M U S 



M U S 



burst open like a spring, and dart out their seeds 

 with an elastic force to a considerable distance 

 in many cases. 



MOULD, such earthy substances as consti- 

 tute soils, when reduced into a fine pulverized 

 state in their particles. It is of different quali- 

 ties according to the nature of the earth or soil 

 in which it is found. But the best is probably 

 that which contains a large proportion of car- 

 bonaceous or vegetable matter. It is of very 

 different colours in diflerent cases, as hazel, dark- 

 gray,russet, ash, yellowish red, and various others. 

 But the first three colours are generally con- 

 sidered as denoting the best qualities, and the 

 last the most unfriendly for the growth of 

 vegetables. 



For the purpose of the gardener, those moulds 

 which are capable of working well at all seasons, 

 are rather light and dry, perfectly mellow and fine 

 in their particles, being well enriched with vege- 

 table and animal matters, are the most proper 

 and capable of affording the largest crops of good 

 vegetables. See Earth and Soil. 



MULCH, a term made use of in gardening 

 to signify such strawy dung as is somewhat moist 

 and not rotted. It is found useful for protecting 

 the roots of new-planted choice trees or shrubs 

 from severe frost in winter, and from being 

 dried by the fierce sun or drying winds in spring 

 and summer, before they are well rooted ; in 

 which cases it is spread evenly on the surface of 

 the ground round the stems of the trees, as far 

 as the roots extend, about three or four inches 

 thick, but w hich should be augmented in winter, 

 when the severitv of the frost renders it neces- 

 sary. It may also be employed for many other 

 purposes. 



MOUNTAIN ASH. See Sorbus. 



MOUSE-EAR. See HiERACiuM. 



MUGWORT. See Artemisia. 



MULBERRY-TREE. See Morus. 



MUSA, a genus containing plants of the 

 perennial kind for the hot-house. 



It belongs to the class and order Polygamia 

 Monoecia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 ScitamlnecB. 



The characters are : that the hermaphrodite 

 flowers are more towards the base of the simple 

 spadix, separate in alternate spathes: the calyx 

 is a partial, ovate-oblong spathe. plano-concave, 

 large, many-flowered : the corolla unequal, rin- 

 gent : the petal constituting the upper lip, but 

 the nectary the under lip : petal erect, ligulate, 

 truncate, five-toothed, converging in front at 

 the base ; nectary one-leafed, cordate, boat- 

 shaped, compressed, acuminate, spreading out- 

 wards, shorter than the petal, inserted within 

 the sinus of the petal : the stamina have six 



awl-shaped filaments, five of which within the 

 petal are erect, the sixth within the nectarv is 

 reclining : anthers linear, from the middle to the 

 top fastened to the filament ; but most frequently 

 there is only one anther on the sixth filament, 

 and very small ones or none on the rest : the 

 pistillum is a very large germ, obtusely three- 

 sided, very long, inferior : style cylindric, erect, 

 the length of the petal : stigma headed, roundish, 

 obscurely six-cleft : the pericarpium is a fleshy 

 berry, covered v^ith a husk, obscurely three- 

 sided, or six-sided, gibbous on one side, one- 

 celled, hollow in the middle : the seeds very 

 many, nestling, subglobular, wrinkled-tubercled, 

 excavated at the base, or only rudiments : males 

 on the same spadix, above the hermaphrodite 

 flowers, separated by spathes : the calvx, corolla, 

 and nectary as in the hermaphrodite : the stami- 

 na have filaments as in the hermaphrodites, equal, 

 erect : anthers as in hermaphrodites, on the fila- 

 ment placed within the nectary, most frequently 

 very small or none : the pistillum is a germ as 

 in the hermaphrodites, but less : style and stig- 

 ma as in them, but less and more obscure : the 

 pericarpium is abortive. 



The species cultivated are : 1 . M. paradisiaca. 

 Plantain Tree : 2. M. sapientum, Bana.na. Tree. 



The first rises with a soft herbaceous stalk, 

 fifteen or twenty feet high, and upwards, in its 

 native situation : the lower part of the stalk is 

 often as large as a man's thigh, diminishing 

 gradually to the top, where the leaves come out 

 on every side, which are often more than six 

 feet long and near two feet broad, with a strong- 

 fleshy midrib, and a great number of transverse 

 veins running from the midrib to the borders : 

 the leaves are thin and tender, so that where they 

 are exposed to the open air they are generally 

 torn by the wind ; for, as they are large, the wind 

 has great power over them : these leaves come 

 out from the side of the principal stalk, inclos- 

 ing it with their base ; they are rolled up at their 

 first appearance, but when they are advanced 

 above the stalk they expand quite flat, and turn 

 backward : as these leaves come up rolled in the 

 manner before mentioned, their advance upward 

 is so quick, that their growth may be almost dis- 

 cerned by the naked eye ; and if a line is drawn 

 across, level with the top of the leaf, in an hour's 

 time the leaf will be near an inch above it : 

 when the plant is grown to its full height, the 

 spike of iiowcrs will appear from the centre of 

 the leaves, which is often near four feet in lcngtl>, 

 and nods on one side : the flowers come out in 

 bimches, those on the lower part of the spike 

 being the largest ; the others diminish in their 

 size upward; each of these bunches is covered 

 with a spathe or sheath, of a fine purple colour 



