MUHLENBERGIA 



MULGEDIUM 



2075 



MUHLENBERGIA (Dr. H. Muhlenberg, who wrote 

 a work upon American grasses in 1817). Sometimes 

 spelled Muehlenbergia. Grammes. Spikelets 1-fld.; 

 lemma firm, mucronate or awned. About 60 species, 

 mostly American. M. racempsa, BSP. (M. glomerdta, 

 Trin.). An erect perennial, with rather short appressed 

 Ivs.: panicle contracted and spike-like; glumes nearly 

 equal, 1-nerved, extending into short awns; lemma 

 longer than empty glumes, excluding the awns. Dept. 

 Agric., Div. Agrost. 7:109. Wet ground, nearly 

 throughout N. U. S. A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



MUILLA (an inversion of Allium). Liliacex. Bul- 

 bous plants closely allied to Allium. 



Perianth subrotate, persistent, of 6 nearly equal 

 slightly united segms., spreading, closely 2- to 3-nerved; 

 stamens in one row at the base; anthers versatile; fila- 

 ments slightly thicker at the base; ovules 8-10 in a cell; 

 style club-shaped, persistent and at length splitting: 

 caps, obovate or subglobose, sessile or nearly so: fls. 

 greenish white : pedicels not jointed: Ivs. several. One 

 species from Calif., W. Nev. An unimportant plant 

 advertised by specialists in Pacific coast bulbs. It has a 

 slender scape 3-12 in. high, bearing early in the year an 

 umbel of 5-15 greenish white fls., each about ^in. 

 across. Differs from Allium, in that instead of a true 

 bulb it has a fibrous-coated corm, and also lacks the 

 onion-like odor. 



maritima, Wats. Lvs. several, not sheathing at base, 

 scabrous, as long as the scape: corm small: caps. %in. 

 long, with usually 3 seeds in each cell. Calif., W. Nev. 

 Saline regions. A. C. HoTrEs.f 



MUKIA: Melothria. 



MULBERRY: Morns. French M.: Callicarpa americana. 

 Indian M.: Morinda. Paper M.: Broussonetia. The wild Rubus 

 odoratus is improperly called mulberry in some parts of the country. 



MULCHING is the covering of the soil or earth with 

 some protecting material. It has six or more general 

 objects: (1) to conserve moisture by preventing or 

 hindering evaporation; (2) to protect plants from win- 

 ter injury; (3) to keep the surface of the soil loose and 

 friable; (4) to add plant-food to the soil; (5) to protect 

 berries or flowers from dirt spattered up by rain, as 

 in the case of strawberries; (6) to keep down weeds. 



The moisture available to agricultural plants is held 

 in the soil by means of capillary or film attraction. 

 The soil may be conceived to be full of irregular capil- 

 lary tubes or connecting interstices which have a general 

 vertical direction. The upper ends of these spaces are 

 in contact with the atmosphere, and they are constantly 

 giving off moisture into the air. If the upper openings of 

 these interstices are covered, as with a board or a 

 mulch, the evaporation into the atmosphere is rela- 

 tively slight. If they are covered with a mulch of 

 ashes or sawdust, a similar result may be attained. A 

 dry earth-mulch may be made on the spot by tilling the 

 upper 2 or 3 inches of soil. The philosophy of summer 

 tillage is to prepare and to maintain this mulch of 

 soil, thereby interposing a relatively non-capillary 

 stratum between the moist soil and the air. This earth- 

 mulch may itself be dust-dry, but it protects the soil 

 beneath. There is more or less evaporation into the 

 interstices of the earth-mulch itself, and some of the 

 moisture ascends through the mulch and escapes into 

 the atmosphere; but it has been found by long experi- 

 ence and by experiments that the earth-mulch greatly 

 lessens evaporation. The frequent stirring of the sur- 

 face soil in summer is said to make the land moist; 

 as a matter of fact, it keeps it moist. When it is imprac- 

 ticable to keep a surface mulch by means of tillage 

 with horse tools or a rake, it is sometimes advisable to 

 use straw or manure. Mulching newly set trees is often 

 desirable when it is not possible to till the land or not 

 practicable to water them. The ideal mulch to con- 



serve moisture, however, is the loose layer of earth, 

 since the stirring of the soil not only provides the mulch 

 but also sets at work various chemical and biological 

 forces that make the plant-food more available. 



All herbaceous plants and most shrubs are benefited 

 by a mulch in the fall, no matter how hardy they may be 

 in the given locality. Nature's mulch is the debris of 

 fallen leaves, grass and other litter. The autumn leaves 

 that blow into the borders and the clumps of shrub- 

 bery, afford the very best winter mulch; and yet it 

 is a common practice scrupulously to collect and burn 

 these leaves in the fall, and then if the plants are 

 mulched to apply manure. This is doubtful wisdom. 

 The herbaceous border will be benefited by a loose 

 open mulch, 4 to 6 inches deep. If the mulch is of such 

 character as to become very hard and dense, and to 

 hold too much water, it may be injurious. Leaf-mold, 

 loose muck or peat, autumn leaves mixed with some 

 litter that will prevent them from packing too hard, 

 manure which is not too strong in nitrogen and potash, 

 fine straw, sawdust, shavings, pine-needles, evergreen 

 boughs these are some of the materials that may be 

 used as a mulch to good advantage. If the mulch has 

 thoroughly decayed by spring, it may be left on the land 

 and it will make a fine loamy covering that will be much 

 like the vegetable-mold found in the woods. Too often 

 the passion for cleanness sacrifices the welfare of the 

 border. Persons will collect and burn every stray 

 autumn leaf, but will not notice many kinds of dirt 

 which are really objectionable. The mulch keeps the 

 surface of the soil loose and mellow because it protects 

 it from the beating of heavy rains and the weight of 

 snow. The vegetable-fiber that works into the surface 

 also prevents the particles of heavy clay soils from 

 running together or puddling. Soils that are covered 

 with a mulch do not bake. 



Fall-set herbaceous plants, as pansies, should be 

 covered with 2 or 3 inches of straw or other material to 

 protect them from "heaving" and from the direct injury 

 of alternating conditions. 



Whenever the mulch contains soluble plant-food, the 

 soil receives the leachings and is enriched. Stable- 

 manure is an ideal mulch for enriching the soil, but if 

 the manure is fresh and strong, it is likely to injure the 

 crowns of some plants. ,_ jj_ g. 



MULGEDIUM (name alludes to the milky juice). 

 Composite. A group by most authors united with Lac- 

 tuca, but differing in the blue to white rays, and the 

 oblong mostly beaked achene. It is also closely allied 

 to Sonchus. Some species are offered as outdoor garden 

 herbs; annual, biennial and perennial. Plants of easy 

 culture. The following species might properly be in- 

 cluded in the account of Lactuca, although the nomen- 

 clature of some of the garden forms is open to doubt. 



alpinum, Less. (Lactuca alpina, Benth. & Hook.). 

 Perennial, 3 ft., erect: Ivs. alternate, the radical lyrate- 

 dentate and petioled, the terminal lobe large: fls. 

 deep blue, like those of wild chicory, numerous, in a 

 corymbose cluster; involucre of unequal scales in 

 several series, hairy. Eu., in mountains and far N., 

 prized for its abundant foliage and attractive fls.; 

 requires a moist somewhat shaded place. 



thianschanicum, Regel & Schmalh. Glabrous, 

 robust, 3-5 ft. tall: Ivs. sharply dentate or the upper 

 ciliate-dentate; the lower lyrate with the terminal lobe 

 very large, lateral lobes confluent with the broadly 

 winged petiole, cordate and clasping at the base: 

 raceme much elongated, simple, or branched at the 

 base only; heads oblong, many-fld.; involucre gla- 

 brous; fls. blue, twice as long as the involucre: achenes 

 linear-oblong, multistriate, narrowed toward the apex; 

 pappus hairy, deciduous. Cent. Asia. 



macrophyllum, DC. Perennial: st. strict, hispid at 

 top: Ivs. ample, sublyrate, cordate at base, hairy 



