LIGHT. 
273 
LIGUSTRUM. 
fore, on clayey soil, ought not only 
to have a gentle inclination, but 
frequent drains, the stones in which 
ought to be brought up to within a 
few iaches of the surface. In ar- 
ranging the inclination of dug sur- 
faces, care should be taken that 
the water is not thrown on the 
gravel-walks ; for which purpose 
drains are requisite in the marginal | 
borders ;—though in general, dug 
soil, if the stratum be not retentive, 
is sufficiently absorbent to render 
such drains unnecessary, the super- 
fluous water of the subsoil finding | 
its way to the drains of the walks. 
Leyceste\r1a.— Caprifolidcee.— 
LL. formosa is a very handsome | 
plant, with long spikes of reddish | 
flowers, which will not only thrive, 
but grow more luxuriantly in the im- | 
mediate neighbourhood of the sea, 
than in any other situation. It is 
a native of Nepal; and was intro- 
duced in 1824. It was, however, 
soon lost through injudicious treat- 
ment—probably through keeping it 
too warm; but it has been lately 
reintroduced, and it is now found to 
grow vigorously in the open ground. 
It is propagated by cuttings and 
seeds. 
Lia‘rris.—Composite.— W eedy- 
looking hardy perennials, with pur- 
plish flowers, which will grow in 
any common garden soil, and are 
increased by dividing the roots. 
LicuENn. — Cryptogimia Licie- | 
nes. — Moss-like plants, generally 
found on old walls, desert heaths, 
or the bark of old trees; also fre- 
quently on dead wood. 
Licut is as essential as air and 
water to plants; and without abun- 
dance of light, plants are ygither 
vigorous in themselves, nor propé 
coloured. When greenhous 
are kept in imperfectly lighted ; 
houses, or in half-darkened rooms, 
it is really painful to witness the 
efforts they make to catch as much 
light as they possibly can; their 
stems become weak, from being un- 
naturally e:ongated, or drawn u, 
and twisted, in ‘their efforts to reach 
the light, and their flowers are pale 
and of very little value. In those 
towns where the atmosphere is 
thickened by coal-smoke, the light 
never has the same beneficial effect 
as in the open country, where there 
is nothing to prevent it from exer- 
cising its full imfluence over the 
plants 
Li'enum Vi'r2.—Guaiacum offi- 
_cinadle is a tree, a native of the 
West Indies, remarkable for the 
hardness of its wood. It has blue 
flowers, which are produced in suc- 
cession allthe summer. It requires 
a stove in England, and should be 
grown im a mixture of peat and 
loam.—See Guat‘acum. 
Licgu’strum.—Oleécee.—-The Pri- 
vet is one of the most common, but 
at the same time most useful, of 
garden shrubs. The plant, in its 
wild state in Britain, is deciduous ; 
bat there is a variety obtained orig- 
inally fro y, which is ever- 
green, and which forms hedges for 
shelter of every size, from those of 
six inches in width and one foot in 
height, to hedges ten feet high and 
two or three feet in width. ‘These 
hedges aiford an excellent shelter 
to exposed flower-gardens, and also, 
when planted on the south side of a” 
border, shady situations for particu- 
lar kinds of plants, such as Pzim- 
roses, Polyanthuses, t' e rarer kinds 
of Ranunculacee, T liums, Cypri- 
pediums, Bog Orchidee, and a 
great variety of others. The Privet 
is preferable to all other plants for 
garden-hedges on account of the 
rapidity of its growth, and the na- 
ture of its roots, which are chiefly 
fibrous, a’ d never extend to a great 
distance irom the plant. The tree 
Box has the same properties, but 
then if is of much slower growth. 
The evergreen Privet is also one of 
the best plants for verdant archi- 
