COMPANION TO THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 
63 
parts of the kingdom the “ Merry Month ” made its entree in a frosted 
white vesture. To the surprise and regret of many florists, it was found, 
on the morning of the 1st of May, that the thermometer had registered 
8 and even 10 degrees of freezing. The mercury or spirit standing at 
22 or 24 degrees Fahrenheit, on a May morning, must ever be disastrous 
to the garden, and the Ranunculus shared in the ill effects alike with 
other of its ornamental companions. The blooming season was early, 
and only an average one, but still hundreds of excellent flowers were 
produced from the modern progeny reared by the skill of those interested 
in this flower during the last twenty years, and a few excellent seedlings 
have been added to the stock which promise, from the beauty of their 
markings, and the vigour of their early life, to be valuable additions to 
the catalogue of celebrities in future vears. 
To any one long conversant with the named varieties of Ranunculus, 
it must be striking to observe the great advance that has been made in 
the quality and variety of the flowers within the period of memory, and 
how few of the old flowers, except Naxara , Sophia , and Eliza, are now 
to be found in stands for competition; a new and very superior race of 
edged, spotted, and mottled seedling flowers having superseded the Dutch 
varieties, which were familiar a quarter of a century since, and which 
formed the exhibition staple at that time in the midland and northern 
counties of England. 
Carey Tyso. 
Wallingford , BerJcs. 
CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS.—AUGUST. 
Greenhouse and Conservatory .—All the spring and summer denizens of 
these structures will now have departed; the hard-wooded things standing 
out on some cool and shady border, or under the shade of tiffany ; the 
Pelargoniums having been cut down,—in a pit, where they can be kept 
close while breaking afresh. As soon as these shoots have attained a 
couple of inches in length, the plants be repotted into smaller pots, 
some of the roots to be shaken out, and then allowed plenty of air until 
the autumn repotting takes place. The places formerly occupied by these 
various plants must now be supplied with Zonale Geraniums, Calceolarias, 
Fuchsias, Balsams, Asters, Gladiolus, and other autumn-flowering plants. 
Keep the houses well syringed, and this applies to plants out-of-doors as 
well. From the very dry summer that we are now having, red spider 
very soon gains ground, and nothing will check it so effectually as a 
liberal supply of water with a syringe or hydropult. As soon as young 
offsets of Cinerarias are strong enough, pot them off singly into thumb- 
pots, to make good plants for early flowering; seedlings are also very 
effective for the same purpose. Mignonette may now be sown in pots 
for winter flowering. 
