2050 



MIGNONETTE 



MILLA 



prepared the same as described for bench culture, and 

 to sow the seed in this soil. It should be remembered 

 that the mignonette will not transplant; therefore, 

 the seeds should be sown exactly where the plants are 

 to grow. Several seeds should be sown in each pot to 

 insure a perfect germination, and after this has taken 

 place and the plants are well developed, all but one 

 plant should be removed. The young plants should be 

 kept as near the glass as possible to foster a stocky 

 growth. Great care should be taken not to let the 

 plants dry out, neither should they be over-watered. 



As soon as the soil is filled with the feeding-roots, 

 the plants should be re-potted, and this re-potting 

 should be done frequently, the plants never being 

 allowed to become pot-bound. When the plants are 

 from 4 to 5 inches tall, they should be pinched, and the 

 side shoots allowed to develop. When they have grown 

 to a height of 6 or 7 inches, they should be staked and 

 tied, and again pinched back to encourage branching. 

 The large flower-spikes are not desired in pot-grown 

 plants, but a larger number of smaller spikes. Pinching 

 makes the plants much more symmetrical. When the 

 plants are in flower, they should be in 7- or 8-inch pots. 



As a garden flower, the mignonette is by no means 

 showy, but its delicate fragrance makes it popular. It 

 requires a cool well -drained soil, and one which is 

 moderately rich in decayed organic matter. It does 

 not like the full sunlight, so should be given a spot 

 which is shaded a part of the day. The seed should be 

 sown late in April, in the North, and a second sowing 

 may be made early in July, so that the season of bloom 

 be extended until the tune of severe frosts. 



E. A. WHITE. 



MIKANIA (Prof. J. G. Mikan, of Prague, or his son 

 and successor, J. C. Mikan, who collected in Brazil). 

 Syn., Willugbseya. Compdsitee. Shrubs or herbs, the 

 latter twining, rarely erect. 



Leaves opposite, usually stalked: heads spicate, 

 racemose, corymbose or panicled; fls. mostly white 

 or pinkish. About 150 species, mostly found in the 

 warmer parts of Amer. Nearest to Eupatorium, but 

 the latter has an indefinite number of involucral bracts 

 instead of 4, and contains erect plants. This includes 

 M . scandens, the climbing hempweed, a common native 

 weed, but a pretty one. 



scandens, Willd. CLIMBING HEMPWEED. Foliage dis- 

 tinct, the Ivs. being somewhat heart-shaped or halberd- 

 shaped, and long-acuminate: fls. very small, numer- 

 ous, pinkish, and borne in dense clusters 1-2 in. across; 

 these clusters, as in all the species, are composed of 

 many small heads, each containing 4 fls., surrounded by 

 an involucre of 4 bracts. Moist ground, New England 

 to Fla. and Texas. Very rarely offered by dealers in 

 native plants. 



Sanderi, Hort." Hothouse climber, vdth variegated 

 foliage. Intro. 1899 by Sander & Co., who say the Ivs. 

 are richly embellished with dark velvet-purple patches; 

 veins of mature Ivs. white. The Ivs. are about 6 in. 

 long, 5 in. wide, boldly toothed. The botanical affinities 

 of this plant are uncertain. jj. TAYLOR.! 



MILDEW is the name given to a group of fungous 

 diseases which attack leaves, shoots, flowers and fruits. 

 The true or powdery mildews (Erysiphaceae) appear as 

 a thin white powdery coating on the surface of the 

 plants. The disease is usually accompanied by dis- 

 tortion and dwarfing, and often death of the affected 

 parts. In some cases, however, as in the maple mildew, 

 the affected areas of the leaves retain their chlorophyll 

 and remain green in the autumn long after the 

 remainder of the leaf is dead and yellow. The mycelium 

 is always superficial, forming spots or more or less 

 extended areas on the affected organs. The injury is 

 done by numerous haustoria, which penetrate the cells 

 of the host and absorb nutriment for the mycelium, 



and also serve as organs of attachment. During the 

 summer mildews are propagated by 1-celled spores, 

 many of which are cut off in succession from erect 

 simple branches all over the diseased surface. Other 

 spores, by means of which the fungus passes through 

 the winter, are produced in sacs inclosed within hollow 

 spherical receptacles, called perithecia. These appear 

 as minute black or dark brown specks over the dis- 

 eased area. They are produced in the autumn, and 

 remain on the fallen leaves; but the spores within them 

 do not ripen until the following spring, when they are 

 liberated by the decay of the perithecia. 



In the United States, considerable injury is caused by 

 the following species: The rose mildew, Sphserotheca 

 pannosa, on roses under glass; Erysiphe graminis on 

 wheat and other grasses; the vine mildew, Uncinula 

 spiralis, producing the powdery mildew of grapes; Podo- 

 sphsera Oxycanthx on apples and pears; and Sphsero- 

 theca Castagnei, the hop mildew. The most successful 

 mode of combating the mildews is by dusting with sul- 

 fur or spraying with bordeaux mixture. Either of these 

 fungicides kills the mycelium and spores of the fungus. 



The downy mildews or false mildews belong to the 

 Peronosporacese, a group of fungi widely separated from 

 the true mildews. The mycelium is parasitic within the 

 tissues of the host, only the fruiting branches appear- 

 ing at the surface. The fruiting branches have a char- 

 acteristic form and method of ramification for each 

 genus of the group. The spores, when they lodge on 

 new host-plants, either produce an infecting thread 

 directly, or, in most cases, the content of the spore 

 is discharged in the form of swarm-spores, which swim 

 about for a time and finally come to rest and produce 

 the infecting mycelium. Resting-spores are produced 

 sexually in this group within the tissues of the host. 



This family contains about ten genera, of which the 

 following are most commonly known: Phytophthora 

 infestans, the potato blight; Plasmopara viticola, the 

 downy mildew of grapes; Bremia laducse, often causing 

 great damage to lettuce in forcing-houses; Pythium 

 Debaryanum, causing damping-off of seedling cucum- 

 bers and various other seedling plants; and Cystopus 

 candidus, the common white rust of crucifers. Modes of 

 combating these diseases are set forth for each specific 

 case in the experiment station literature of the various 

 states. See, also, Diseases and Insects. 



HEINRICH HASSELBRING. 



MILIUM (ancient Latin name of broom-corn millet 

 which, however, belongs to a different genus). Gram- 

 inese. MILLET-GRASS. Spikelets 1-fld., in diffuse 

 panicles: glumes awnless, the lemma and palea coria- 

 ceous, as in Panicum. Contains 5 or 6 species dis- 

 tributed through Temp. Eu. and Asia, one of which, 

 M. effusum, also found in N. Amer., is occasionally 

 cult, for ornament. 



effusum, Linn. A smooth woodland perennial, 3-6 

 ft. high: Ivs. broad and thin: panicle 6^-9 in. long, with 

 slender drooping branches. Dept. Agric., Div. Agrost. 

 7:104. A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



MILK PEA: Galactia. 

 MILK VETCH: Astragalus. 

 MILKWEED: Asdepias. 

 MLLKWORT: Poly gala. 



MILLA (J. Milla was head gardener at the Court of 

 Madrid). Liliacese. An attractive spring-flowering 

 bulb. 



Leaves few, very narrow, grass-like, radical: scape 

 low, simple and leafless, bearing 1 to several fls. in a 

 terminal umbel; perianth salverform with 3-nerved 

 segms. which are separate nearly to the base; stamens 6, 

 nearly sessile in one row: caps, sessile, oblong-obovate. 

 Bentham & Hooker, as well as Engler, restrict the genus 



