Angust 30, 1888. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
189 
tilators which may inmost cases be left open, except in severe weather ; 
but when desirable to have them at command, a small shutter to each 
inside can easily be applied. When the mortar is sufficiently set, the 
spaces between the walls d d and also e e may be filled up with the soil 
■excavated for a footpath c, building a wall on each side in the usual 
way. The space between the pits should be in the form of a gutter, 
asphalted, and made to carry the water to tanks inside the pits. These 
gutters should be 18 inches or 2 feet wide, and if the ventilators are 
placed alternately there will be plenty of room for cleaning out, attend¬ 
ing to shading in summer, or applying mats or other coverings in the 
winter. A drain-pipe under the ashes in the beds will carry part of the 
water (otherwise wasted) back to the tanks. The inside arrangement of 
this pit is specially adapted to the growing of decorative plants of 
dwarf growth, such as Cyclamens, Primulas, Cinerarias, Bouvardias, 
Achimenes, Begonias, Poinsettias, and dozens of other plants, which will 
do far better than in houses of any other description. But with a little 
modification of the arrangements it can be made equally suitable for 
propagating, forcing winter-flowering plants, growing pot Vines, Melons, 
Cucumbers, Tomatoes, &c. 
“ The great objection to these sunken pits is the necessity of having 
steps down to the doorways. This, however, is not always necessary. If 
they are built on sloping ground they may be so arranged as to be 
wholly under ground, except the ends in which the doors are placed. In 
such a case the end walls would have to be built first, the mean height 
•of the soil ascertained and levelled in the same way as j ou would form 
a terrace, and upon this level, properly consolidated, commence to build 
as on level ground. In building a number of such pits a large tank 
should occupy the opposite end to the door, and these should not only 
be connected with each other, but should be made one tank, so that the 
water will run direct from the gutter into it. In every such tank a 
flow-and-return hot-water pipe should be placed, fur the use of cold 
water in watering plants works untold mischief wherever it is applied in 
heated structures.” 
For growing early Melons and Cucumbers it would be desirable to 
make larger excavations at e e, down to the floor line, providing two 
pipes for bottom heat as in fig. 20, in rubble, with soil above them for 
the plants. With sliding shutters in the wall any excess of bottom heat 
might pass into the house or pit, then two pipes instead of three would 
suffice for top heat, in a sunk pit of the kind shown, 8 feet from the 
floor to the ridge, and 10 feet wide. Top ventilation should be provided 
as in the preceding plan, fig. 20 ; in the sunk pit the bottom ventilation 
*s admirably devise!, as the cold outside air in spring must be warmed 
before it reaches the plants. 
POISONED BY BUTTERCUPS. 
A correspondent sends the following note clipped from a daily 
paper, and desires further information respecting the poisonous pro¬ 
perties of Buttercups :—“ Farmers in Bedfordshire are at present feeling 
considerable anxiety in consequence of several horses and other animals 
haying died in a manner which suggests the belief that they have been 
poisoned through eating some noxious plant. Two horses belonging to 
Mr. Wm. Gray of Mill Street, Gamlingay, which were grazing fn a 
meadow on the farm, were suddenly taken ill, and both succumbed in a 
very short time. A veterinary surgeon on examining the bodies found 
that where some partially digested food lay the coating of the stomach 
was covered with blisters as if from the effect of some vegetable 
irritant. Two valuable cows were also lost from Waresley Park, it is 
supposed from a similar cause. Suspicion attached to a" variety of 
Crowfoot which during the late rains has largely increased in growth in 
boggy parts of the meadows. Several specimens of this plant were 
forwarded to the Botanical Secretary of the Bedfordshire Natural 
History Society (Mr. J. Hamson). who has come to the conclusion that 
the plant which has poisoned the animals is the Lesser Spearwort 
(Ranunculus flammula), a very poisonous variety of Crowfoot. It is 
rather uncommon, but the wet season seems-to have been favourable to 
itg development.” 
The appended particulars are given in Dr. Hogg’s “Vegetable 
Kingdom ” concerning the active qualities of the British species of 
Ranunculus :—“ Of the Ranunculeas, R. bulbosus, acris, sceleratus, 
flammula, auricomus, tliora, arvensis, and many others, have very 
powerful acrid properties ; and their fruits, when green, appear to be 
the parts in which this acridity is most intense. If the fresh-bruised 
leaves are applied to any part of the body a more or less active inflam¬ 
mation will soon appear, followed with hard swellings, which will 
speedily become a true blister. Recourse may therefore be had to these 
plants, as is the case in Norway and the Highlands of Scotland when 
cantharides cannot be obtained, or when the irritant action of these on 
tender plants would be injurious. Taken internally, the juice or extract 
of Ranunculus acris causes an intense inflammation of the digestive 
organs, and if the dose has been considerable it is a true acrid poisons 
followed by very serious results, and even death. The juice of R. bulbosu, 
applied to the nostrils causes sneezing, and a portion of the root has 
been found to act beneficially on the gum of an aching tooth. Haller 
informs us that the Swiss hunters chew R. alpestris as a restorative after 
fatigue, and as an antidote to giddiness ; and Withering states that in 
the case of poison having been taken, R. flammula, which produces 
instantaneous vomiting, is preferable to any medicine. With the juice 
of R. thora the Swiss hunters were wont formerly to poison their darts, 
by means of which the wounds inflicted on wild beasts were speedily 
fatal and incurable. The distilled water of R. sceleratus is eminently 
acrid, and when cold deposits crystals, which have been found to be 
utterly insoluble, and of an inflammable nature ; yet, notwithstanding 
its poisonous properties, it is eaten when cooked by the shepherds of 
Wallachia. R. aquatilis forms an exception to all just mentioned, having 
been found to be not only innoxious, but nutritious to cattle. D’ - . 
Pulteney says that in the neighbourhood of Kingswood, on the borders 
of the Avon, cottagers support their cattle almost entirely on this plant. 
They collect a quantity every morning, and bring it in a boat to the 
edge of the water, where the cows eat it with great avidity. One man 
kept four cows and one horse so much upon it that they had not con¬ 
sumed more than half a ton of hay throughout the whole year. There 
is no doubt that the continued immersion in the water is the ciuse, as 
we have already stated, of the destruction of the acrid principle in this 
plant. R. repens, or Buttercup, has less of the acrid quality than most 
of the genus, and is said to be eaten as a potherb. Cattle, however, do 
not feed on it willingly, and yet in many grass fields it makes a con¬ 
siderable part of the pasturage. Ficaria ranunculoides is also less 
acrid than some of the others ; but although its leaves are used as a 
potherb when cooked, yet its roots are acrid and bitter. It is said that 
wood pigeons eat the root with great avidity, and its growth is some¬ 
times encouraged in the vicinity of gardens to prevent their depredatio s 
in winter.” 
HAMPTON COURT GARDENS. 
In such a peculiar season as the present one horticulturists will not 
expect to see any brilliant displays in the metropolitan parks, and the 
majority of gardeners have had a somewhat doleful experience of 
conventional “bedding-out” defects in a wet summer. Zonal 
Pelargoniums, say the county reports, are extraordinarily vigorous in 
growth and foliage, but the flowers are scarce, and with few exceptions 
this corresponds with what we have seen. Such beds, when devoid of 
flowers, have a poor appearance, and those flower gardeners who have 
not relied exclusively upon Pelargoniums to furnish the colour con¬ 
sidered requisite in some gardens have gained materially by their 
precaution. Pelargoniums are of unquestioned usefulness, and they can 
be employed with excellent effect in moderation; but where beds of 
dazzling scarlet are provided too liberally the result in hot sunny 
weather is at least fatiguing and often nauseating. It always seems 
strange that we shou'd have in our gardens an array of the brightest 
colours at a time when the eye needs rest and finds the greatest relief 
in the fresh green turf or varied green tints of trees and shrubs. 
Probably this is one reason why carpet bedding has been extended so 
much of late years ; its softer colours afford an agreeable contrast to 
those of the Pelargoniums, and when the designs are not too intricate 
or laboured such beds are welcomed for the diversity they provide. 
Certainly this season nothing can be urged against them on the score of 
excessive brightness, for the Alternantheras, upon which the effect of 
these beds is mainly dependent, have refused to assume their usual 
tints. A amoena, A. versicolor grandis, and A. amabilis have until quite 
recently had an uncommonly dull appearance, the only ones which seem 
to have profited by the frequent rains being the golden varieties of 
A. paronychioides. 
At Hampton Court we always look for excellent representations 
of the carpet bedding style, as the superintendent, Mr. Graham, has 
made it a special feature for some years, and this season visitors will 
not be disappointed in the designs, although the colouring is necessarily 
deficient. A few of the most effective beds may be briefly noted, but 
it is difficult to convey an accurate idea of these designs by mere verbal 
descriptions. As a groundwork plant Herniaria glabra is largely em¬ 
ployed, and though this looks particularly well in bright weather when 
the Alternantheras are in their true character, it is a little too dark and 
dull in a season like the present. The Leucophyton also has not grown 
so freely as usua’, and consequently some of thi lines are rather thin. 
The dark Iresine Wallsi takes the place of Alternantheras in one or two beds 
with evident advantage, its rich dark foliage contrasting capitally with 
lighter leaved plants of the Mesembryanthemum or Leucophyton 
character ; it requires, however, to be kept closely pinched. The grey 
