142 
THE FLORIST. 
ing. Half a dozen holes may be made at once by means of an in¬ 
strument similar to the head of a rake, having pieces of wood one 
inch and a half long (and covered with tin to lessen the adhering 
of the soil thereto) projecting from it, at the regulated distances of 
four inches; these being pressed into the soil, the holes are formed. 
The practice, however, which I myself adopt and prefer is the 
following : Having marked out on the surface of the bed the situation 
of the rows, holding the root by its crown between the forefinger 
and thumb, and using the middle finger as a dibble, a hole is made 
by a downward and lateral pressure, about one inch and a half in 
depth ; into this the root is inserted, or fixed, moderately firm, that 
the claws or tubers have hold of the soil. The whole being planted, 
the holes are filled up from the surrounding soil with the fingers, and 
then the surface is smoothed over with the palm of the hand. Strong 
roots may be planted about four inches apart; when they are smaller, 
it is desirable that two should be planted together, as all weak roots 
will not bloom, and it greatly detracts from the appearance of a bed 
to see occasional vacancies. The rows also should be the same dis¬ 
tance apart from each other as the roots are in the rows, viz. four 
inches. It adds materially to the general effect of a well-bloomed 
collection to see this uniformity of space : a wide gap between the 
rows is unsightly, and, as I shall shew, is not required for any one 
purpose—assuredly not for watering. 
There remains but one other duty to be fulfilled, till the gorgeous 
period of flowering—and it is one of vast importance : when the plants 
have all appeared above ground, the bed must be covered, about an 
inch in depth, with sand; which, when the foliage expands, must 
further, by moderate compression and manipulation with the fingers, 
be carefully disposed also around the crown of the roots or insertion 
of the leaf-stalks. The sand serves the very important purpose of 
preventing cracking of the soil in hot, droughty weather; and this 
it accomplishes by its virtue of preserving it moist—a condition of 
it essential to success. It may further be added, that its applica¬ 
tion appears unpalatable to the disporting of those large worms, 
which often commit considerable mischief by forming wide holes 
amongst, and partially undermining, the roots ; such holes, moreover, 
are readily filled up by it: whilst old manure, used as a top dressing, 
rather encourages their gambols, and itself cracks also after having 
been wet, and is therefore less commendable. 
But I now proceed to notice the most serious error in the ma¬ 
nagement of the Ranunculus—an error that is committed by all, and 
was by myself also until a later period ; I mean, artificial watering. 
Let not one drop be given in hot, droughty weather. I am aware that 
this will appear a “hard” saying, to florists ; but of its justness, both 
experience, observation, and experiment have wholly satisfied me. 
The untoward results of watering the soil have been observed by 
every writer on the Ranunculus; but its baneful effects of turning 
the foliage yellow have ever been attributed to a wrong cause, namely, 
to the “water falling upon the leaves-:” hence the repeated injunctions, 
to be most careful to water only between the rows. In my experi- 
