BAR 



[114] 



BAR 



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 Astrono- 

 my, &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 Barometer" 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, if the wea- 

 ther has been bad, and the mercury 

 reaches to 29.62 inches, there will be a 

 change ; if to 30.12, the weather will be 

 fair ; if to 30.29, set fair. If the mer- 

 cury has been high, and begins fatting, 

 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 weather 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 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. 



BAHO'SMA. (From barys, heavy, and 

 osme, odour; referring to the powerful 

 scent of the leaves. Nat. ord., Rueworts 

 [Rutaceae]. Linn., 5-Pentandria, \~Mo- 

 nogynia. Allied to Diosma). Green- 

 house evergreen shrubs, all natives of 

 the Cape of Good Hope. Cuttings of 

 half-ripened wood, in June, under a bell- 

 glass, in sand, without heat; sandy loam 

 and peat. Summer temp., 60 ; winter, 

 35 40. 



B. betulfna (birch-leaved). 2. White. June. 

 1790. 



crenula' ia (round-notch-Jeaverf) . 3. Bluish. 



April. 



diof ca (dioecious). 2. White. June. 1816. 



B. latifo'lia (broad-leaved). White. July. 



1789. 

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



1790. 

 pulche'lla (neat). Purple. June. 1787. 



BARRED. That part of a plant is said 

 to be barred which is striped with a 

 lighter or darker colour than the prevail- 

 ing colourof that part. 



BARREN PLANTS. The male flowers 

 of the cucumber, melon, and other mo- 

 noecious plants, are properly known as 

 barren flowers ; and the plants of the 

 asparagus, mercury, and other dioecious 

 plants bearing only male flowers, are 

 usually termed barren. These are na- 

 turally 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 inju- 

 rious. Even a blind or barren cabbage 

 may be made productive ; for its barren- 

 ness 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 incurably barren. Tem- 

 perature has great influence over the sex 

 of the flowers produced by a monoecious 

 dioecious plant. A very high temperature 

 caused a watermelon to bearmale 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 

 some of the earths ; from an excess or de- 

 ficiency of animal and vegetable matters ; 

 or from an excess of stagnant water. No 

 soil can be productive where nineteen 

 parts out of twenty are of any one earth 



