L IC 



350 



L I L 



LICHTENSTEINIA. Two species. 

 Green-house herbaceous. Seed. Sandy 

 loam. 



LICUALA. Two species. Stove 

 palms. Seed. Sandy loam. 



LIDBECKIA. Two species. Green- 

 house evergreen shrubs. Cuttings. Peat, 

 and a little loam. 



LIGATURES, twisted very tightly 

 round the small branches of trees, and 

 the stems of plants, to check the return 

 of their sap, and thus promote their 

 fruitful ness, and the size of the fruit, 

 are much to be preferred to ringing, or 

 other removals of the bark, wliich cause 

 wounds and canker. Ligatures should 

 be removed as soon as the fruit is rip- 

 ened. 



LIGHT has a powerful influence over 

 the health and life of a plant, from the 

 moment its leaves pierce through the 

 surface of the soil. If absent, they be- 

 come yellow, or even white, unless 

 uncombined hydrogen be present, in 

 which case they retain their verdure. 



Sir H. Davy excluded a cos lettuce 

 from the light. In six days it was ren- 



cleansed. The best glass, if dirty, al- 

 lows fewer rays of light to pass through 

 than inferior glass if kept bright. 



Solar light is essential to the ripening 

 of all fruit; it will not ripen in the dark ; 

 and the greater the light's intensity 

 and the longer its daily endurance, the 

 sweeter and the higher is the fruit's 

 flavour. No fruits are so luscious as 

 those grown within the tropics, and 

 the fruits of the temperate zone are ex- 

 cellent in proportion to the brightness 

 of its seasons. That light is essential 

 in causing the colour of the leaves and 

 other parts of plants, has been noticed 

 already ; and it aids the ripening pro- 

 cess of fruit in a similar .manner, to 

 convert their acid and mucilaginous 

 constituents into sugar : much carbon 

 and hydrogen have to be got rid of; 

 and this is effected, if light be admitted, 

 by the evolution of carbonic acid nnd 

 watery vapour. How light operates in 

 promoting this and other decomposi- 

 tions, which are effected by the vege- 

 table organs, is at present a mystery ; 

 but so it is; and the gardener promotes 



dered very pale, and at the end of an- | its access as much as lies within his 

 other week it was quite white; the | power, by removing overshadowing 

 growth of the plant was checked, and 1 leaves, by employing the best glass in 

 the analysis of its leaves showed that , his hot-houses, and by having their in- 

 they contained more carbonic acid and jterior whitened ; for white surtiices re- 



water, but less hydrogen and residua 

 carbon than an equal weight of green 

 leaves. 



It deserves notice that it has been 

 proved by the experiments of Dr. Hope 

 and others, that light from artificial 

 sources may be concentrated so as to 

 enable plants to absorb oxygen, and 

 perfect those elaborations on which 

 their green colour depends ; and the 

 lightof the moon has a similar influence. 



A similar concentrated light will 

 make the Pimpernel and other flowers, 

 which close until sunrise, open their 

 petals, and rouse from their rest; a 

 fact, which gives another reason why 

 plants in rooms frequented at night be- 

 come weak and exhausted sooner than 

 those which tlien remain, as nature dic- 

 tates, unexcited by light. 



A deficiency of ligiit decreases the 

 decomposing power of the leaves. For 

 this reason the best glass should al- 

 ways be employed in the sashes of 

 the hot-house, conservatory, and other 

 structures of the forcing department. 

 But the benefit sought for is frustrated, 

 if that glass be not constantly well 



fleet all the rays of light back upon the 

 objects those surfaces inclose. 



Almost every flower has a particular 

 degree of light requisite for its full ex- 

 pansion. The blossoms of the pea, 

 and other papilionaceous plants, spread 

 out their wings in fine weather to admit 

 the solar rays, and again close them at 

 the approach of night. Plants requiring 

 powerful stimulants, do not expand their 

 flowers until noon ; whilst some would 

 be destroyed if compelled to open in 

 the meridian sun. Of such is the night- 

 blooming cereus, the flowers of which 

 speedily droop, even if exposed to the 

 blaze of light attendant on Indian fes- 

 tivities. — Princ. of Gardening. 



LIGHTFOOTIA. Three species. 

 Green-house evergreen shrubs. Young 

 cuttings. Loam and peat. 



LIGUSTRUM. Privet. Three spe- 

 cies, and more varieties of L. viilgare. 

 Hardy evergreen and deciduous shrubs. 

 Cuttings. Common soil. The evergreen 

 varieties of L. vulgare make a good 

 fence. See Hedges. 



LILACS. Syringa vulgaris and 

 Persica. Of these very hardy shrubs 



