ACA 



[6] 



ACA 



found upon the roots of the cucumber, 

 upon which it is said to prey. We be- 

 lieve it to be the same * Acanus often so 

 abundant upon the root of cabbages 

 affected with the Ambury. 



A. genicula'tus is a minute, brownish- 

 red, shining mite, congregating, during 

 spring, in prodigious numbers upon the 

 bark of the plum and other fruit trees, 

 near the base of the small branches, 

 and looking like a gummy exudation. 

 They all injure the plants they infest 

 by sucking their juices ; and, where the 

 fumes of sulphur cannot be applied, as 

 to the stems of trees, and to the soil, we 

 recommend an application of spirit of 

 turpentine, or gas ammoniacal liquor. 



ACCLI'MA'TIZA'TION is rendering a plant 

 capable of yielding the production desired 

 from it, in a climate differing from that 

 in which it is a native. In our climate 

 it is usually required to enable a plant 

 to endure lower temperatures than those 

 to which it has been accustomed; and 

 this, though most are intractable, is more 

 easy than inducing the natives of colder 

 regions to live in our latitudes. When 

 anew plant arrives from a tropical coun- 

 try it is desirable to use every precaution 

 to avoid its loss ; but so soon as it has 

 be en propagated from, and the danger 

 of such loss is removed, from that mo- 

 ment ought experiments to commence, 

 to ascertain whether its acclimatization 

 is attainable. This should be done, be- 

 cause the nearer such a desirable point 

 can be attained the cheaper will be its 

 cultivation, and, consequently, the greater 

 will be the number of those who will be 

 able to derive pleasure from its growth. 

 Hence it is very desirable that an ex- 

 tended series of experiments should be 

 instituted, to ascertain decisively whether 

 many of our present greenhouse and stove 

 plants would not endure exposure to our 

 winters if but slightly, or not at all pro- 

 tected. It may be laid down as a rule, 

 that all Japan plants will do so in the 

 southern-coast counties of England; but it 

 remains unascertained to what degree of 

 northern latitude in our islands this 

 general power of endurance extends. Ex- 

 periment, and experiment only, ought to 

 be relied upon ; for we know that the 

 larch was once kept in a greenhouse ; and 

 within these few years, such South Ame- 

 rican plants as Tropce'olum pentaphy'llum 

 and Gesne'ra Dougla'sii have been found 

 to survive our winters in our garden-bor- 



ders; the first in Scotland and Suffolk,, 

 and the second in Herefordshire. Many 

 tropical plants, of every order and species,, 

 have been found to succeed with much 

 less heat during the day, but more espe- 

 cially during the night, than gardeners 

 of a previous century believed. Other 

 plants than those already noticed have 

 passed from the tropics to our parterres, 

 and even to those of higher northern lati- 

 tudes. The horse chesnut is a native of 

 the tropics ; but it endures uninjured the- 

 stern climate of Sweden. Au'cuba Ja- 

 po'nica and Pceo'nia Mouta'n we all re- 

 member to have passed from our stoves 

 to the greenhouse ; and now they are in 

 our open gardens. Every year renders 

 us acquainted with instances of plants 

 being acclimatized ; and, in addition to 

 those already noticed, we find that Mr- 

 Buchan, Lord Bagot's gardener, at Blith- 

 field House, in Staffordshire, has an old 

 cinnamon - tree (Cinnamo'mum Ca'ssia) 

 under his care which ripens seed. From, 

 these many plants have been raised that 

 endure our winters in a conservatory 

 without any artificial heat. Then, again r 

 there is no doubt that all the conifers, 

 of Mexico, which flourish there at an 

 elevation of more than 8,000 feet above- 

 the sea's level, will survive our winters in 

 the open air. Among these are Pi'nug 

 Llavea'na, P. Teoco'te, P. pa'tula, P. Hart- 

 we'gii, Cupre'ssus thurlfera, Juni'perus 

 fla'ccida, and some others. We have kept 

 Plum'bago Larpe'ntaBin an open border at 

 Winchester during the severe winter of 

 1849-50 ; and we now know that it is 

 quite hardy. In this instance and the 

 course should be pursued in all other 

 cases we selected a light soil, tho- 

 roughly well drained ; and we began early 

 to introduce the plant to our climate 

 by bedding it out in May. As to all 

 plants of shrubby or tree character, there 

 can be little doubt that a proper solidifica- 

 tion of the wood by gardeners termed 

 ripening is the true basis of acclimatiza- 

 tion. The way to effect this is by en- 

 couraging a somewhat early and free 

 growth, and an early and decided rest. 

 Light, shallow soils, thoroughly drained, 

 necessarily accomplish this, by promoting 

 an earlier root-action, and by exposing 

 the roots more to the influences of the 

 atmosphere, whereby the very droughts 

 of summer become beneficial, by check- 

 ing luxuriance, and bringing on the rest- 

 ing period betimes. In annual plants, it 



