p^^ 



'^l^ XEdLECTED BEAUTIES. 



In a south-looking window the young leaves require careful protection from the sun's rajs, 

 as they may easily be scorched beyond reco\ery. 



Though exposed to the open air, and at a rather low temperature, in their native 

 homes, these plants are less hardy than would be supposed, and therefore should be 

 carefully shielded from strong, drying winds, whether hot or cold. 



The most common plant of the whole order is the Calluna vulgaris, which covers 

 extensive tracts of waste moors throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and which is also 

 found sparsely in Canada and our New England States. This is more hardy than any 

 of the other species, and will flourish in almost any soil with a temperature under fift}'; 

 but in more southern latitudes it requires to be shaded in hot weather. 



f^ ^u^^-^ , J^^O SS£JS. 



SCI, or Mosses, which comprise three orders and thirty-six 

 1^ Ejenera of cryptogamous plants, are among the lower forms of 

 \egetable life. In the economy of nature they come next to the 

 Lichenes, or Lichens, serving by their decay to form a suitable 

 soil for the more beautiful and more useful plants. They grow in 

 such dense, compact masses — often a hundred to a square inch — 

 that their remains constitute a bed in which plants of a higher order 

 ; loot. They are to be found in all climates and on all soils, requiring 

 as absolutely essential only a constant, gentle moisture. The Mosses cover with 

 d coat of emeiald green the trunks of trees, the sides and summits of barren 

 rocks, the moldering walls of old ruins, the margins of running brooks, the 

 crevices of damp, subterranean caves and the like. The Sphagnum palustre, or 

 Gray Bog-moss, is much used in Lapland and other countries of North Europe for bed- 

 ding and coverlets. When flattened out by use, they can be renovated so as to assume 

 their original elasticity by being soaked in water and again dried. The tenacity of life in 

 the Mosses is truly wonderful; they have been known to have rooted and grown afresh 

 after having lain pressed in a herbarium for thirty years. 



In collections of plants, it is found worth while to cultivate them as toppings for the 

 stands, pots or boxes in which ornamental plants are grown. They prevent a too rapid 

 evaporation of the moisture, where it is desirable to retain it, besides adding a neatness 

 which the uncovered soil does not present. Some amateurs make a specialty of growing 

 a patch of Mosses for the yard or house, because of their intrinsic beaut}', and the refresh- 

 ing greenness of the dense, compact mass in which they grow. They can be studied to 

 advantage only with the aid of a microscope, and are by that means found to present the 

 appearance of miniature trees and various other curious forms. The Tortulas resemble 

 small, fine screws, whence their name. The Hypnums, or Feather Mosses, are probabh- 

 the most numerous, and are often exceedingly pretty, resembling miniature ferns, feathers, 

 or trees. 



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