SPA 



SPA 



more than lialf the size of the second sort, and 

 without scent. Ii flowers in June, and is a na- 

 tive of Italy. 



The fourth species has a thick stalk, covered 

 with a ruaged bark when old; it rises eight or 

 nine feet high, sending out many slender nish- 

 iike branches of a silvery colour, almost taper, 

 which terminate in very slender bending ends ; 

 these have a few narrow spear-shaped leaves on 

 the lower branches : the flowers are produced in 

 very short spikes or clusters on the side of the 

 branches ; are small and white. Tt is a native 

 of Spain and Portugal, flowering in June and 

 July. 



The fifth has an upright stem : the branches 

 numerous, slender, round, smooth, slightly 

 striated, having a few tubercles scattered over 

 them, below leafless: the leaves on the younger 

 branch lets small, lanceolate, deciduous, silky, 

 with very short hairs pressed close : the flowers 

 small, racemed, each on a very short pedicel. 

 It is a native of the South of Europe and Barbary, 

 flowering in June and July. 



The sixth species is a shrub wholly covered 

 with alternate spines, on which the flowers are 

 placed; this renders it quite inaccessible: the 

 branches and leaves are striated and ash-coloured, 

 and the latter are a little viilose : the flowers are 

 yellow and rather large. It is a native of the 

 South of Europe and Barbary, flowering in 

 March and April. 



The seventh has the stalks and branches 

 slender, having a few trifoliate and single leaves 

 towards the bottom : the branches have six 

 angles or furrows : the flowers small, of a pale 

 yellow colour, produced in loose spikes at the 

 ends of the branches, rarely producing seeds in 

 this climate. It is a native of the Levant. 



The eighth species has stalks five or six feet 

 high, sending out many flexible branches, armed 

 with long spines : flowers terminating in clusters, 

 each upon a long pedicel : corolla bright yellow, 

 appearing in June. It is a native of Italy and 

 Spain. 



Culture. — ^The three first sorts are hardy, but 

 the others more tender, especially in their young 

 growth. 



They are all capable of being raised from seeds, 

 and the double-blossomed sorts by layers and 

 cuttings. The seeds should be sown in the early 

 spring, as about April ; the hardy sorts in beds 

 of common earth, either in drills or by bedding 

 in to the depth of an inch : but in the tender sorts 

 in pots or beds hooped over to protect them in 

 frosty weather. In the following spring they 

 should be removed into nursery-rows or larger 

 pots, according to the kinds, shortening their 

 tap-roots, and setting them out in rows two feet 



Vol. II. 



apart, at the distance of one in the rows, to re- 

 main two or three years, when they may be 

 planted out in the shrubbery, or other places : the 

 tender sorts in pots being removed to the green- 

 house or garden for protection in winter, being 

 managed as the hardy sorts of plants of this 

 kind. 



The layers should be laid down in the autumn 

 or spring, and the cuttings may be planted out 

 in the spring or summer, some in the open 

 ground, and others in pots plunged in the hot- 

 bed to promote their striking root. They may 

 be managed afterwards as the other sorts. 



This is the only certain mode of preserving 

 the varieties. 



The hardy sorts are very ornamental in the 

 borders, clumps, and other parts, and the lender 

 kinds in greenhouse collections, and among 

 other more hardy potted plants. 



SPAWN, the progeny or oflTspring of plants 

 or other vegetables ; but it is mostly applied to 

 such small ofisets, suckers, and sprouts as rise 

 numerously from the roots, Sec. of certain 

 plants, serving for the purpose of increase, which, 

 as being parts similar to the whole plant, when 

 separated from the parent vegetable and planted 

 out, readily grow, and commence proper plants, 

 and thereby renew or increase their respective 

 kinds with great facility and abundance. 



In a general acceptation, it is, however, more 

 peculiarly ajiplied to the progeny of mushrooms, 

 being an offspring from the root of those fungi, 

 consisting of minute white parts, shooting and 

 running in the earth or dung, like small white 

 thready fibres, assuming the appearance of slen- 

 der white strings, which are productive of nu- 

 merous minute white knobs, appearing at first the 

 sizeofsiTiall pin-heads, the whole smelling strong 

 of the mushroom ; and those little knobs being 

 infant plants, they gradually increase in size to 

 proper mushrooms, which are quick of growth, 

 and of very short duration ; but the same spawn 

 running in the earth, &c. furnishes a plentiful 

 supply of mushrooms from the bottom in regu- 

 lar succession for a considerable time, some- 

 times several months. See Agaricus. ' 



It may be procured at all seasons of the year, 

 but more plentifully towards the end of summer 

 and in autumn, fromthe places of its growth; such' 

 asold mushroom beds, old horse-dung hot-beds, 

 and horse-dunghiils that are moderately dry, and 

 which have remained undisturbed several months ; 

 also sometimes in old compost heaps, consisting 

 chiefly of horse-dung; in all of which the 

 spawny substance discovers itself in dry lumps 

 of dung and earth, which lumps should be 

 taken up entire : likewise in stable-yards, 

 where any quantity of horse-dung has lain dry 



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