R I B 



R I C 



liable to he broken by high winds, especially 

 when they are loaded with fruit, be won I J re- 

 commend two or llirec hoops to be put round 

 them, to which the branches may be tied, to 

 port them, and prevent their being broken 

 bv the wind, or any oilier means." 



When it is wished to have them very late, 

 they should be planted on north walls and pa- 

 lings, between the other trees, when they may 

 be removed as the trees begin to meet. It laid 

 in thin, they will bear very tine and handsi 

 fruit. He would advise to plant the finest lale 

 sorts; as by tins method the table will be sup- 

 plied much longer titan bv the common custom 

 of planting in quarters of thi 



And " immediately alter pruning, he always 

 applies the Composition to the ends of the 

 snoots and cuttings ; and be finds it of great 

 use in preventing the exhalation of the sap, and 

 preserving the cuttings till they take root and 

 become established." 



These sorts of plants arc very much inf 

 with a small green caterpillar, v hich frequently 

 devours both leaves and fruit : great attention is 

 of course necessary to observe their first appear- 

 ance on the bushes ; as. if not destroyed early, 

 they increase so fast, that they soon devour all 

 the leaves, and -the fruit is good for nothing. It 

 is observed, that " they first appear generally on 

 the edsres and under- sides or me leaves." 



In order to destroy them, he advises to " take 

 some sifted quick-lime and lay it under the 

 bu-hes; but not at first to let any of it touch 

 the branches or leaves ; then shake each bush 

 suddenly and smartly, and the caterpillars will 

 fall into the lime; if the hush he not shaken 

 suddenly, the caterpillars, on being a little dis- 

 turbed, will lake so linn a hold ,i~ no: easily to 

 be shaken off. After this is done, some ot the 

 lime should be sifted over the hushes ; this wrll 

 drive down those which may have lodged on the 

 brandies. The caterpillars Ought, he says, to 

 be swept up next dav, and the hushes well 

 hed with clear lime-water mixed with urine; 

 this will destroy any caterpillars that may still 

 remain, and also the aphides, if there are any 

 on the bushes at the time." 



Fbrcingj— -Sometimes trees of the goose- 

 berry and currant kinds are ton ed lor early fruit- 

 ing, by means 'of artificial heat in fruttrforcing- 

 houscs, hot-walls, or Forcing-frames, &c. Fhr 

 this purpose, some young ant- 



ed in largish pots, one plant in each, and being 

 advanced to a full state of growth for plentiful 

 bearing, should be mtrodrj d in any ol the 

 above forcing departments thai are in work by 

 foe, or hot-bed heat, or both, in forwarding 



any principal sorts of fruit-trees, plants, or 



flowers, at the pi on, as about January 



or February, in which the same culture, in re- 



! to the degree of ! cat, am! other requisites, 



Sec, is suitable lor 

 these. Water sii Id bi given oci ly to 



the earth in il ne times afl rt he- 



fruit is set, throwj |y over the branches 



on a warm sunny I they will thus pro- 



duce i. p.' fruit in April or the following month. 



II' ol tins gorl of fruit is now how- 



ever seldom much attended to. 



RIC1 ',1 S, a genus containing plants of the 

 tall herb: 1 ou t( nder annual kino. 



Ii belongs to the class and order Mbnoecia 

 Monadelphta, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Trim, , 



The characters are : that in the male the calyx 

 is a one-leafed, five-parted perianth: - ments 

 ovate, concave : there is no coroll i . the stamina 

 have very numerous filaments, filiform, branch- 

 ing- collected below into various bodies : anthers 

 twin, roundish : — females on the same plant: the 

 calyx is a one-leaf d perianth, three-parted • seg- 

 ment ovate, concave, decjdnons : there is no 

 corolla: the pistillum is an ovate germ, covered 

 with subul tte corpuscles: styles three, two- 

 pa.' ... from erect spreading, hispid : stigmas 

 simple; the pericarp! am is a roundish capsule, 

 three-grooved, prickly all over, three-celled, 

 three-valved : .be seeds solitary, subovate. 



The species cultivated is R. communis, Com- 

 mon Palma Christi. 



It rises with a strong herbaceous stalk to the 

 height of ten or twelve feet; the joints areata 

 great distance from each other; the stalk and 

 branches are of a gray colour ; the leaves large, 

 and on long footstalks ; deeply divided into 

 n lobes, and arc gray on their under side. 

 The flowers are disposed in long spikes, which 

 spring from the division of the branches: the 

 males are placed on the lower part of the spike ; 

 the females, which occupy the upper, part, have 

 prickly calyxes; the root is biennial, long, thick, 

 whitish, and beset with many small fibres. It 

 is a native of the Indies, flowering here in July 

 and August. 



It becomes a tree in its native situation, and 

 the seeds afford the castor oil of the sho] 



There are several varieties, as tl Ame- 



rican Pal ii, which has brown stalks 



that divide into two or three branches, and rise 

 six or seven fee) high ; the 'I ire broad 



and not so deeply divided ; they are of a d 



ii on both sidi 5, and arc unequalh serrate. 

 The spikes of flowers are shorter, the s( 

 els rounder and of a brownish colour, anil 



