford to lose plants, should 
try the experiment of their open air culture, 
because we may be growing in stoves and 
greenhouses many subjects that would stand 
in the open ground in our winters. As Mr. 
Johnson properly observes, "When a new 
plant arrives from tropical latitudes, it is de- 
sirable to use every precaution to avoid its 
loss, but so soon as it has been propagated 
from, and the danger of such loss is removed, 
from that moment ought experiments to com- 
mence ;" but instead of saying, " to ascertain 
whether its acclimatization is attainable" 
