MODECCA 



MOLINIA 



fully added to the sandy soils of Merionethshire by Sir 

 Robert Vaughan. The Cheshire farmers add a mixture 

 of moss and calcareous earth to their tight-bound earths, 

 the effect of which they describe as having ' a loosening 

 operation ' ; that is, it renders the soil of their strong 

 clays less tenacious, and, consequently, promotes the 

 ready access of the moisture and gases of the atmosphere 

 to the roots. The cultivator sometimes deludes himself 

 with the conclusion that applying sand, or marl, or clay, 

 to a poor soil, merely serves to freshen it for a time, 

 and that the effects of such applications are apparent 

 for only a limited period. Some comparative experi- 

 ments, however, which were made sixteen years since, 

 on some poor, hungry heath-land, in Norfolk, have up 

 to this time served to demonstrate the error of such a 

 conclusion. In these experiments the ground was 

 marled with twenty cubic yards only per acre, and the 

 same compost ; it was then planted with a proper 

 mixture of forest trees, and by the side of it a portion of 

 the heath, in a state of nature, was also planted with 

 the same mixture of deciduous and fir- trees. 



" Sixteen years have annually served to demonstrate, 

 by the luxuriance of the marled wood, the permanent 

 effect produced by a mixture of soils. The growth of 

 the trees has been there rapid and permanent ; but on the 

 adjoining soil the trees have been stunted in their growth, 

 miserable in appearance, and profitless to their owner. 



" Another, but the least commonly practised mode of 

 improving the staple of a soil by earthy addition, is 

 claying ; a system of fertilising, the good effects of which 

 are much less immediately apparent than chalking, and 

 hence one of the chief causes of its disuse. It requires 

 some little time to elapse, and some stirring of the soil, 

 before the clay is so well mixed with a sandy soil as to 

 produce that general increased attraction and retentive 

 power for the atmospheric moisture, which ever consti- 

 tutes the chief good result of claying poor soils. Clay 

 must be, moreover, applied in rather larger proportions 

 to the soil than chalk ; for not only is its application 

 rarely required as a direct food for plants for the mere 

 alumina which it contains, since this earth enters into 

 the composition of plants in very small proportion, but 

 there is also another reason for a more liberal addition 

 of clay being required, which is the impure state in which 

 the alumina exists in what are commonly called clay 

 soils." Farm Encyc. 



MODE'CCA. (The Indian name. Nat. ord. Passion- 

 flowers [Passifloraceae]. Linn. 22-Dicecia, $-Pentandria. 

 Allied to Carica.) 



Stove evergreen climbing plants, resembling Passion- 

 flowers. Cuttings of young shoots in May, in sandy soil, 

 under a bell-glass, and in heat ; peat and loam. Winter 

 temp., 48 to 55 ; summer, 60 to 75. 

 M. loba'ta (lobed). Yellow-green. W. Trop. Africa. 

 palma'ta (hand-shaped). 10. August. India. 1822. 

 senefnsis (Senan). 10-18. Pale yellow. Trop. Africa. 



1901. 



triloba'ta (three-lobed). 10. August. India. 1818. 

 tubero'sa (tuberous). See M. PALMATA. 

 vrightia'na (Wightian). 10-15. Pale yellow. India. 



MO'DIOLA. (From modiolus, the nave of a wheel ; 

 referring to the formation of the seed-vessel. Nat. ord. 

 Mallow-worts [Malvaceae]. Linn. ib-Monadelphia, 8- 

 Polygynia. Allied to the Mallow.) 



Seeds in spring ; division of the herbaceous kinds at 

 the same time, and by cuttings of the young shoots 

 under a hand-light ; common, sandy loam. The her- 

 baceous require a dry, sheltered place, or the protection 

 of a cold pit during the winter. 

 M. carolinia'na (Carolina). See M. MULTIFIDA. 

 decu'mbens (lying-down). See M. MULTIFIDA. 

 geranioi'des (Geranium-like). See MODIOLASTRUM 



GERANIOIDES. 



multi'fida (much-cut), i. Red or scarlet. June. 



N.W. Amer. 1723. Hardy annual. 

 ,, prostra'ta (lying-flat). See M. MULTIFIDA. 



MODIOLA'STRUM. (From modiolus, the nave of a 

 wheel, and astron, a star; literally, "Star Modiola." 

 Nat. ord. Malvaceae.) 



A handsome, hardy herb for the rockery. Divisions 

 and seed. Light rich soil. 



M. geranioi'des (Geranium-like). . Deep red. June 

 to August. Chili. 1882. 



MOEHEI'NGIA. (Named after P. Mdehring, a German 

 botanist. Nat. ord. Cloveworts [Caryophyllaceae]. Linn. 

 S-Octandria, 2-Digynia. United to Arenaria.) 



Hardy herbaceous perennials, from south of Europe. 

 Division of the plant in spring ; common, sandy soil, and 

 dry, elevated positions ; suited for steep rock-works. 

 M. musco'sa (mossy). . Purple. June. 1775. 

 s^/o7w(Sedum-leaved). J. White, red. June. 1823. 



MOGIPHANES. (From mogis, scarcely, and phaino, 

 to show; the small flowers scarcely show themselves. 

 Nat. ord. Amarantaceae.) 



A stove plant allied to Gomphrena. Seeds. Loam, 

 leaf-mould, and sand. 

 M. strami'nea (straw-coloured). Trop. Amer. 1774. 



MOHLA'NA. (A commemorative name. Nat. ord. 

 Phytolaccaceae.) 



Stove evergreen shrub. Cuttings in sand in a close 

 case, with bottom-heat. Fibrous loam, leaf-mould, and 

 sand. 



M. latifo'lia (broad- leaved). 2-3. Purple. July. Mada- 

 gascar. 1826. 



MO'HRIA. (Named after M . Mohr, a German botanist. 

 Nat. ord. Ferns [Filices]. Linn. z\-Cryptogamia, i- 

 Filices.) 



Greenhouse Fern. See FERNS. 

 M. caffro'rum(Cz5ec). Brown, yellow. June. S.Africa. 



1842. 

 thuri'fraga (frankincense). See M. CAFFRORUM. 



MOIST STOVE. A stove with a moist atmosphere. 

 See STOVE. 



MOLDAVIAN PALM. DracocSphalum Molda'vica. 



MOLDENHAU'ERA. (Named after I. J. Moldenhauer, 

 a German botanist. Nat. ord. Leguminous Plants 

 [Leguminosas]. Linn. lo-Decandria, -L-Monogynia. Allied 

 to Swartzia.) 



Stove evergreen shrub. Cuttings of ripened shoots in 

 sand, under a glass, in heat ; rich, sandy loam. Winter 

 temp., 50 to 55 ; summer, 60 to 75. 

 M . floribu'nda (many-flowered). Yellow. May. Brazil. 

 1828. 



MOLE CRICKET. One of the most curious, and 

 often most destructive to our kitchen-garden crops of 

 all the subterranean vermin, is the Mole-cricket, known, 

 in different parts of England, by the various names of 

 Earth-crab, Jarr-worm, Churr-worm, and Eve-churr. It 

 is the Gryllotalpa vulgaris and europaa of some naturalists, 

 and the Gryllus Gryllotalpa of others. It rarely appears 

 upon the surface of the soil, but makes burrows, like the 

 mole, and destroys all roots which interrupt him in 

 forming these passages. When full-grown, it is nearly 

 two inches long, and four lines broad ; colour, dark 

 brown ; antennas, bristle-shaped, and in front of its 

 black eyes ; thorax, hairy ; wings, broad, large, and 

 triangular when fully opened; abdomen, nine or ten- 

 jointed, furnished at the end with two hairy, awl-shaped 

 filaments. The two fore-feet are broad, like those of 

 the mole, and similarly intended for digging. The 

 female hollows out a place, about half a foot from the 

 surface, in the month of June, and lays her eggs in a 

 heap, from two to three hundred. They are shining 

 yellowish-brown, and like grains of millet. The young, 

 which are hatched in July or August, greatly resemble 

 black ants, and feed, like the old ones, on the tender 

 roots of grass, corn, and various culinary vegetables. 

 They betray their presence under the earth by the 

 withered decay of culinary vegetables in the garden. 

 In October and November they bury themselves deeper 

 in the earth, as a protection from cold, and come again 

 to the surface in the warmer days in March. Their 

 presence is discovered by their throwing up the earth 

 like moles. The surest of remedies is destroying the 

 brood in June or July. Gardeners know, from experi- 

 ence, where the nest of the Mole-cricket is situated ; they 

 dig it out with their spades, and destroy hundreds in 

 the egg state with little trouble. Kollar. 



MOLI'NIA. (Commemorative of G. J. Molini, a 

 writer on Chilian botany. Nat. ord. Gramineas.) 



Hardy perennial grass. Seeds and divisions. Ordi- 

 nary soil. 



2 N 



