R I B 



R I C 



liable to be broken by high wiiuls, especially 

 when lliey are loaded wiili fruit, he would re- 

 commend two or tliree hoops to be put round 

 them, to which the bianelies may be tied,, to 

 support them, and prevent their being broken 

 bv the v\ind, or any other means." 



When it is wished to have them very late, 

 they should be planted on north walls and pa- 

 lings, between the other trees, when they may 

 be removed as the trees beam to meet. If laid 

 in thin, they will bear very fine and handsome 

 fruit. He would advise to plant the finest late 

 sorts; as bv this method the table will be sup- 

 plied much longer than bv the common custom 

 ot planting in quarters of ihe garden. 



And " immeiliately after pruning, he always 

 applies the Composition to the ends of the 

 shoots and cuttings ; and he finds it of great 

 use in preventing the exhalation of the sap, and 

 preserving the cuttings till they take root and 

 become established." 



These sor(s of plants are very much infested 

 with a small green caterpillar, vliich frequent!)- 

 devours both leaves and fruit : great attention is 

 of course necessary to observe their first appear- 

 ance on the bushes; as^ if not destroyed early, 

 they increase so fast, that they soon devour all 

 the leaves, and the fruii is good for nothing. It 

 is observed, that " they first appear gcn^'rally on 

 the edges and under-sules of the leaves." 



In order to destroy tliem, he advises to " take 

 Eorne sifted quick-lime and la\' it under the 

 bushes; but not at first to let any of it t )u li 

 the branches or leaves ; then shake each bii'^h 

 suddenly and smartiv, and the catcrpi'.k.rs will 

 fall into the lime; if the bush be not shaken 

 suddenly, the caterpillars, on being a little dis- 

 turbed, will take so fiim a hold as not easily to 

 be shaken off. After this is done, some of the 

 lime should be sifted over the bushes ; this will 

 drive down those which may have lodged on the 

 branches. The caterpillars ought, he says, to 

 be swept up next day, and the bushes well 

 Avashed with clear lime-water mixed with urine; 

 this will destroy any caterpillars that nia\' still 

 remain, and also the Aphides, if there arc any 

 on the bushes at the time." 



Forcing. — Sometimes trees of the goose- 

 berry and currant kinds are forced for early fruil- 

 insr, by means of artificial heat in fruit-foicing- 

 houses, hot-walls, or forcing-frames, &c. For 

 this purpose, some young trees should be plant- 

 ed in hiigish pots, one plant in each, and beintr 

 advanced to a full state of growth for plentiful 

 l)earing, should be introduced in any of the 

 above forcing departtuents that are in work bv 

 fircj or hot-bed heat, or both, in forwarding 



any principal sorts of fruit-trees, plants, or 

 flovvcrs, at the proper season, as about January 

 or February, in which the same culture, in re- 

 gard to the degree ot heal, and other requisites, 

 necessary for thenther trees, &c., is suitable for 

 these. Water should be given oecasionaliy to 

 the earth in the pots, and sometimes after the 

 fruit is set, tlH-owing it hghtlv over the branches 

 on a warm sunny day; and they will thus pro- 

 duce ripe fruit in April or the following month. 



The forcing of this sort of fruit is now how- 

 ever seldom much attended to. 



RICINUS, a genus containing plants of the 

 tall lierbaceous tender annual kind. 



1 1 iTcIongs to the class and order Morioec'itt 

 Monadelphla, and ranks in the natural order tff 

 Tr'ivoccce. 



The characters are : that. in the male the calyx 

 is a one-leafed, five-parted perianth: segments 

 ovale, concave : there is no corolla: the stamina 

 have very numerous filaments, filiform, branch- 

 ingly collected below into various bodies : anthers 

 twin, roundish : — femalcson the same plant : the 

 calyx is a one-leafed perianth, three-parted scjt- 

 ments ovate, concave, deciduous : there is no 

 corolla : the pistillum is an ovate germ, covered 

 wiih subulile corpuscles : styles three, two- 

 parted, from erect spreading, hispid : stiirrnas 

 simple; the pericarpium is a roundish capsule, 

 three-giooved, prickly all over, three-celled, 

 three-valvcd : the seetis solitary, subovate. 



The species cultivated is R. comnnuiis, Coiii- 

 mon Palma Christi. 



It rises with a strong herbaceous stalk to the 

 height of ten or twelve feet; the joints areata 

 great distance from each other; the stalk and 

 branches are of a gray colour; the. leaves large, 

 and on long footstalks ; deeply divided into 

 seven lobes, and are gray on their under side. 

 The flowers are disposed in long spikes, which 

 spring from the division of the branches : the 

 males are placed on the lower part of the spike ; 

 the females, which occup^■ the upper part, have 

 prickly calyxes: the root is biennial, long, thick, 

 whitish, and beset with many small fibres. It 

 is a iiative of the Indies, 

 anil August. 



It becomes a tree in its native situation, and 

 the seeds aH'ord the castor oil of the shops. 



'Inhere are several varieties, as the Great Ame- 

 rican Palma Christi, which has brown stalks 

 that divide into two or- three branches, and rise 

 six or seven i( et high ; the leaves are broader, 

 and not so dceplv divided ; they are of a deep 

 green on both sides, and are unequally serrate. 

 The spikes of flowers are shorter, the seed- 

 vessels rounder and of a brownish colour, and 



flowering here in July 



