November 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
117 
when he either succeeds in producing a better variety, 
and enjoys the pleasure of being the first in that par¬ 
ticular kind, till a superior one is obtained either by 
himself or some one else, or he fails, and then has to 
begin again. By such persevering efforts the race of 
i the Ranunculus has been brought to the perfection it 
| has now attained, and, no doubt, may still be greatly 
! improved by continued attention. 
Of course the seed must be saved from flowers likely 
to improve the breed ; and as perfectly double flowers, 
! on account of the parts of fructification being all con- 
j verted into flower-leaves, do not produce seeds, they 
' must be looked for in semi-double flowers. Eorm is the 
first property to attend to. The flower should be as 
nearly half-round as possible—that is, the shape of a 
round ball cut in two, and flattened at the top ; the 
( colours should be bright and distinct, and the flower- 
stems stout enough to bear up the blooms without 
bending. When the seed is ripe, gather it immediately, 
or the wind will soon disperse it. Keep gathering it as 
it ripens; for it does not ripen altogether. Lay it upon 
a sheet of paper in a room where the sun will shine 
upon it for an hour or two in the forenoon. When it is 
perfectly dry, wrap it up in paper, and place it in a 
drawer in a dry, cool room till wanted. 
Sowing. —Early in spring prepare a compost of strong 
loam and leaf-mould; mix it well, and fill some boxes or 
seed-pans, well drained, very nearly full; sift a portion 
of it, and place a thin layer over the rough compost, 
press it very gently down, and it is ready for the seed. 
To be certain that the seed is sown equally and thinly, 
mix it with some fine soil, rubbing the seed and the soil 
well together till the seeds are separated from each 
other. Sow this mixture upon the soil prepared for 
it in the boxes or shallow pans; then press it down 
level, and with a fine sieve sift some of the compost 
very thinly but evenly over it, the thickness of a 
shilling will be quite sufficient; then, with a watering- 
pot, the nozzle of which has the finest holes, give a 
gentle watering*—this must be carefully done or the seed 
may be washed away. Place the seed-pans under glass 
! in a cold frame or pit, or, if that convenience is not 
i come-atable, place them in front of a low wall facing 
| the east, and contrive a covering or shelter of some 
i kind, to protect them from heavy showers. Whenever 
| the soil appears dry, give water with the fine-rosed 
water-pot, and in strong sunshine place a shade over it 
till it appears above ground, and has attained a leaf or 
two to each plant. In this stage, great care and atten¬ 
tion is necessary to protect the young and tender plants 
from becoming the prey of some prowling slug or wood¬ 
louse. In a single night, dozens of plants, at this 
tender age, might be eaten up and destroyed. Search 
well about where the boxes or seed-pans stand, and 
even lift them up, and examine under them, to see if auy 
| of these devourers have crept there to hide themselves 
! till the darkness prevails, and allows them to come out 
: seeking what they may devour. Continue this attention 
till the leaves begin to decay, and then cease watering, 
but keep them clear of weeds. These should be care¬ 
fully plucked up whilst very young, because, if allowed 
J to attain auy strength, in pulling them up, the young 
roots of the Ranunculus might be plucked up with the 
weed. When the leaves are all decayed, and winter is 
1 approaching, place them in some very cool place where 
1 no rain can fall upon them, and keep them here till 
spring. About the middle of April bring them out, and 
give them a good watering. Sift over the soil a thin 
layer of fresh compost, and repeat the care and atten¬ 
tion with regard to watering, looking after insects, and 
keeping clear of weeds, as in the previous season. This 
second year, when the leaves fail, and the plants are at 
rest, the tubers will have attained some size. They should 
now be taken out of the soil, and the surest way to 
accomplish this without losing any roots, is to sift the 
upper part of the soil through a fine sieve, fine enough 
to catch even the smallest roots. Store them away in 
a cool, dry room, and in the spring plant them out, and 
manage them like the named varieties. When they 
flower, select the superior blooms, name and mark them, 
and submit them to competent judges to determine their 
merit. Inferior varieties may be planted in the common 
flower-border to bloom, and may be left in the ground 
to perish. T. Appleby. 
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 
Potatoes. —It is not without some hesitation that we 
venture to make a few remarks on this esculent, alike 
the favourite of the prince and the peasant, and we are 
the more disheartened at the task, by a knowledge of the 
conflicting opinions already abroad regarding it—so 
numerous are these, that it would be no easy matter to 
suggest anything original as to the cause or prevention 
of that disease, which has both puzzled the man of 
science and the man of experience. But setting aside 
that perplexing question, let us see what can be done to 
render the Potato as productive as possible, and, a,t the 
same time, avoid, if we can, the baneful effects of 
disease. We believe, that amongst the various opinions 
abroad, there is one in which most people coincide, and 
that is, the fact of “ so many of the early kinds of Potatoes 
escaping,” while the late ones fell a prey to that inexpli¬ 
cable complaint; indeed, this has been so many times 
confirmed and proved, that it is not unlikely some of 
our late kinds may become absolutely lost to us, though 
we hope to have them replaced by healthier and earlier 
varieties. But to our purpose. We have said every one 
admits the propriety of planting early kinds; “we say 
so too ; ” and we go a little further and say, try and get 
these to come in as early as possible, but how is that 
to be done—we suppose some one will be asking? 
Plant now, we say, if your land be at all favourable, 
and you will not repent it. We believe it was the Editor 
of this work who, some years ago, so strongly advocated 
autumn planting, and though at the time much opposed, 
there can be no question of its utility—we know that a 
considerable breadth was so planted last autumn, and 
we have no doubt but there will be the same this. Mr. 
Cuthill has shown in his useful pamphlet how much the 
Potato loses by the too common way in which it is 
treated in winter, and though his mode differs from the 
one we recommend, yet there are some points in com¬ 
mon. Now, supposing we had pitched on a piece of j 
ground intended for Potatoes next year, and that 
ground of a tolerably dry character, we would at once 
plant it on what is called the ridge system. We have 
never seen any done so in the neighbourhood of Lon¬ 
don, but it certainly deserves a trial. After the ground 
is dry, drills are drawn in the usual way with the hoe, 
and the potatoes planted in that drill not very deep, and 
the proper width apart. Afterwards let a man take a 
spade, and cast the soil from between the drills over 
them, in a ridge-like manner, laying it up as roughly 
as possible, and leaving the furrow part rough also, 
which ought not to be walked in afterwards; in fact, 
the way to do it is to walk backwards, the same as in 
digging. Of course, care must be taken not to displace 
the sets ; when done it will resemble ground ridged for i 
the winter, which in fact it is, only there is the crop 
planted By lying in this way it gets all the benefits 
of the frosts, without the soddeniug rains, and in spring 
a part of the ridge may be worked down with a fork, 
but it is better not to be too early with that work, as 
late frosts are apt to catch the tops when so prema¬ 
turely exposed, but a certain working down and 
amongst, is beneficial to the crop, besides giving a 
