0 AN ENCVYCLOPÆEDIA 
365 
OF HORTI CULTURE. 
Mignonette continued. 
floriferous and the flowers sweetly scented. For pot 
culture, it is most desirable that they should be of 
a vigorous yet compact habit, and of a uniform strength 
throughout. If several varieties are grown near each 
other, the flowers will be almost certain to become 
cross-fertilised by insect agency, and the product will 
always degenerate rather than improve. Distinct and 
superior forms often owe their origin to a rigid selection 
being annually made of the very best plants for seed- 
bearing, and the weeding out before the flowering period 
of all showing the least inferiority. Nurserymen, doubt- 
less, do all in their power to retail seeds true to 
character; but whenever pot culture of Mignonette is 
practised, and a good type is once obtained, the cultivator 
should rigidly weed out, from the first, plants of irregular 
growth, and save seed himself from the others, sufficient, 
at least, for growing in pots the following year. The 
standard of quality would be much improved, even in one 
season, by such a selection, and far less “ weeding” would 
be required afterwards. The seed must be collected so 
soon as it begins turning brown, and laid out on paper, 
in a cool, airy room or shed, to dry, when it may be 
rubbed out, cleaned, and stored in paper bags. If 
allowed to get quite ripe before being collected, the 
best seeds will be lost, in consequence of the seed-vessels 
Fig. 569. RIPE SEED-VESSEL OF MIGNONETTE. 
(see Fig. 569) being always open at the apex, and 
naturally situated at an angle well suited for readily dis- 
charging their contents. 
Varieties. Of these, there are several in cultivation, 
some having what are termed red, and others white, 
flowers. 
known, and is one of the most sweetly scented. The fol- 
lowing is a selection from the best varieties. There is a 
double-flowered form in cultivation, which must be pro- 
pagated from cuttings. 
Crimson King. Flo i sweetly scented; habit 
dwarf, vigorous, 9 n distinct variety, most 
desirable for pot culture. 
Flowers erect, produced in stout, densely-set 
racemes ; habit dwarf and neat. 
Gara S White. Flowers white; racemes large and long. 
One of the best, either for outside culture or = . i 
Giant Pyrami idish, sweetly-scented ; racemes 
large. ee n n ie pyramidal habit, and succeeds 
ve 
= 1 ; y distinct; habit 
Golden olden-yellow, very inct; habi 
dwarf and aat An A fine Mignonette, of dense 
growth, very floriferous. ae 
Machet. A new dwarf variety, of French origin, having very 
fragrant flowers of a bright W da The habit is robust, and 
the racemes broad. Highly recommended for pe Dap z 
Miles’ H; Flowers white, very fragrant, produc 
in dense racemes, sometimes exceeding lft. in length. The 
habit is dwarf and branching, and the variety, when obtained 
true, is one of the best in cultivation, especially for 855 w 
White. Flowers nearly white, strongly scented ; 
racemes long and well-formed. An excellent 1 : ; 
Queen victoria. Flowers deep red, very fragrant, profuse ; 
habit dwarf, branching. Fine and distinct. 
MIKANIA (named after Joseph Mikan, 1743-1814, 
once Professor of Botany at Prague). ORD. Compositæ. 
A large genus (about sixty species have been described) 
of stove evergreen climbers, natives, for the most part, 
of tropical America, allied to Eupatorium, but dis- 
tinguished in the flower-heads containing generally only 
four florets, and the involucre having as many nearly 
equal bracts. For culture, see stove species of REupa- 
torium, 
The old common type of Mignonette is well 
Mikania—continued. 
M. apiifolia (Apium-leaved), /.-heads yellowish, small, in lax 
corymbs, Summer. J. dark green, quinate, membranaceous, 
glabrous, evergreen; segments entire or pinnatifid. Brazil. 
A pretty climber. (I. H. 1885, 549.) 
M. Guaco (Guaco). jl.-heads pale blue. l stalked, ovate, sub- 
acuminate, remotely toothed. South America, 1823. Climbing 
perennial. 
M. scandens (climbing).* j.-heads yellowish-white, cylindrical, 
corymbose, Summer. l. opposite, cordate, glabrous, shining. 
Brazil, 1823. This slender climbing perennial is very suitable for 
growing over trellises, and similar places, in the open air, during 
the summer months, 
MILDEW. A name sometimes applied to several 
kinds of microscopic fungi that live as parasites on 
various flowering plants, cultivated and uncultivated ; it 
is, of course, on the former that their occurrence is of 
interest to the horticulturist. The name is believed to be 
connected with the German Mehl-thau, or Meal-dew, 
because of the appearance some Mildews give the affected 
parts of being sprinkled with flour or meal. Besides 
living on plants, the Mildews are also found on cloth, 
on paper, on leather, and even on glass; but the forms 
growing on these need not be further adverted to here. 
Nor is it necessary to dwell upon the Mildew of Wheat, 
Barley, and other grasses, which, if forming dark brown 
spots, is caused by a species of Puccinia (usually 
P. graminis); or, if the spots are orange, by the uredo- 
spores of the same fungi. The Mildews of most conse- 
quence in gardens are white, and form a coat all over the 
leaves and young shoots of the plants attacked by them. 
On microscopic inspection, this is found to consist of 
slender, creeping threads, which branch freely, and give off 
branches that rise erect into the air as slender filaments, 
surrounding several small | ; 
each of which incloses two, four, or eight (rarely six) 
spores. These are believed to be the result thane 
reproduction. They are very small, and are easily = 
ried about by the wind, or by other means. If they 
on a suitable host-plant, they push out a fine thread, 
which reproduces the Oidium stage once more. The 
threads of the Oidium lie on the outer surface of the 
plants (not penetrating among the cells, like the Potato 
Disease fungus, and many others), where they form a web, 
nourished by means of small branches (haustoria, or 
suckers), that penetrate into the outer cells (epiderm) 
of the plant, and absorb food from the cell contents. 
Some kinds of Oidium have not yet been traced to the 
sexually mature form, e. g., Oidium Tuckeri, which is often 
very hurtful to Vines; 0. Balsamii, on Turnip leaves, Ke. 
1 these two, the following White Mildews, of which 
the fully-developed state is known, are, at times, destruc- 
ive to garden plants: Spherotheca pannosa, in dense, 
wb tehes, on Peach and Rose twigs and leaves; 
„ very injurious to Hops, as well as to many 
a Podosphera Oxyacanthe on Hawthorn twigs and 
loaves : Erisyphe Martii on Peas, and other leguminous 
plants, and on many weeds; E. communis and E. Cicho- 
