B L I 



B L I 



pose. Much of the good effect of this will, 

 however, depend upon the correctness of the 

 manner in which such protections arc applied, 

 and their not being so long coir.inued at a time 

 as lo render the admission of the free air and light 

 injurious to them. The trouble attending this 

 practice may be in a great measure prevented by 

 having such nettings or other coverings so con- 

 trived as to roll up and kt down by cords and 

 jHillexs. 



Where plants or trees have been covered for 

 some time in a close manner, great care should 

 be taken to graduallv expose them to the full 

 influence of light and air, as by such means much 

 injurv may offen be prevented in the fruit and 

 tender branches. 



If distempers of this sort are caused in trees 

 or plants from the improper quality of the 

 soil, their not being suited to its peculiar nature, 

 or its not being in a proper condition for their 

 growth and support, which is shown by their 

 great weakness and debility, and their imperfect 

 s;rowth in comparison of others that are situated 

 exactlyunderthesamecircumstances; the remedy 

 must be varied according to the particular cause 

 from which it may seem to originate. Where 

 the soil is improper, it should be dug out to some 

 extent round the trees or other plants, and better 

 fresh earth be supplied. If it be not suited to 

 the nature of the trees, the best plan is to have 

 them taken up at once, and removed into other 

 more favourable situations, as it is not possible 

 for every sort of tree or plant to succeed well in 

 the same sort of soil. 



When the malady depends on some morbid 

 condition of the juices of the plants, or on the 

 vesjetative process being interrupted or imper- 

 fectlv carried on, a speedy removal into another 

 situation will be the only chance of effecting 

 their safety ; new mould being supplied, and 

 their places filled bv others. 



Imperfect culture sometimes proves the cause 

 of the Blight, as, when the pruning and training 

 have beeii^ performed in an injudicious manner, 

 or at an improper seas-jn, the trees are apt to be- 

 come weak, and readily affected by the disease. 

 The principal remedy in these cases is that of 

 greater attention in these important operations, 

 performing them in such a way as to leave the 

 bearing branches as well as the trees in the most 

 vigorous state of growth. 



There is a state of plants and trees frequently 

 occurring late in the spring, as in May, which 

 is termed \htfirc-llast, often suddenly destroy- 

 ing not only the fruit and leaves of the plants, 

 but the branches, and sometimes the whole trees. 

 It mostly takes place in situations where they 

 are planted close. It has been ascribed to vari- 



ous causes; as certain transparent flying vapours 

 acting so as to converge the rays of the sun in 

 the manner of a burning lens; thus scorching 

 the parts of the plants they happen to fall upon, 

 in proportion to their convcrgency, and the re- 

 flection of such ravs from hollow clouds pro- 

 ducing their effects in a similar manner. 



The onlv means of obviating these effects are 

 those of planting fruit-trees in less close situa- 

 tions, and more open exposures, that they may 

 have a more free admission and circulation of 

 air to dispel such collecting vapours before they 

 produce such effects. 



It seems not improbable but that effects of 

 the bliiiht kind mav sometimes lake place in dif- 

 ferent sorts of plants and crops, from the pre- 

 valence of strona; winds blowing from the sea, 

 by their beingsaturated with saline matters, which 

 they convev and deposit upon them at consider- 

 able distances, and which, by their decompo- 

 sition on the plants, induce such affections. 



BLITUM, a genus comprising difl(;rent plants 

 of the annual herbaceous ornamental kind. The 

 Elite, or Strawberry Spinach. 



It belongs to the class and order Monandtia 

 Digijnia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 HoioracecB. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a three- 

 parted, spreading, permanent perianthium, 

 the divisions ovate, equal, two more gaping 

 than the other: there is no corolla: the stamina 

 a setaceous filament, longer than the calyx, 

 within the middle division, and erect: the 

 anther is twin: the pistillum is an ovate, acu- 

 minate germ : the styles are two, erect, and 

 gaping, the length of the stamen : the stigmas 

 are simple: the pericarpium is a very thin cap- 

 sule, (rather the crust of the seed) ovate, a 

 little compressed, contained within the calyx 

 now become a berry : the seed single, globular 

 and compressed, the size of the capsule. 



The species mostly cultivated for ornament 

 are: I. B. capital i/rri, Berry-headed Strawberry 

 Elite; 2. B. virgatiim. Slender-branched Straw- 

 berry Elite; 3. B. Tarturiaim, Tartarian Straw- 

 berry Elite. 



The first is an annual plant, with leaves some- 

 what like those of Spinach. The stalk rises 

 about two feet and a half high, when culti- 

 vated in gardens. The leaves on the lower part 

 of it are of the same shape with the root-leaves, 

 only smaller. The upper part of it has flowers 

 coming out in small heads at every joint, and 

 is terminated by a small cluster of the same. 

 After the flowers are past, these little heads 

 swell to the size of wood strawberries, and 

 when ripe have the same appearance; being very 

 succulent, and full of a purple juice, which 



