BAR 



[ 102 ] 



BAB 



BARNA'RDIA. (Named after E. Barnard, 

 F.L.S. Nat. ord., Lily worts [Liliacete]. 

 Linn., 6-Hexandrial-Monoyynia. Allied 

 to the Squills.) 



Half-hardy, bulbous-rooted plant. Offsets; 

 peat and loam ; only wants a little protection in 

 winter. 



B. acilloi'des (squill-like). Pale blue. May. China. 

 1819. 



BARO'METEK, or "WEATHER GLASS, so 

 called from two Greek words, signifying 

 a measurer of weight, hecause it indicates 

 the weight or pressure of the air. We 

 only admit a notice of this because, as a 

 guide to approaching changes of weather, 

 it is useful to the gardener. 



Mr. P. Christenson, of Cowes, in the 

 Isle of Wight, lecturer upon astronomy, 

 &c., has arranged a table, which no one 

 having a weather-glass should be without. 

 Its price is only one shilling, and it may 

 be had of C. Wilson, 157, Leadenhall 

 Street. This " Companion to the Ba- 

 rometer" is the result, of thirty-two years' 

 observation; and the following is an 

 epitome of the information it gives. 

 During the first six months of the year, 

 when the mercury is rising, it the weather 

 has been bad, and the mercury reaches 

 to 29.G2 inches, there will be a change ; 

 if to 30.12, the weather will be fair ; if 

 if to 30.29, set fair. If the mercury has 

 been high, and begins falling, there will 

 be a change if it declines to 29.90 ; rain, 

 if it descends to 29.50 ; and wind, with 

 rain, if it reaches 29.12. During the 

 last six months of the year, if the wea- 

 ther has been foul, and the mercury 

 begins rising, there will be a change if it 

 reaches to '29.48; fair, if to 30.13; and 

 set fair if to 30.45. If the weather has 

 been fair, and the mercury begins falling, 

 there will be a change if it sinks to 29.87 ; 

 rain, if to 29.55 ; and wind with rain, if 

 to 29.28. At any time of the year, if 

 the mercury fall to 28.10, or even to 28.20, 

 there will be stormy weather. These 

 conclusions are from observations made 

 at thirty feet above the sea's level, and, 

 therefore, one-hundredth part of an inch 

 must be added to the height of the 

 mercury for every additional ten feet 

 above the sea's level, where the barometer 

 may happen to be. 



BABO'SMA. (From barys, heavy, and 

 osme, odour; referring to the powerful 

 scent of the leaves. Nat. ord., Rueworts 

 [Kutacese]. Linn., 5-Pentandria l-Jfo- 

 noyynia. Allied to Diosma.) 



( Greenhouse evergreen shrubs, all natives of the 



' C-.'>* of Good Hope. Cuttings of half-ripened 



wuod in June, under a bell-glass, in sand, without 



heat ; sandy loam and peat. Summer temp., 60 ; 



winter, 35 to 40. 



B.betuli'na (birch -leavgd). 2. White. June. 

 1790. 



crenula'ta (scolloped- leaned). 3. Bluish. 



April. 



dioi'ca (dioecious). 2. White. June. 1815. 



latifo'tia (broad-leaved). White. July. 1789. 



ova'ta (egg-shape- Jeacsd). 2. White. May. 



1790. 



pulche'lla (neat). Purple. June. 1/87. 



BARBED. That part of a plant is said 

 to be larred which is striped with a 

 lighter or darker colour than the prevail- 

 ing colour of that part. 



BARREN PLANTS. The male flowers of 

 the cucumber, melon, and other monoe- 

 cious plants are properly known as Ian-en 

 flowers ; and the plants of the asparagus,, 

 mercury, and other dioecious plants bear- 

 ing only male flowers, are usually termed 

 barren. These are naturally unfruitful: 

 but there is also a barrenness arising 

 from disease, or the consequences of bad 

 cultivation. If a tree, or any other plant, 

 does not yield the desired produce of 

 fruit of which it is capable, the gardener 

 may be assured that the soil, or the want 

 of drainage, or the manuring, or the 

 pruning, is injurious. Even a blind or 

 barren cabbage may be made productive ;, 

 for its barrenness arises from the central 

 bud being abortive, and it will produce 

 lateral buds, if all but one leaf and the 

 place of the abortive bud be cut away. 

 When a flower has no pistil it is in- 

 curably barren. Temperature has great 

 influence over the sex of the flowers 

 produced by a monoecious dioecious plant., 

 A very high temperature caused a water- 

 melon to bear male blossoms only ; and 

 a very low temperature made cucumber- 

 plants yield female flowers alone. Mr. 

 Knight had little doubt that the same 

 fruit-stalks might be made, in the plants 

 just noticed, to support flowers of either 

 sex, in obedience to external causes. 

 Our own observations lead us to the con- 

 clusion that the cucumber and vegetable 

 marrow, when grown in too cold a. 

 temperature, produce a majority of male 

 blossoms. 



BARREN SOIL. No soil is absolutely 

 incapable of production; and when it is 

 spoken of as being barren, no more is 

 meant than that, in its present state, it 

 will not repay the cultivator. The un- 

 productiveness arises from a deficiency of 



