B IB 



87 



B I L 



cies. Chiefly hardy deciduous trees 

 and shrubs. B. carpinifolia, B. pon- 

 tica, B. populifolia, are evergreens. 

 Grafting or budding, and layers for the 

 dwarf species. Common garden soil 



capreolata is hardy, and -B. Carolina, 

 B. picta, and B. jas7ninoides, are green- 

 house climbers. B. grandiflora bears 

 some resemblance to our native cruci- 

 gera, but is far more desirable : its 



B I B I O marci, St. Mark's Fly, of showy flowers are borne in large ra- 

 •which Mr. Curtis gives the following cemes, which expand in succession. 



particulars : — 



;ind thus continue in bloom for many 



The larva; of this insect are generally weeks; it is from China, but quite hardy 



gregarious, living in large groups of a 

 hundred or more in strawberry-beds, 

 vine borders, flower pots, and similar 

 undisturbed spots, feeding upon the 

 roots, and sometimes destroying the 

 entire plant. Bouche says they com 



at Philadelphia; and from its rapid 

 growth admirably adapted for walls, 

 arbours, pillars, &c. Cuttings. Loam 

 and peat. B. venusta is cultivated as 

 follows by Mr. Brown, gardener to 

 Lord Southampton, at Whittlebury 



pletely demolished his bed of Ranuncu- Lodge, 

 luses for several successive years, by I The situation in which it mostdelighta 

 eating up the tubers. The larva is of a ' is a dark bed, where the roots can run 

 dark brown colour, somewhat cylindri-' at liberty among the tan ; train upright 

 cal, the belly flattened, moderately until it reaches the top lights, then train 

 broad, and nearly linear; the head is >long the house. Towards the end ol 



comparatively small, deep brown, some 

 times of a chestnut colour, and very 

 shining ; they change to pupa; generally 

 towards the end of March ; these are 

 of a pale ochreous colour, the head 

 being brighter. 



Tlie female lays her eggs in the earth, 

 and in the dung of horses and cows, in 

 May ; they do not hatch until August. 

 — Gard. Chron. 



BIDENS. Fourteen species. Chiefly 

 hardy plants. Seeds, suckers, division, 

 according to their habit and duration. 

 Common soil. 



BIENNIAL, is a plant which, being 



December, cut the plant into six or ten 

 feet, when it remains dormant through 

 the winter. In the beginning of March, 

 young shoots in abundance break from 

 the apparently dead wood; a sufficient 

 number of these to be trained along the 

 house, and these again produce laterals; 

 and at the end of each a cluster of blos- 

 som buds is formed. On the production 

 of these lateral shoots depends the free 

 blooming of the plant, to encourage 

 which a damp atmosphere is to be kept 

 by pouring water over the pathways, 

 and by frequently syringing the plant. 

 All superfluous shoots are stopped ; and 



produced from seed in one year, per- j it is necessary to pay a good deal of at 



fects its seed and dies during the year ; tention to this, for an over abundance 



following. Biennials may often be made : of shoots would soon be produced that 



to endure longer if prevented ripening 

 their seeds, and many exotics, biennials 

 in their native climes, are perennials in 

 our stoves. 



Hardy Biennials. — Some of these 

 ripen their seeds as early as August, in 

 which case they may be sown as soon 

 as harvested. Others ripenincr their 



would form a complete thicket. The 

 plant commences flowering about the 

 beginning of September. — Gard. Chron. 



BILBERRY. Vaccinium myrtillus. 



BILLMBI TREE. Aierrhoa bilimbi. 



BILL (Fig. 21), a sharp-edged tool, 

 emplo\ed in cutting hedges, sharpen- 

 ing stakes, &c. It should never be used 



seeds later must have these reserved ! in pruning valuable trees ; but where the 

 from sowing until May. The double,j branch is too strong to be cut with the 

 varieties of wall-flowers, stocks, &c., knife, the saw oughtalwaystobeapplied. 

 are propagated by cuttings. 



Frame Biennials. — These required 

 the shelter of a frame during the early 

 stages of their growth ; to be removed 

 thence in May to the borders, where 

 thev bloom in .lulv and August. 



B I F R E N A R I A. Three species. 

 Stove epiphytes. Division. 



B I G N N I A. Sixty-one species. 

 Chiefly stove evergreen climbers. B. 



Fig. 21. 



BILLARDIERA. Six species. Green- 

 house evergreen climbers. Cuttings. 

 Rich loam and peat. 



