5:o nORTUS JAMAICENSIS. MorxTAW 



Moss i)i Tiers. Tho gro'.vUi of large quantities of moss on any kitul of tree is a dis- 

 teijiper of very bad conseciiu-iice to its increutie,. and luiuli damages the i'niit of the 

 tree. The present remedy is tiie scraping, it.. otF.froni.. the body and large branches, 

 by means of a kind of wooden knife. that.wilUiot hurt the bark, or with a piece ot" 

 rough hair-cloth, which lioes very well after, a soaking-rain. But tlie most eifectnal 

 cure is the taking away tlie cause.. This is to betloi^e by draining away all the sup-r- 

 fluous moisture fioui about the roots of the trees, and may great!)' be "uardcd against 

 in the hrst planting of the trees, by not setting them too deep. 



If trees stand too thick in a cold griunid tliey will always-be covered wirh mess and 

 the best wav to remedy the fault is to thin them. '-When the young branches of trees 

 are covered with a long an 1 shaggy mos-:, it wiiluttcrly ruin them; and there is no way 

 to pr^event it but to cut off tlie branches.uear the trunk, and eve-nto take ofi". the head 

 of the tri_-c if necessary ; for it will sprout again : and if the cause be in the nu an lime 

 removed by thinning the plantation, or draining the knd and stirring the. ground well, 

 the young shoots will C(;ntiniie clear after this. 



Ii the tree's are covered v\ith moivs in consequence of the ground's beinfr too dr\-, as 

 this will happen from cither extreme in tne soil, then the proper remetly is .the lavin^ 

 mud from the bottom of a pond or river pretty thick about the root, opening the 

 ground to some distance and depth to let it in ; this will not only cool it, and prevent 

 its giving growth to any great quantity of moss, but it will also prevent the other great 

 mischief which fruit treejj are habJe to in dry grounds,- which is the falling off of the 

 Iruit too early. 



The mosses which cover the trunks of trees,- as tKey always are freshest and most 

 vigorous on the side which points to the north, if only produced on that, serve to pre- 

 serve the trunk of the tree from the severity of the north winds, and direct the traveller 

 in his vyay, by always plainly pointing out that, part of tlie counjass. 



MOUNTAIN BROOM. CALEA. 



Cl. 19, Oil. 1. Sijngvnesia pdygamia ttqualis. Nat. OR. Composite, 

 -Gen. char. See Halbert-Weed, _p. 363. 



SCOPARI.\. 



Arhorca ramnsshshna. ; ramulis teretibits, quadrato-sub-margincffis ; 

 foliolis pauicioribus minibus linearibus. Browne, p. 316, t. 34, f, 4* 

 Stem suffruticose ; branches almost opposite, angular. 



This is a shrub or small tree ; stem the height of a man or more, branched towards 

 the top, even, streaked, wrinkled, with an ash-coloured bark. Twigs abundant, four- 

 sided, sub-divided, stiff, almost naked, streaked, smooth, silvery ash-coloured. 

 Leaves sessile, minute, alternate, oblong, smooth ; the branches are sometimes ttr- 

 niinating and leafless. Fiowers solitary, leafless, sessile, small, white; scales of the 

 ;dyx very many, minute, whitish; coroUules twenty to thirty; stamens above the 

 corolla ; style undivided, stigma blunt ; receptacle naked : the outer stamens seem to 

 be barren, Sw. It is a native of Jamaica, growing in the coldest parts of the moun- 

 lAins. It resembles the European broom, and the only tree of the same appearance in 

 ^i^us inland. The leaves are very small, and but few on any part of the plant. B>o-^'ne^ 



Geertner, 



