THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[January 9. 
000 
/WrwiV 
its single and double white ivory flowers, mingled with 
those of the Yellow Wood Anemone (A. Ranuneuloides )— 
blooming together in early April, and continuing for 
months “ thickly strewn in their woodland bowers.” In 
May and June she had the Palmate-leaved Anemone 
(A. palmata ), with its golden stars, together with the 
many-tinted cups of the Garland Anemone (A. coronaria ) 
and of tire Garden Anemone (A. hortensis). Nor were 
the Common Pasque Flower (A. pulsatilla), with all its 
varieties of red and blue flower-cups, nor the Alpine 
Anemone ( A. alpina ), with its still more varied blos¬ 
soms, sparingly found iu her borders. If we remember 
faithfully, the last Anemone blooming in her garden was 
the A. Nuttaliana, sometimes with purple and some¬ 
times with cream-colom'ed flowers, and these lasted 
through July and August. How she managed to have 
Anemones in autumn and winter, by the aid of her 
greenhouse, we know not; for iu those days we thought 
more of the flowers than of their cultivation; and she is 
now gone to rest who would have delighted to impart 
her knowledge to the readers of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener. She was not only a cultivator but an historian 
of this flower; and many relative pages, original and 
selected, were in her portfolio, of which but few now 
remain; nor have we the means of ascertaining from 
what authorities she gathered her lore. 
“ I have loved the Anemone from childhood; for my 
earliest recollection of a flower is that white one of our 
woods; and I call it still‘my pretty page,’ because my 
father, as we strolled together, used to point them out 
as ‘ Springs pretty pages.’ As I grow up, he told me of 
the fabled creation of our garden Anemone; and the 
translation from Ovid which I then read, re-read, and 
mourned the while over the fate of the beautiful Adonis, 
has never since been forgotten.” Venus, it will be 
remembered, is said to have warned Adonis from the 
chase in which he died, and that from his blood she 
formed the Anemone. 
“ Then on the blood sweet nectar she bestows, 
The scented blood in little bubbles rose: 
Little as rain drops, which fluttering fly, 
Borne by the winds along a low’ring sky. 
Short time ensu’d till where the blood was shed, 
A flow’r began to rear its purple head: 
Still here the fate of lovely forms "e see, 
So sudden fades the sweet Anemone. 
The feeble stems, to stormy blasts a prey, 
Their sickly beauties droop and pine away. 
The winds forbid the flow’rs to flourish long, 
Which owe to winds their name in Grecian song.” 
As the Greeks derived its name from anemos, the wind, 
so in England is the Wind-flower one of its popular 
names; and by both nations has it been held in esteem 
as a powerful medicine. Pliny says that, in his time, 
the people wore directed to gather annually the first 
Anemone they saw, uttering at the time the incantation, 
“ I gather it as a remedy against tertian and quartan 
fevers.” The Romans also wreathed it in their hair; 
“ and there is scarce any flower better calculated to be 
artificially imitated for the purpose of ornamenting the 
temple of \ enus; for as its flowers are of such various 
colours, the Venuses of every clime, from the blackest j 
of Africa to the fairest of Britain, may suit wreaths of ! 
j Anemones to their complexions.” 
In Turner’s Herbal, published in 1508, it is called 
the Anemone; but lie adds, “it may be called in English 
Rose Parsley, because there groweth a flower like a 
single rose in the middle of this herb, which is very like 
parsley in the loaves that arc about the root.” Gerard 
writing a few years later (1597), says, “ The stock or 
kindred of the Anemones, or Wind-flowers, are without 
number, or, at least, not known unto any ono that hath 
written of plants. For Dodoens hath set forth five sorts; 
Lobel, eight; Tabermontaiius, ten; and myself have in 
my garden twelve different sorts; and yet I do hear of 
divers more differing very notably from any of these. 
Every new year bringeth with it new and strange kinds. 
Every country hath its peculiar plants of this sort, which 
are sent unto us from far countries, iu hope to receive 
from us such as our country yieldetli.” 
The taste for this flower continued increasing; and 
when Parkinson wrote in 1027, he specified sixty-seven 
Anemones, adding that there were innumerable others, 
to distinguish which “ would gravel tire best experienced 
this day in Europe.” Yet the art of raising varieties of 
them from seed was not familiarly known in England, 
but it was “ practised extensively in the Low Countries 
(Holland); some of their varieties bearing such a high 
price, that no Englishman would buy them.” 
We may lament the less, that our friend died without 
bequeathing to us her inodes of cultivating this flower, 
because we have now before us Hints on the Culture of 
the Anemone, double and single, by their most successful 
cultivator, Mr. Carey Tyso, Florist, Wallingford, Berks. 
lake our friend, we prefer very much the single to the 
double Anemone, and we will quote from Mr. Tyso bis 
mode of propagating it, at the same time recommending 
our readers to send to Mr. Tyso four penny postage 
stamps, in exchange for which he will send them the 
entire pamphlet, post-free. 
Many beautiful colours of this species exist, both self and 
variegated ; and though they are not usually propagated 
separately, under name, like the double sorts, there are 
certainly many of them deserving this distinction. It often 
happens, that persons raise two or three first-rate varieties 
from seed, quite worthy of perpetuation; but for want of 
separate culture and distribution, they live and die with 
their raisers: and to this circumstance may be attributed 
the slow progress made towards perfection in this flower. 
"When single varieties are left An the ground, or planted 
early (in August for instance), in congenial soil, they attain 
great strength; and flower through the winter, making a 
great display early in spring. On this account they are 
worthy of more patronage than has hitherto been bestowed 
upon them. They produce seed freely, and in this way may 
be easily multiplied, as well as by division. The fitness of 
the seed for gathering may be known by its parting from the 
axis or flower-stalk, to which it is but slightly attached. 
When this is observed it must be secured without delay, or 
the wind will disperse and waste it. Select flowers of the 
best quality for seed bearers, such as have broad smooth 
cupped petals; if seifs, of dense and uniform colour; if 
striped or mottled, then the colours should be rich and 
defined. Remove or destroy all with inferior narrow and 
flimsy petals, to prevent the stock being deteriorated by im¬ 
pregnation from them. 
As soon as the seed is gathered, prepare a bed of nice 
mellow soil of which vegetable matter and road grit are 
large constituents, and rake it level. The seed being woolly 
and adhesive, put it into a bowl with sharp sand, and rub it 
in till the seed and sand are evenly mingled. Then sow 
rather thinly, and cover lightly with similar compost. Little 
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