MOSSES 



567 



:\IUEHLENBECKIA 



in the usual way, and after an hour or two all pots 

 are turned or tipped to one side to let the free water 

 run out, if too much has been applied. Water must 

 not be allowed to stand in the pots. 



MOSSES are leafy plants, with simple or branching 

 stems, mostly of very dwarf stature, but, as they possess 

 no true fibre-vascular tissue, they take rank below the 

 Ferns in the vegetable kingdom. Like the Ferns they 

 are flowerless plants, reproducing themselves by spores, 

 and vegetatively in some cases by means of buds. Most 

 of them are of no economic importance, but the larger 

 ones which form broad green tufts of interlacing stems 

 become useful for packing, for placing over the drainage 

 of pots, and sometimes for surfacing pots containing 

 Palms, Ferns, or other decorative plants. These belong 

 to the true mosses, which produce a theca or capsule, 

 opening at the top by means of a lid and containing 

 within them the spores or reproductive bodies. A small 

 section, termed Alpine Mosses, has a fruit that splits 

 open by four valves. The Bog or Peat Mosses, best 

 known as Sphagnum, have a spherical fruit. They are 

 highly serviceable to the orchid grower, being extensively 

 used for cultivating orchids, mixed with peat fibre and 

 charcoal. Where it is plentiful it is used over the 

 drainage of flower-pots, and is occasionally used in the 

 compost for ferns. The Earth Mosses are a small and 

 unimportant group, whose fruit does not burst. 



MOSSY LAWNS are on a soil which is unable to support 

 a green sward of grass. When soil is exhausted, grasses 

 begin to die off, and their place is taken by moss. The 

 obvious mode, then, of proceeding is to give the lawn 

 a good top-dressing in winter, either of malt-dust, or 

 nitrate of soda, or soot, or any manure containing an 

 abundance of alkali. The gardener finds the growth of 

 moss arrested by frequent raking in wet weather, or by 

 the application of pounded oyster-shells ; but these are 

 mere palliatives, and not remedies. Make your grass 

 healthy, and it will soon smother the moss. Drainage 

 may be necessary, if the lawn is naturally soft and wet. 

 Top-dressings of rich soil, lime, and even manures are 

 given to make the grass grow and crowd out the moss. 

 These remedies are very effective. 



The most effectual, most salutary, and least disagree- 

 able remedy for moss on trees is of trivial expense, and 

 which a gardener need but try upon one individual to 

 insure its adoption. It is with a hard scrubbing-brush, 

 dipped in a strong brine of common salt as often as 

 necessary, to insure each portion of the bark being 

 moistened with k, to scrub the trunks and branches of 

 his trees at least every second year. It most effectually 

 destroys insects of all kinds, and moss ; and the stimu- 

 lating influence of the application, and the friction, are 

 productive of the most beneficial effects. The expense 

 is not so much as that of dressing the trunks with a solu- 

 tion of lime, which, however efficient in the destruction 

 of moss, is not so in the removal of insects, and is highly 

 injurious to the trees, by filling up the respiratory pores 

 of the epidermis, and is decidedly a promoter of canker. 



On gravel walks, a strong solution of sulphate of copper 

 (blue vitriol) has been found the most effectual destroyer 

 of moss. 



MOTH. Verba'scum Blatta'ria. 



MOTHER OF THOUSANDS. Lina'ria Cymbala'ria 

 and Saxi'fraga sarmento'sa. 



MOTHERWORT. Leono'tis. 



MOTHS of most kinds are the parents of caterpillars 

 preying upon some plant under the gardener's care, and 

 should be destroyed whenever discovered. 



MOTTLED UMBER-MOTH. Hybe'rnia defolia'ria. 



MOULDINESS is the common term applied to that 

 crop of fungi which appears on moist, putrescent vegetable 

 matters. These fungi are Mucores, and are effectually 

 destroyed whenever common salt or sulphur can be 

 applied. 



MOUNTAIN ASH. Py'rus Aucupa'ria. 



MOUNTAIN EBONY. Bauhi'nia. 



MOUNTAIN TOBACCO. A'rnica monta'na. 



MOUSE-EAR. Hiera'cium stoloni'ferum. 



MOUSE THORN. Centau'rea myaca'ntha. 

 MOUSSO'NIA. SeelsoLOMA. 



MOWING is, next to digging, the most laborious of 

 the gardener's employments, and requires much prac- 

 tice, as well as an extremely sharp scythe, before he 

 can attain to the art of shaving the lawn or grass- 

 plot smoothly and equally. A mowing machine was 

 invented by Mr. Budding and others, but has now been 

 vastly improved. It cuts, collects, and rolls the grass at 

 the same time, and is better than the scythe for mossy 

 lawns. 



Mowing is most easily performed whilst the blades of 

 grass are wet, as they then cling to the scythe, and are 

 consequently erect against its cutting edge. The opera- 

 tion, therefore, should be performed early in the morning, 

 before the dew has evaporated, or whilst the grass is wet 

 from rain or artificial watering. See SCYTHE. 



MUCU'NA. Cow-itch. (The Brazilian name. Nat. 

 ord. Leguminous Plants [Leguminosa?]. Linn. i7-Dia- 

 delphia, 4-Decandria. Allied to Erythrina.) 



The hairs on the seed-pods of M . pru'riens is the Cow- 

 itch. Stove climbers, with purple flowers, which open 

 in July. Cuttings of half -ripened shoots in sandy soil, 

 under glass, in heat ; rich, sandy loam. Winter temp., 

 55 ; summer, 60 to 85. 



Af. alti'ssima (tallest). 50. Martinique. 1779. 

 ,, a'iro-purpu'rea (dark purple). 10. E. Ind. 1820. 

 ,, capita' ta (headed). Flowers crowded in heads. 



Himalaya and Malaya. 

 ,, cochinchine'nsis (Cochin-Chinese). White. June. 



Cochin-China. 1826. 

 imbrica'ta (overlapping). 20-30. Dark purple. 



Himalaya. 1879. 



,, macroca'rpa (large-fruited). India. 

 macro'botrys (large-bunched). Hong-Kong. 

 ,, ni'vea, (snowy). India. 



,, pru'riens (common-stinging). 12. E. Ind. 1680. 

 u'tilis (useful). " Velvet Bean." 

 pruri'ta (stinging) of B.M., t. 4945. See M. IMBRICATA. 



Of Bot. Misc., ii. 348. See M. PRURIENS. 

 ,, sempervi'rens (evergreen). China. 1816. 

 ,, u'tilis (useful). See M. PRURIENS UTILIS. 



MUDAR PLANT. Calo'tropis gigantefa. 



MUDDING, or PUDDLING, is dipping the roots of trees, 

 shrubs, and seedlings in a thin mud or puddle, and re- 

 taining them there until again planted, whenever they 

 are removed. It is one of the best aids to success, and 

 should be universally adopted ; for it is a rule without 

 exception, that the less the roots of a plant are injured, 

 and the moister they are kept during its removal, the 

 less does it suffer by the transplanting. The best of all 

 muds for the purpose is formed of three pounds of garden 

 soil, one ounce of salt, eight ounces of soot, and one 

 gallon of water. 



MUEHLENBE'CKLA. (Commemorative of Dr. G. 

 Muehlenbeck. Nat. ord. Polygonaceae.) 



Slender and usually much branched trailers or climbers, 

 but Af. platydada is erect. They are fairly hardy, with 

 the exception of Af . platydada and Af . sagittifolia. Cut- 

 tings of short side-shoots in sand in a close cold frame 

 during summer, and the greenhouse ones in heat. Ordi- 

 nary soil ; peat, loam, and sand for the greenhouse ones. 

 M. adpre'ssa (adpressed). 2. Pink to red. Australia. 



1822. 



axilla'ris (axillary). New Zealand, &c. 

 chile' nsis (Chilian). 2. Pale green. May. Chili. 



1828. 



, cample' xa (encircling). Green. July. New Zealand. 

 , depre'ssa (depressed). See M. ADPRESSA. 

 , injucu'nda (unpleasing). See M. CHILEXSIS. 

 , na'na (dwarf). See M. AXILLARIS. 

 , orbicula'ris (orbicular). 15. White, green. S. Amer. 



1825. 

 platydada (flat-branched). 1-3. White. Solomon 



Islands. 1863. 



sagittifo'lia (arrow-leaved). S. Amer. 

 ,, va'rians (varying). Origin doubtful. 

 vulca'nica (volcanic). Mexico. 1831. Evergreen 

 trailer. 



