MAN 



[578] 



MAN 



30. East j 



M. sacci'fera (sugary. Wine-palm). 

 Indies. 1823. 



MA'NIHOT. (The Brazilian name of 

 the root. Nat. ord., Spurgeworts [Eu- 

 phorbiacese] . Linn., Sl-Moncecia 7- 

 Heptandria. Allied to Jatropha.) 



Stove evergreen shrubs, except digitata, I 

 which only requires a greenhouse; all the ! 

 species placed under Janipha should be re- | 

 stored to this genus. For culture, see Janipha 

 and Jatropha. 



M. digita'ta (finger-leaved). Blue, green. July, j 

 Australia. 1820. 



graci'lis (slender). Brown, green. July. 



Brazil. 1822. 



sinua'ta (wavy-edged). Brown. July. 



Brazil. 1824. 



tenuifo'lia (thin-leaved). Blue, brown. 



June. Brazil. 1822. 



MANTI'SIA. Opera Girls. (Named 

 after an insect, Mantis, to which the | 

 flowers have been compared. Nat. ord., j 

 Gingenvorts [Zingiberaceee]. Linn., 1- | 

 Monandria \-Monogynia. Allied to 

 Ginger.) 



Stove herbaceous evergreens, from the East 

 Indies. Division of the roots, as growth com- 

 mences ; sandy peat and fibry loam, well 

 drained. Winter temp., 48 to 55; summer, 

 60 to 85. 



M. saltato'ria (dancing). 1. Purple. July. 

 1808. 



spatula'ta (spatulate). 1. Blue. June. 1823. 



MANGO GINGER. Curcu'ma ama'da. 



MANGOSTEEN. Garci'nia. 



MANGO TREE. See MangVfera. 



MANGROVE. Rhizo'phora. 



MANNA. AUia'gi. 



MANNA ASH. O'rnus rotund'ifo'lia. 



MANU'LEA. (From manus, the hand ; 

 from a faint resemblance in the divi- 

 sions of the flower. Nat. ord., Figirorts 

 [Scrophulariacece]. Linn., \-Didy- 

 namia 2-Angiospei-mia. Allied to Chce- 

 nostoma.) 



Greenhouse evergreens, from the Cape of 

 Good Hope. Several species are taken from 

 this genus and added to Lype'ria. Seeds, sown 

 in spring, in a slight hotbed ; cuttings of the 

 young shoots, firm at their base, in sand, under 

 a bell-glass, but without bottom-heat ; sandy 

 loam, and peat, and leaf-mould. Winter temp., 

 38 to 48. 



M. cheiru'nthus (Wall- flower). 1. Orange. 

 August. 1795. 



corda'ta (newt-leaved). $. Red. July. 1816. 



ru'bra (red). 1$. Red. June. 1790. 



visco'sa (clammy). 1. Pink. September. 



1774. 



MANURES are either animal, vege- 

 table, or mineral. They directly assist 

 the growth of plants, by entering into 



their composition, by absorbing and re- 

 taining moisture from the atmosphere, 

 by absorbing the gases of the atmo- 

 sphere, and by stimulating the vascular 

 system of the plants. Manures indi- 

 rectly assist vegetation, by lulling pre- 

 datory vermin and weeds, by promoting 

 the decomposition of stubborn organic 

 remains in the soil, and by protecting 

 plants from violent changes of tem- 

 perature. 



All these properties seldom, if ever, 

 occur in one species of manure, but 

 each is usually particularized by pos- 

 sessing one or more in a superior 

 degree. That is the most generally 

 applicable manure which is composed 

 of matters essential to the growth of 

 plants ; the chief of these are carbon, 

 hydrogen, and oxygen, therefore all 

 animal and vegetable substances are 

 excellent manures. It would evidently 

 be of great benefit, if every plant could 

 be manured with the decaying parts of 

 its own species. This rule might be 

 so far followed, as that the stems of 

 potatoes, peas, &c., could be dug re- 

 spectively into the compartments where 

 those crops are intended to be grown 

 in the following year; but such manure 

 requires the addition of ammoniacal 

 salts. 



Some manures ameliorate a soil by 

 absorbing moisture from the atmo- 

 sphere. This property is at least as 

 beneficial to ground that is aluminous 

 as to that which is siliceous ; for it is 

 equally useless to either during periods 

 of plentiful rain; but in the drought 

 of summer, when moisture is much 

 wanting to plants, it is beneficial to 

 both ; in very dry seasons it is even of 

 > greater importance to clayey than to 

 i light soils ; for vegetation on the former 

 suffers more from long - continued 

 1 drought than on the latter, the surface 

 of the clayey soil becoming caked and 

 impervious to air, the only grand source 

 of compensatory moisture that is avail- 

 able to the languishing plants, and 

 which is more open to those which 

 grow on light, and, consequently, more 

 pervious soils. 



The foUowing table of the compara- 

 tive absorbent powers of many manures 

 is extracted chiefly from An Essay on 



