LADIES' TRACES. 



March to June. The root consists of many 

 white fibres. The herb is variable in size and 

 luxuriance, deep green, more or less hairy, 

 rarely quite smooth ; stem from 3 to 12 inches 

 or more in height; leaves pinnate, without 

 stipules; leaflets stalked, roundish, oblong, 

 notched. 



4. Meadow ladies' smock (C. pratensis). See 

 CUCKOO FLOWER. 



5. Bitter ladies' smock (C. amara). This is not 

 a common species, but is found occasionally in 

 watery places, by the sides of rivers and brooks. 

 It is perennial, and before it flowers greatly 

 resembles water-cress, but the taste is bitter 

 and nauseous. The root is toothed, somewhat 

 creeping; stems 1 to 2 feet high, more or less 

 hairy, creeping at the base, with several radi- 

 cles, and sometimes a few slender scions. 

 Leaves pinnate, without stipules ; leaflets of 

 the lowermost roundish ; of the rest, toothed 

 or angular. Style obliquely elongated. Flow- 

 ers, which appear in April or May, always 

 white or cream-coloured, with violet anthers. 

 (Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. iii. pp. 18691.) 



LADIES' TRACES (Neottia, a bird's nest, in 

 allusion to the interwoven fibres of the roots). 

 This is a pretty genus of orchidaceous plants. 

 The hardy species will succeed well in chalky 

 soil, or a mixture of loam, peat, and sand ; they 

 are all increased by divisions. (Paxton's Bot. 

 Diet.} 



There are in Britain only two indigenous 

 species : 



1. Sweet ladies' traces (N. spiralis), which 

 grows in open pastures, on a chalky or gravelly 

 soil, or in meadows in various parts of Eng- 

 land, flowering in August and September. The 

 leaves are awned, all radical, on broad stalks, 

 spreading, ovate, acute, ribbed, rather glau- 

 cous. Stalk a finger's length or more, viscid, 

 and downy upwards, clothed with several 

 sheathing, upright, pointed bractes. Spike 

 spiral, of many crowded small white and 

 highly fragrant flowers, in a single row, each 

 with an ovate, tumid, pointed, downy, close 

 bracte. 



2. Proliferous ladies' traces (N. gemmipara). 

 This species grows in marshes on the west 

 coast of Ireland, and flowers in July. The 

 root consists of two thick, fleshy, downy, an- 

 nual, perpendicular knobs, each about 3 inches 

 long, and one-fifth of an inch in diameter near 

 its origin, tapering downwards to a blunt point. 

 After flowering the root decays. Leaves 5 or 6, 

 upright, broadly lanceolate, acute, three-ribbed, 

 3 inches in length. Foot-stalks broad, sheath- 

 ing, near an inch long. Stalk erect, 2 inches 

 high, sheathed more than half way up by the 

 foot-stalks of the innermost leaves, and bear- 

 ing in the upper part 2 or 3 lanceolate, smooth, 

 upright bractes. Spike an inch long, ovate, 

 dense, erect, of about 18 white flowers in 3 

 rows, twisted round in a very remarkable way, 

 and each accompanied by a smooth, lanceolate 

 bracte, as tall as itself. The outside of the 

 flowers and capsule are downy; every other 

 part of the herb is smooth. Buds destined to 

 flower the following year are formed among 

 the leaves, at the bottom of the flower-stalk. In 

 the spring, each bud puts forth a pair of oblong 



696 



LADY BIRDS. 



knobs and becomes a separate plant. (Smith's 

 Eng. Flor. vol. iv. p. 35.) 



LADIES' TRACES. Ladies' hair or quak- 

 ing-grass. See BRIZA MEDIA. 



LADDER. A framework of steps between 

 two upright pieces. Ladders of various length 

 are essential requisites on a farm, whether for 

 use in repairs to buildings, for reaching stacks, 

 or in cases of fire. 



"Garden ladders are of three kinds: the 

 common wall tree ladder, which differs from those 

 used in other arts in having two pieces of 10 

 or 12 inches in length, projecting at right an- 

 gles from the upper end, the use of which is to 

 avoid injuring the trees, by keeping the top of 

 the ladder at a small distance from the wall, 

 and thus admit of the operation of nailing. The 

 orchard ladder consists of a frame on low wheels, 

 as a basis for several ladders which fit into each 

 other, and are capable of being hoisted up by 

 machinery, so as a person near the extremity 

 of the ladder may have access to any part of a 

 tree with convenience, either to prune it or 

 gather the fruit. 



The three-styled, forked, and double ladders are 

 also well adapted for the ordinary purposes of 

 gathering fruit or pruning. The rule-joint ladder 

 is used for working on curvilinear roofs either 

 of glass, or domes of lead, stone, &c., which 

 require panes renewed or trees nailed. Such 

 ladders are particularly useful for repairing the 

 roofs of hothouses and greenhouses. The step- 

 ladder, instead of round rods on which to place 

 the feet, has steps or boards, an improvement 

 essentially necessary where much work is to be 

 done, because less fatiguing to the feet. Such 

 ladders have a back or fulcrum, by which they 

 stand independently of any other object, and 

 which is removable at leisure by drawing out 

 an iron bolt." (London's Enc. of Gard. p. 290.) 



LADY BIRDS, or LADY BUGS. Familiar 

 names applied to small hemispherical beetles, 

 scientifically denominated coccinella. These little 

 beetles are generally yellow or red, with black 

 spots, or black, with white, red, or yellow spots ; 

 there are many kinds of them, and they are very 

 common and plentiful insects, and are gene- 

 rally diffused among plants. They live, both 

 in the perfect and young state, upon plant-lice, 

 and hence their services are very considerable. 

 Their young are small flattened grubs of a 

 bluish or blue-black colour, spotted usually 

 with red or yellow, and furnished with six legs 

 near the forepart of the body. They are hatch- 

 ed from little yellow eggs, laid in clusters among 

 the plant-lice, so that they find themselves at 

 once within reach of their prey, which, from 

 their superior strength, they are enabled to seize 

 and slaughter in great numbers. There are 

 some of these lady-birds, of a very small size, 

 and blackish colour, sparingly clothed with 

 short hairs, and sometimes with a yellow spot 

 at the end of the wing-covers, whose young are 

 clothed with short tufts or flakes of the most 

 delicate white down. These insects belong to 

 the genus Scymnus, which means a lion's whelp, 

 and they well merit such a name, for their 

 young, in proportion to their size, are as san- 

 guinary and ferocious as the most savage 

 beast of prey. I have often seen one of these 



