COCHLEARIA. 



68 



COLD HOUSES. 



and are very active. Some years lady- 

 birds are mucli more numerous than 

 in others ; but their numbers are 

 always found to bear a proportion to 

 those of the aphides on which they 

 feed. In France and Germany, no 

 peasant will kill them, because they 

 are considered to be sacred to the 

 Holy Virgin ; whence, no doubt, they 

 have received the name of lady-bird. 

 When these insects are caught, they 

 fold up their legs, and emit a yellow 

 fluid from their joints, which has a 

 very unpleasant smell, but which is 

 so far from being injurious, that it is 

 considered a remedy for the tooth- 

 ache. Sometimes the country people 

 even crush the poor beetle, and apply 

 it to a hollow tooth, to prevent it 

 from aching ; and thus, as in many 

 other cases, in the hope of an imagi- 

 nary good, they do themselves a real 

 evil ; as, of course, it is the interest 

 of all amateurs of gardening, and 

 j)articularly all lovers of roses, to 

 protect the lady-birds. 



Co'ccus. — The scale-insect. — 

 These insects are troublesome on 

 many plants ; but more so in the 

 kitchen-garden, on the Vine and the 

 Pine-apple, than on flov\'ering plants. 

 One species of Coccus infests the 

 Opuntia, and is what we call cochi- 

 neal ; and another, on a kind of 

 Fig-tree in India, produces the sub- 

 stance we call shel-lac, which is 

 used in making sealing-wax. The 

 only cure for these insects is brush- 

 ing them off, and washing the 

 branches affected with soft soap and 

 water. 



CocHiXEAL Fig. — See Opu'ntia. 



CocHLEA^RiA. — Criic'ifene. -The 

 Scurvy-grass. — Two very pretty little 

 plants, suitable for rock-work, have 

 been lately introduced, which were 

 classed, by De Candolle, under this 

 genus, viz. C. saxifragafolia and 

 C. acauIiSf but both have been 

 removed to new genera ; and for the 



first see Gtrae'llsia, and for the 

 second see Ionopsi'dium. 



Cock's-comb. — See Celo'sia. 



CocKSPUR-THORX. See Cra- 



T^GUS. 



CoFFE^A. — CincJwnacece, or Ru- 

 hiacece. — The Coffee-tree in England, 

 becomes a stove-shrub, which should 

 be grown in loam and peat, in pots 

 well drained, and sufficiently large to 

 allow of plenty of room for its roots. 

 The flowers, which appear in August 

 or September, are white and sweet- 

 scented, and the fruit is round and 

 of a brilliant scarlet, inclosing two 

 closely-packed seeds, which are the 

 coffee. If the plant is kept well 

 watered, it will flower every year, 

 and the seeds will often ripen in 

 England ; bxit the cofiee made from 

 them is very inferior to even the 

 worst of that ripened in the Tropics. 

 The Coffee-tree, being a native of 

 Arabia, requires a dry heat when it 

 is in a growing state, and only a 

 moderate degree of wai'mth in winter. 

 When kept in a moist stove, without 

 a free circulation of air, the leaves 

 become mildewed and infested with 

 insects. 



Co'lchicum. — Melanihace^. — 

 Meadow Saffron. — A hardy bulbous- 

 rooted plant, which will grow in any 

 common soil. — The flowers come up 

 through the ground without the leaves 

 in autumn, and closely resemble those 

 of the Crocus. The leaves do not 

 appear till the following spring, and 

 great care should be taken of them ; 

 as if they should be injured, so as to 

 prevent them from exercising their 

 proper functions in maturing the sap, 

 the bulb will not flower the next 

 autumn. An extract of Colchicum is 

 given in medicine for the rheumatism 

 and the gout ; and it is said to form 

 the basis of the celebrated eau medi- 

 cinale. It is, however, poisonous if 

 taken in large quantities. 



Cold Houses for Plants are 



