MUS 



M U S 



burst open like a spring, and dart out their seeds 

 with an elastic force to a considerable distance 

 in many cases. 



MOULD, such earthy substances as consti- 

 tute soils, when reduced into a fine pulverized 

 state in their particles. It is of different quali- 

 ties according to the nature or' the earth or soil 

 in which it is found. But the best is probably 

 that which contains a large proportion of car- 

 bonaceous or vegetable matter. It is of very 

 different colours indifferent cases, as hazel, dark- 

 gray, russet, ash, yellowish red. and various others. 

 But the first three colours are generally con- 

 sidered as denoting the best qualities, and the 

 last the most unfriendly for the growth of 

 tables. 



For the purpose of the gardener, those moulds 

 which are capable of working well at all seasons, 

 are rather light and dry, perfectly mellow and fine 

 in their particles, being well enriched with vege- 

 table and animal matters, are the most proper 

 and capable of affording the largest crops of good 

 vegetables. See Earth and Soil. 



MULCH, a term made use of in gardening 

 to signify such strawy dung as is somewhat moist 

 and not rotted. It is found useful for protecting 

 the roots of new-planted choice trees or shrubs 

 from severe frost in winter, and from being 

 dried by the fierce sun or drying « inds in spring 

 and summer, before they are well rooted ; in 

 which cases it is spread evenly on the surface of 

 the ground round the stems of the trees, as far 

 as the roots extend, about three or four inches 

 thick, but which should be augmented in winter, 

 when the severity of the frost renders it neces- 

 sary. It may also be employed for many other 

 purp< 



MOUNTAIN ASH. See Sorbi s. 



MOUSE-EAR. See Hiebaciom. 



MUGWORr. See Artemisia. 



MULBERRY-TREE. See Moris. 



MUSA, a genus containing plants of the 

 perennial kind for the hot-house. 



It 1) - to the class and order Poh/aamia 



Mciwciic', and ranks in the natural order of 

 Scitaminece. 



'J he characters are : that the hermaphrodite 

 flowers arc more towards the base of the simple 

 spadix, separate in alternate spathes: the calyx 

 is a partial, ovate-oblong spathc, plano-concave, 

 large, many-flowered : the corolla unequal, rin- 

 gent : the petal constituting the upper lip, but 

 the nectarv the under lip: petal erect, ligulate, 

 truncate, five-toothed, converging in front at 

 the base : nectary one-leafed, cordate, boat- 

 shaped, compressed, acuminate, spreading out- 

 wards, shorter than the petal, inserted within 

 Use sinus of the petal ; the stamina have six 



awl-shaped filaments, live of which within the 

 petal are erect, the sixth within the nectary is 

 reclining : anthers linear, from the middle to the 

 top fastened to the filament ; but most frequently 

 there is only one anther on the sixth filament, 

 and very small ones or none on the re-t: the 

 pistillum is a very large germ, obtuselv three- 

 .!, very long, inferior : style cylindnc, erect, 

 the length of the petal : stigma headed, roundish, 

 obscurely six-cleft : the pericarpium is a fleshy 

 berrv, covered with a husk, obscurely three- 

 sided, or six-sided, gibbous on one side, one- 

 celled, hollow in the middle: the seeds very 

 manv, nestling, subglobular, wrinkled-tubercled, 

 excavated at the base, or only rudiments : males 

 on the same spadix, above the hermaphrodite 

 flowers, separated by spathes : the calyx, corolla, 

 and nectary as in the hermaphrodite : the stami- 

 na have filaments as in the hermaphrodites, equal, 

 erect : anthers as in hermaphrodites, on the fila- 

 ment placed within the nectary, most frequently 

 very small or none : the pistillum is a germ as 

 in the hermaphrodites, but less : style and stig- 

 ma as in them, but less and more obscure : the 

 pericarpium is abortive. 



The species cultivated are : 1 . M. paradhiaca, 

 Plantain Tree : 2.3/. sapient urn, Banana Tree. 



The first rises with a soft herbaceous stalk, 

 fifteen or twenty feet high, and upwards, in its 

 native situation : the lower part of the stalk is 

 often as large as a man's thigh, diminishing 

 gradually to the top, where the leaves come out 

 en every side, which are often more than six 

 feet long and near two feet broad, with a strong- 

 fleshy midrib, and a great number of transverse 

 veins running from the midrib to the borders : 

 the leaves are thin and lender, so that where they 

 are exposed to the open air thev are generally 

 torn by the wind ; for, as thev are large, the wind 

 has great power over them : these leaves come 

 out from the side of the principal stalk, inclos- 

 ing it with their base ; they are rolled up at their 

 first appearance, but when they are advanced 

 above the stalk they expand quite flat, and tur.-i 

 backward : as these leav< s come up rolled in the. 

 manner before mentioned, their advance upward 

 is so quick, that their growth may be almost dis- 

 cerned bv the naked eye ; and if a line is drawn 

 across, level with the lop of the leaf, in an hoi 

 time the leaf will be near an inch above it: 

 when the plant is grown to its full height, the 

 spike of flowers will appear from the centre of 

 the leaves, which is often near four feel in K n 

 and nods on one side : the flowers come oul in 

 bunches, those on the lower part of the spike 

 being the largest ; the others diminish in their 

 size upward; each of these bunches is covi 

 with a spathc or sheath, of a fine purple colour 



