RANUNCULUS. 
yond that period; and some, or perhaps most, 
are liable to a very speedy extinction by bad 
keeping, hot manuring, or other improper treat- 
ment. Jamentations have for many years past 
prevailed, that the ranunculus has sadly degen- 
erated, and has become exceedingly difficult of 
culture, and deplorably liable to failure; and 
nostrums many and intricate have been pro- 
pounded by all sorts of amateurs for reviving it, 
or for obtaining sure and beauteous blooms, by 
means of curious manuring or of novel methods 
of culture. But if the varieties be new enough, 
and the time of planting suitable enough, and 
the soil consolidated and cool enough, and at the |~ 
same time free from stimulating or unduly strong 
manure, no apprehension need be entertained 
that blooms of this most gorgeous flower will be 
obtained as good and certain as before the cry of 
degeneracy was raised. 
The following directions for cultivating the 
ranunculus were transmitted to England a few 
years ago by M. Tripet le Blanc of Paris, one of 
the best ranunculus growers in France: and are 
perhaps as good as any which can be given :— 
The bed, which should be made in November or 
December, need not be more than a foot deep, 
and it should have an eastern exposure. The 
soil should be equal parts of fresh turfy loam and 
old cow-dung, or thoroughly rotten leaves, and 
these should be well mixed together by turning 
the mass over several times with the spade. The 
bed should be raised 3 or 4 inches above the level 
of the walks, to allow for its sinking. In the 
first week of February the tubers are to be 
planted, when strings should be stretched across 
the bed in slanting lines, 4 inches apart, so as to 
intersect each other like network; and drills 
should be formed under the strings an inch and 
a halfdeep. The tubers should then be put into 
the ground, one being planted at every point 
where the lines meet, and the earth should be 
drawn over them. Care should be taken never 
to cover the tubers more than an inch and a half 
deep ; and it is better for the covering to be less 
rather than more. The tubers should be planted 
with their claws downwards, and the beds should 
be regularly watered whenever the weather is 
dry. The advantage of making the bed in No- 
vember, and not working it at all when the 
tubers are planted in February, is that» the soil 
has had time to settle, so as to afford a firm bed, 
which is advantageous, as the ranunculus never 
thrives in a loose soil; and by planting the roots 
_in spring, they are saved from the danger of in- 
jury from cold and wet during winter. In Eng- 
land the bed is generally made two feet deep, 
and a layer of two years’ old cow-dung, 6 or 8 
inches deep, is placed at the bottom, the bed 
being filled up, and raised about 5 inches above 
the surface, with a fresh and strong loam, and 
the roots are planted in November, covering 
them 10 or 15 inches thick with straw during 
the frosty weather.” 
IV. 
RAPE. | 17 
RAPE, Several species and varieties of cruci- 
ferous plants, of the turnip and cabbage genus, 
cultivated for the expression of oil, the feeding 
of cattle, and some other economical purposes. 
Kinds of Rape-——The summer rape, cole, colsa, 
colza, or wild navew culsat, Brassica campestris 
oleifera, is noticed in the article Conn, The name 
of summer rape, given to this kind, refers to its 
arriving earlier at maturity than the common or 
winter rape, and also alludes to its being less 
capable of withstanding severe winters, and there- 
fore more suitable to be grown for % summer or 
autumn crop than for a spring: ones. 
The common rape or winter-rape or cole-seed, 
Brassi¢a napus, occurs in a wild state in ditches 
and banks and borders of corn-fields of some | 
parts of England. Its roct is biennial, tapering, 
woody, and hard; its stem commonly attains a 
height of about two feet; its leaves are smooth, 
glaucous, and thickish or somewhat fleshy ; its 
radical leaves are lyrate; its cauline leaves are 
clasping, notched, and pinnatifid; its flowers are 
yellow, and naturally bloom in May; and its 
seeds are similar to those of the Swedish turnip, 
and are sometimes smaller and sometimes larger 
than those of the summer rape, and are much 
controlled in size by the influences of soil and 
culture. 
readily distinguished from the summer rape by 
the smoothness of its leaves, and the compara- 
tively deep and obscure yellowness of its flowers. 
But three very distinct varieties of it are in cul- 
tivation,—the oil-bearing, the greater, and the | 
esculent, B. n. oleiferus, B. n. major, and B. n. 
esculentus,—the first and the second field plants, 
for oil and rape-cake and fodder, and the third a 
garden plant, for salads and other culinary pur- | 
poses; and three permanent subvarieties of the 
last, also, are in cultivation,—the white, the yel- 
low, and the blackish, B. nv. e. albus, B.n. e. flavus, 
and B. n. e. nigricans. The greater variety, B. 
n. major, has comparatively large leaves, and is 
much cultivated in Alsace, and deserves special 
attention from farmers who raise the rape plant 
for fodder. 
The early rape, annual rape, smooth -leaved 
summer rape, or early kohl-reps, Brassica precoz, 
is a native of Continental Europe, and was intro- 
duced to Britain in 1812. Its root is annual ; 
its stem is about two feet high; and its stem- 
leaves are more lyrate, and its seed-pods more 
erect, than those of the common rape. It 
produces a smaller amount of herbage, and 
is less oleiferous, and has less power of resist- 
ing frost, than the field varieties of the com- 
mon rape; yet, in consequence of its running to 
seed much sooner than these varieties, it might 
probably be found to succeed corn-crops. with 
more advantage than they in Scotland and the 
northern parts of England. 
The turnip rape or rough-leaved summer rape, 
Brassica rapa, occurs in a wild state in the corn- 
fields of some parts of England. It may be re- 
B 
This plant, in a growing state, is most | 
SSS ESE SS ee eee ————————————— I  ———————————————————————— ee <= 
