DWARFING. 



101 



extremity of their branches, and that 

 our hothouses are not large enough 

 to permit them to attain the requisite 

 size. Cuttings are therefore made 

 from the points of the shoots ; and 

 when these gro^r, other cuttings are 

 made from their shoots. In this way 

 small compact plants are obtained, 

 the "wood of which may be more 

 easily ripened than that of large 

 plants, and which seldom fail to 

 produce flowers and fruit. The late 

 Professor Van Mons practised this 

 mode of dwarfing to obtain fruit from 

 his seedling pears sooner than he 

 could othemvise have done. 



Another mode of dwarfing trees 

 and shrubs, is by grafting them on 

 other low-growing species of the same, 

 or some nearly allied genus : thus, 

 for example, the common Horse- 

 chestnut, uE'sculus Hippocdstaniun, 

 may be grafted on Pavia humilis, 

 which does not grow above three or 

 four feet high : the Azarole, or any 

 of the large American thorns, might 

 be grafted on Crates' (jus parviflora, 

 or C. vlridis, which are about two 

 feet high ; and the common British, 

 or any of the large-growing American 

 Oaks, on the Bear-oak, Quercus 

 Ban'isteri, or ilicifdlia, which grows 

 to the height of about three feet. 



Herbaceous plants, whether annual 

 or perennial, may be dwarfed, by 

 growing them first in very small pots, 

 and shifting them into other pots, 

 gradually increasing in size every 

 time ; taking care that each pot shall 

 be well drained, and that the soil 

 used to fill up the pots shall be a rich 

 sandy loam. Thus treated, and sup- 

 plied with abundance of water, which 

 is not suffered to remain round the 

 roots, and kept in an open situation, 

 where they can have plenty of light 

 and air, and not be exposed to cold 

 winds, all herbaceous plants will be- 

 come bushy and compact, and will 

 produce flowers at the extremity of 



every shoot ; while, on the contrary, 

 if suffered to remain in small pots, 

 they will become drawn up, with weak 

 naked stems, and produce compara- 

 tively few flowers. 



EARTHS. — Most amateur gar- 

 deners confound the words earth 

 and soil ; but they are quite distinct. 

 There are only three priuiitive earths, 

 viz., lime, sand, and clay ; and these, 

 by the admixture of oth er substances, 

 and particularly of decayed animal or 

 vegetable matter, become soils. Thus 

 lime, by absorbing carbon, changes to 

 chalk, and becomes the basis of all 

 calcareous soils ; and clay, mixed with 

 a little sand and decayed animals and 

 vegetables, becomes loam. When sand 

 predominates in this composition, 

 or when pure sand is added to it, the 

 soO. is called sandy loam, and this is 

 the very best of all soils for vegetation ; 

 and when chalk or lime is added, 

 instead of an extra proportion f sand, 

 the soil is called calcareous loam, and 

 is admirably suited for culinary vege- 

 tables, &c. , and some kinds of flowers. 

 Gravel is a kind of coarse sand ; and 

 sandstone, sand in a solid state. Peat 

 is not jDroperly an earth, but decayed 

 vegetable matter, which has been 

 saturated with water while the pro- 

 cess of decomposition was going on. 

 Earth Pea. — Ldthyrus amphi- 

 cuvpos. — An annual Pea, which forms 

 part of its flowers and pods under 

 ground ; and which, though not very 

 beautiful, is often cultivated for its 

 singularity. 1 1 is a hard y annual, and 

 should be sown in March or April. 

 Earwig. — Forfi'dda a urlculdria. 

 — A well-known insect, that, by a 

 singular chance, has obtained a bad 

 character for the mischief that it does 

 not do ; while that which it really 

 does passes comparatively without 

 notice. Many persons destroy ear- 

 wigs whenever they see them, from a 



