ee i a eee re 
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 
Fritillaria—continued. 
ale green ; upper linear-lanceolate. Stem slender, leafless below, 
ut there clothed with appressed sheaths. Caucasus, &c., 1872. 
An elegant little plant, remarkable for the peculiar colour of 
its flowers. (B. M. 5969.) 
F. verticillata (verticillate). A. white, at the base externally 
green, and within at the base sprinkled with small purplish 
spots ; solitary, axillary, or terminal, nodding ; segments tipped 
with a green, callous, slightly pubescent apex. May. l bright 
green, or slightly glaucous, somewhat crowded about the middle 
of the stem; the lowest pair opposite, many-nerved, without a 
conspicuous middle rib, ovate, tapering towards the apex, which 
is rather blunt. Stem simple. Altaic Mountains, 1 3 
5083, under name of F. leucantha.) 
F. v. Thunbergii (Thunberg’s).* fl. greenish, mottled with 
pale purple, small, solitary, bell-shaped. l. long, narrow, linear, 
terminating in a tendril. China and Japan, 1880. See Fig. 43. 
F. Walujewi (Walujew’s). fl. lead-coloured outside, within 
purple-brown, with whitish spots, large, solitary. J. linear, 
attenuated into a tendril; those at the middle of the stem verti- 
cillate. h.1ft. Central Asia, 1879. (R. Œ. 993.) 
FRITILLARY. See Fritillaria. 
FRGLICHIA (named in honour of Jos. Al. Froelich, 
a German physician and botanist, 1796-1841). - ORD. 
Amarantacee. A genus containing about ten species of 
annual or perennial herbs, found in the warmer parts of 
the New World, from Texas to South Brazil. Flowers 
hermaphrodite, bracteate; spikes sessile or stalked. 
Leaves opposite, sessile (radical stalked), ovate, linear- 
oblong or spathulate. They thrive in sandy loam and 
leaf mould. Propagated by seeds sown in heat, in spring. 
F. floridana (Florida). /l. white, tomentose or woolly, in ovate or 
oblong spikes. l. varying from linear to oblong; bracts mostly 
blackish, shorter than the woolly calyx. Stem, erect, simple or 
branched, h. 6in. to 3ft.. Southern United States. (B. M. 2603, 
under nume of Oplotheca floridana.) 
FROG HOPPER, FROG SPIT, or CUCKOO 
SPIT (Aphrophora spumaria). ‘The insects secreting 
“Frog Spit,” which often so disfigures plants, are com- 
monly known as Frog Hoppers. They belong to the same 
order as the Aphidæ, but to that section which has the 
whole of the upper wings leathery. ‘There are two simple 
eyes or “ocelli,” in addition to the two compound ones 
common to insects in general. It is the larve of the 
Fic. 44. Frog HOPPER (APHROPHORA SPUMARIA i 
Larva, Frothy Sen sheet Perfect thse — 
“hoppers” that produce Cuckoo Spit (see Fig. 44). The 
former are plentiful in spring, while the perfect insects 
abound most in the autumn. When the curious-looking 
larvæ are deprived of the shelter afforded by this sugary 
secretion, they appear at first quite. helpless, and, if the 
day be hot, are almost immediately killed. Hence an 
effectual mode of clearing plants of Cuckoo Spit, is to 
brush it off during sunshine, and the insects are at the 
same time destroyed. This pest attacks the young shoots 
of plants, choosing the axil of a leaf for its abode, and so 
damaging the shoot in some cases as to cause it to die 
or become malformed. Carnations, Pinks, and similar 
plants suffer greatly from its ravages. The following 
remedies, together with a frequent syringing with clear 
water, will be found effective : 
Tobacco Liquid. To a gallon of water add loz. of soft 
soap, and, when thoroughly dissolved, mix a tablespoonful 
of Corry and Soper’s Nicotine, well syringing the plants. 
This is best applied lukewarm, and then well washed off 
with clean water in about an hour. 
Quassia.- Steep AIb. quassia chips in a gallon of boil- 
ing water, and, when cold, add about the same quantity 
Frog Hopper, &c.— continued. 
of water. This should be applied with a syringe, and 
not washed off afterwards. It renders the stems of the 
plants nauseous, but does not injure them. Bitter aloes 
may also be used in a similar way. 
FRONDS. The leaves of palms and ferns are im- 
properly called Fronds. A true Frond is a combination of 
leaf and stem, as in many seaweeds and liverworts. 
FROST. The presence of Frost denotes a fall of 
temperature to a point at which still water becomes 
solidified; and its intensity is known by the contraction 
of another-liquid used in the construction of the ther- 
mometer, which does not become frozen at any tempera- 
ture experienced in this country. Fahrenheit’s scale is 
that in use for thermometers in Great Britain, and this 
places freezing point at 32deg., and boiling water at 
212deg., the intervening space being divided equally 
into 180 parts, termed degrees. Similar divisions are 
made below freezing point, and the fall of the liquid in 
use, which is either Mercury or Spirits of Wine, below 
this indicates, in so many degrees, the amount of Frost. 
On plants or other subjects unprotected, the action of 
Frost is from the top downwards towards the earth; 
hence the value of, and safety frequently effected by, 
slight coverings that are non-conductors of heat, and 
consequently prevent its loss by radiation. The effect 
of Frost on plant life is not always in proportion to 
its intensity or the hardiness of the plant under what 
may be termed natural conditions. A spell of mild 
weather frequently places vegetation in a growing and 
tender state, especially in spring, when a sudden change 
to a few degrees of Frost may cause more destruction 
than a great deal at another time, when vegetation was 
more dormant. Frost acts most injuriously on anything 
wet, and is least destructive under the reverse condition. 
It is most successfully removed from plants too tender to 
withstand it, by adopting a method as gradual in effect 
as possible. Frost penetrates in a slow and natural way, 
and the greatest injury, if any, is caused when it is sud- 
denly displaced by heat, either from sunshine or artificially. 
Syringing is sometimes recommended with tender subjects 
that have become frozen, but it should be remembered 
that water which is itself much above the freezing point, 
will, when applied, cause a sudden change to anythir 
that is considerably below. Frost has a most beneficial 
effect on all soils exposed to its influence, by penetrating — 
and pulverizing them, so that what was before unwork- 
able and useless, is afterwards rendered fertile and 
amenable to the successful cultivation of various crops. 
FRUCTIFICATION. All those parts composing 
the fruit of plants. | 
FRUIT. That portion of a plant which consists of 
the ripened carpels, and the parts adhering to them. 
FRUIT BORDERS. See Borders, Fruit. 
FRUIT GARDEN. See Garden. 
FRUIT-GATHERING. This cannot be too care- 
fully performed to avoid bruising, especially with those 
fruits having a tender skin. Dry weather should be 
selected at all times for the operation outside, and only 
such gathered as are at the proper stage. It sometimes 
becomes necessary, at the expense, however, of quality, to 
select Peaches and similar fruits several days before they 
are fully matured, to admit of packing and transmitting 
them to a distance. It is important, in gathering these, 
that the necessary pressure be equally applied by the 
whole of the fingers, and the fruits carefully placed bottom 
downwards on some soft material, in a shallow tray or ; 
basket. Nothing is more quickly bruised, or shows its ae 
consequent effect by decay, than thin-skinned ripe fruits. — 
Those grown under glass are even more susceptible to 
. injury in this way than hardier ones from outside. The 
keeping properties of Apples, Pears, and similar fruits, 
