254 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



MIL 



almost certain to be attacked with Mildew. 

 Many j'ears ago, in our green-houses at Jersey 

 City, N. J., we had a marked instance well 

 illustrating this belief. We had a Rose-house 

 on which the sashes had been slid down for 

 ventilation ; it came up suddenly cold, and 

 before the green-house could be closed, some 

 six or eight square spaces of 3x3 feet, where 

 the sashes had been let down, were frozen so 

 severely that the young shoots of the Roses 

 hung down and we thought they were ruined. 

 The next morning, however, they appeared all 

 right; but in a few days after Mildew appear- 

 ed in the square space (3x3 feet) with the 

 lines nearly as closely defined as if struck out 

 with a rule, the other portions of the Rose- 

 house being entirely free from it. Now we 

 reason from this incident, and others nearly 

 as marked, that spores or germs of mildew are 

 nearly always present, floating in the atmos- 

 phere, and that when a congenial soil, so to 

 speak, is formed by a relaxed condition of 

 the plant, the floating germ is sown on the 

 enfeebled leaves, and the parasite starts into 

 the low organic life known as Mildew. For- 

 tunately, we have a rarely-failing antidote 

 against Mildew. Sulphur, applied in various 

 forms, is almost a certain specific. For Grape 

 Vines, Roses or other plants affected by Mildew 

 outdoors, the fiowers of sulphur applied by the 

 sulphur bellows, when used in the early stage 

 of the attack, will at once check it ; but when 

 Mildew attacks Roses or Grape Vines under 

 glass in winter, the best plan is to paint the hot 

 water pipes with a wash of sulphur and lime or 

 suly)hur and guano (the guano or lime is only 

 used to make the sulphur stick to the pipes) 

 every eight or ten days. The fumes of the sul- 

 phur, evolved Ijy the heated water in the pipes 

 (about 200 degrees), is certain destruction to 

 the germ-producing Mildew. When flues are 

 used instead of hot-water pipes, the sulphur 

 wash may be used on them ; but care must be 

 taken that it is only on the end of the flues 

 farthest from the furnace, as, if much hotter 

 than 200 degrees it will injure the leaves; 

 but no harm can ever ensue from its use on 

 the hot-water pipes or on the smoke flue, if 

 not hotter than 200 degrees. At seasons 

 when no fires are used, the following prepar- 

 ation will usually be found a prompt remedy 

 against Mildew : take six pounds each of 

 flowers of sulphur and lump lime, put together 

 and slake the lime, adding ten gallons of water. 

 Boil all together until it is reduced to four 

 gallons ; allow the liquid to settle until it gets 

 clear, and then bottle for use. One gill only 

 of this is to be mixed with five gallons of 

 water, and syringed freely over the plants, 

 care being taken not to let it drop on expand- 

 ed flowers or ripe fruit, as its odor is very 

 disagreeable. Mr. Chas. E. Pearson, of Chil- 

 well, in an article on the culture of the Chry- 

 santhemum, see "Journal of Horticulture," 

 London, December, 1888, says : "If Mildew ap- 

 pears while the plants are outside, syringe 

 with the following : 1 pound soap, >^ pound 

 sulphur, and ten gallons of water, mix with 

 boiling water, and add the remaining quantity 

 cold ; stir constantly while using. This is a 

 perfect cure, and far before any method of 

 dusting sulphur, etc. After they are housed, a 

 coat of linseed oil and sulphur on the pipes is 

 a good preventive. I have not seen a speck 

 of mildew in all our large show houses this 



MIM 



season, which I attribute to this precaution." 

 This linseed oil and sulphur cure was first 

 brought before the public some years ago by 

 Mr. Arch. Veitch, of New Haven, Conn., in a 

 communication to the " Gardeners' Monthly," 

 the editor of which, Mr. Thos. Meehan, in a 

 communication to the "Journal of Horticul- 

 ture," February, 1889, says : * * "I have seen 

 it tried over and over again, and have no 

 hesitation in saying, that it not only prevents 

 Mildew from appearing in a plant-house but 

 will speedily stop its progress after it com- 

 mences its ravages." It may moreover, be 

 used on steam pipes, or on hot flues with 

 perfect safety, the oil seeming to modify the 

 acrid fumes of the sulphur and render them 

 innocuous. 



Milfoil See Achillea. 



Mi'lium. Millet Grass. 



Milk-Thistle. Silybum Marianum. 



Milk-Tree. See Brosimum. 



Milk Vetch. See Astragalus. 



Milk-Vine. Periploca groeca. 



Milk-"Weed. See Asclepias, a name also given 

 to Euphorbia. 



Milk- Wort. The genus Polygala. 



Mi'lla. Named after J. Milla, gardener to the 

 Spanish Court at Madrid. Nat. Ord. lAliacem. 

 A genus of hardy bulbs, allied to Tritelia 

 with which it is often confounded. M. biflora, 

 the only cultivated species, grows freely in 

 the open border, producing white flowers 

 often in pairs, on a slender seape about a loot 

 high. It flowers in July and August, con- 

 tinuing a long time in succession. It was 

 introduced from Mexico in 1826, and is 

 increased by seeds or offsets. 



Millet-Grass. The common name of Milium,. 



Mille'tia. Named after J. A. Millet, a French 

 botanist. Nat. Ord. Leguminosce. 



A genus of tall-climbing trees or shrubs, 

 natives of Australia, and the warmer parts of 

 Asia and Africa. M. megasperma, introduced 

 from Queensland, has glossy dark green 

 leaves and loose panicled racemes of showy 

 purple flowers, resembling in habit the Wis- 

 taria Chinensis. 



Milto'nia. Named after the Earl Fitzwilliam. 

 Nat. Ord. Orchidacece. 



This small genus stands conspicuously 

 prominent, even in the magnificent order to 

 which it belongs, on account of the number 

 and beauty of its fiowers. Nor are they at all 

 difficult of management, requiring only to be 

 treated in the manner recommended for Lce- 

 lia or Cattleya ; and when grown into a 

 tolerably good specimen, nothing can exceed 

 the grandeur of M. spectabilis or M. Candida, 

 the large size and delicate white of the sepals 

 and petals, contrasted with the rich crimson 

 marking of the expansive lip of the former, 

 when seen in any quantity, fully equal the 

 most showy of the order. Either or both of 

 the above should always be included in every 

 collection of Orchids. The genus consists of 

 about a dozen species, all natives of Brazil ; 

 introduced in 1840. 



Mimo'sa Sensitive Plant. From mimos, a 

 mimic ; referring to the irritability of the 

 leaves, as if imitating animal sensibility. Nat. 

 Ord. LeguminoscB. 



To this genus belongs the Sensitive Plant. 

 of which there may be said to be three spc- 



