150 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Birds—continued. 
any Peas in its near neighbourhood, and is therefore 
undesirable. 
Much may be done towards keeping destructive Birds 
at bay by netting fruit and other trees; Carnation 
“prass,” for the succulent shoots of which Sparrows are 
extremely fond; and flowers. Black cotton, too, stretched 
diagonally across rows of Peas and early spring flowers 
Fic. 174, KESTREL. 
—Wallflowers, Crocuses, Polyanthuses, Primroses, and the 
like — affords considerable protection, as the Birds dislike 
getting their wings mixed up with the cotton. In addition 
it has been found useful to strew lime upon fruit bushes, 
as this acts as a deterrent if the applications are per- 
sisted in. 
BIRD’S-BILL. A common name for Trigonella 
ornithopodioides. 
BIRD’S EYE ROT. See Grape Rot. 
BIRD’S-EYES. See Veronica Chamedrys. 
BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL. See Lotus. 
BIRD’S-TONGUE. See Ornithoglossum. 
BIRD’S-TONGUE FLOWER. See Strelitzia. 
BISEXUAL. Hermaphrodite; containing both 
sexes ; e.g., in a flower, both stamens and pistil. 
BISHOP’S WORT. See Stachys japonica. 
BISMARCKIA (commemorative of the great German 
statesman). Orp. Palmz. An imperfectly-known genus. 
B. nobilis, the only species, is an ornamental Palm, with 
somewhat the habit of a Pritchardia. For culture, see 
Stevensonia. 
B. nobilis (noble). jr. one-celled, with two rudimentary cells ; 
seeds ovoid, deeply wrinkled. J. large, digitately divided into 
from eight to ten long-linear segments and several drooping, 
thread-like ones. Madagascar, 1886. (R. G. 1220.) 
BISTON HIRTARIUS. Sce Brindled Beauty 
Moth. 
BISTORT. See Polygonum Bistorta. 
BITTER BARE TREE. See Pinckneya pubens. 
BITTER CUCUMBER. See Citrullus Colo- 
cynthis. 
BITTER DAMSON. See Simarouba amara. 
BITTER OAK. Sce Quercus Cerris. 
BITTER ROT. See Apple Rot. 
BITTER WOOD. Sce Simarouba and Xylopia. 
BIZARRE. See Carnation. 
BLACK ADIANTUM. See Asplenium Adian- 
tum-nigrum. 
BLACK ARCHES MOTH (Psilura_ dispar). 
Though in Germany this is one of the worst pests of the 
forester, yet here, where it is fairly common, it does little, 
if any, damage. Occasionally it is found on Apple trees, 
but not in sufficient numbers to warrant measures for its 
destruction being taken. On the Continent vast sums of 
money have been spent with a view of devising methods 
for keeping the pest under, so destructive is it to Firs. 
As in the case of the Cockchafer in France, 
an attempt has been made in Germany to 
destroy the Black Arches by infecting it with 
fungi, but without any real good resulting. 
The insect is described and illustrated in 
Vol. Il., under Liparis. In Germany the 
pest is popularly known as “ Die Nonne,” 
or “The Nun,” as the specific name de- 
notes. 
BLACKBERRY (Rubus  fruticosus). 
This fruit is so well known that any descrip- 
tion is unnecessary. No doubt its freedom of 
growth in all parts of the country has been 
the cause of its neglect as a cultivated fruit. 
When given a good soil and an open situa- 
tion, and the exhausted or very weak shoots 
are cut out annually, it is wonderful how 
great a crop of fine fruit is produced. The 
best time to prune is immediately after all 
the fruit is gathered, and in the early spring 
a mulch of farmyard manure is very bene- 
ficial. Nearly all our native large-fruited 
forms of the Blackberry are equal to any 
we have procured from America in size of fruit and weight 
of crop, when grown under similar conditions. In fact, 
one of the best so-called American varieties (the Parsley- 
leaved), is really an English one; it is very fruitful 
and ornamental in foliage. Other good varicties are: 
Wilson, jun., Kittalinny, and Mitchell’s Seedling. All 
these are excellent, and will succeed almost anywhere, and 
form a pretty feature in the wild garden, or for covering 
arbours. 
BLACK BOY. See Xanthorrhea. 
BLACK CANKER. See Athalia spinarum. 
BLACK CURRANT. See Ribes nigrum and 
Currant. 
BLACK CURRANT GALL MITE. See 
Currant-Bud Mite. ; 
BLACK ENOT (Plowrightia morbosa) is a virulent 
fungoid disease of Plums and Cherries happily not found in 
this country. In America, however, it is very common, 
and most difficult to deal with when once it has taken a firm 
hold. The fungus is well characterised, and eventually 
produces a kmotting of the twigs and branches. The 
affected portions first swell and then crack, disclosing 
numberless dark green spores over the parts laid bare. 
According to Dr. Halsted (who has made the fungus a 
special study), the young knots and the fresh growth of 
older ones as the season advances “ lose their olive velvety 
appearance, turn a dark colour, and develop a hard 
incrustation on the surface. Within the substance of this 
black and brittle layer many spherical pits are formed, 
and as winter advances minute sacs are prodaced upon 
the wall of the cavity, that toward spring bear each 
eight oval bodies known as_ sac-spores. These escape 
from their long sacs, and pass out through a pore at the top 
of the cavity, and are then carried by the winds to the 
surface of a young Cherry or Plum twig, and thus begin 
another knot, which in course of time produces a new 
crop of summer and another of winter spores, and thus 
the disease is preserved and propagated.” The treatment 
consists in light cases in cutting out the ‘knots’ and 
carefully burning them, but in severe cases the trees 
have to be rooted up and burned. 
BLACK PALMER. See Athalia spinarum. 
