BAR 



80 



BAR 



the sea's level, and therefore one one-! BARRINGTONIA speciosa. Stove 

 hundredth part of an inch must be add- evergreen tree. Cuttings. Loam and 

 ed to the height of the mercury for peat. 



every additional ten feet above the sea's I BARTHOLINA pectinata. Terres- 

 level, where the barometer may happen trial orchid. Offsets. Sandy loam and 

 to be. peat. 



BARREN PLANTS. The male BARTON, Benjamin S., M. D., Pro- 

 flowers of the cucumber, melon, and i fessor in the University of Pennsvlva- 

 other monoecious plants, are popularly nia. Born at Lancaster, Pa., 1766. 

 known as barren flowers; and the Died Dec, 1S15. In 1789 appointed 

 plants of the asparagus, mercury, and Professor of Natural History and Botany 



other dioecious plants bearing only 

 male plants, are usually termed barren. 

 These are naturally unfruitful ; but there 

 is also a barrenness arising from dis- 

 ease or other consequences of bad cul- 

 tivation. If a tree, or any other plant, 

 does not yield the desired produce of 



in the College of Philadelphia. His 

 chief publication is Elements of Zoolo- 

 gy and Botany. 



'BARTONIA. Four species. Hardy 

 annuals and biennials. Seed. Sandy 

 loam. 



BARTRAM, John, one of the most 



fruitof which it is capable, the gardener , distinguished of Americaa botanists, 

 may be assured thatthe soil, or the want j was born in Chester county, Pennsylva 



of drainage, or the manuring, or the 

 pruning, is injurious. Even a bli?id or 



ma, in 1701. His grandfather, of the 

 same name, accompanied William Penn 



barren cabbage may be made produc- to this country, in 16S2. — B. was a sim 

 live ; for its barrenness arises from the , pie farmer. He cultivated the ground 

 central bud being abortive, and it will ; for subsistence, while he indulged an 

 produce lateral buds, if all but one leaf] insatiable appetite for botany. He was 

 and the place of the abortive bud be cut ' self-taught in that science, and in the 

 ^^^■'ly- I rudiments of the learned languages, 



Temperature has a great influence [ and medicine and surgery. So great, 

 over the sex of the flowers produced by in the end, was his proficiency in his 

 a given plant. A very high tempera- 1 favourite pursuit, that Linna;us pro- 

 ture caused a water-melon to bear male .... 



blossoms only ; and a very low temper- 

 ature made cucumber plants yield fe- 

 male flowers alone. Mr. Knight had 

 little doubt that the same fruit stalks 



nounced him " the greatest natural 

 botanist in the world." He made ex- 

 cursions, in the intervals of agricultural 

 labour, to Florida and Canada, herboriz- 

 ing with intense zeal and delight. At 



might be made, in the plants just no- the age of 70, he performed a journey 

 ticed, to support flowers of either sex ; to East Florida, to explore its natural 

 in obedience to external causes. '-productions ; at a period, too, when the 



BARREN SOIL. No soil is abso- toils and dangers of such an expedition 

 lutely incapable of production; and far exceeded those of any similar one 

 when it is spoken of as being barren, no ' which could be undertaken, at the pre- 

 more is meant than that in its present sent time, within the limits of the U. 

 state it will not repay the cultivator. States. He first formed a botanic gar- 

 The unproductiveness arises from a de- i den in America, for the cultivation of 

 ficiency of some of the earths ; from an American plants, as well as exotics, 

 excess or deficiency of animal and ve- This garden, which is situated on the 

 getable matters ; or from an excess of banks of the Schuylkill, a few miles from 

 stagnant water. No soil can be pro- Philadelphia, still bears his name. He 

 ductive where nineteen parts out of contributed much to the gardens of Eu- 



twenty are of any one earth or other 

 substance. If either chalk, or sand, or 

 clay, be in excess, the remedy is found 

 in adding one or both of the other two. 

 An excess of organic matter only occurs 

 in peat soils, and these are reclaimed 

 by draining, paring, and burning, and 

 the addition of earthy matter ; drain- 



rope, and corresponded with the most 

 distinguished naturalists of that quarter 

 of the globe. Several foreign societies 

 and academies bestowed their honours 

 upon him, and published communica- 

 tions from him in their transactions. B. 

 died in 1777, in the 76th year of his 

 At the time of his death he held 



age is also the cure for an excess of; the office of American botanist to 



water. 



, George III. of England. He was amia- 



