MOS 



C 615 ] 



MOW 



MOSCHO'SMA. (From moschos, musk, 

 and osme, smell. Nat. ord., Labiates 

 [Lamiacese]. Linn., l-i-Didynamia l- 

 Gymnospermia. Allied to Ocymum.) 



Tender annual. Seeds, in a hotbed, in be- 

 ginning of April ; seedlings potted and grown 

 in greenhouse in summer, or placed in the open 

 border in June, in a sheltered place ; light, rich, 

 sandy soil. 



M. ocymoi'des (Ocymum -like). !. White. 

 August. 1823. 



Moss is useful to the gardener for 

 packing round the roots of plants; and 

 even some bulbous roots and orchids 

 are cultivated in it ; but when it infests 

 the trunks of trees, or our lawns, it is 

 one of the gardener's pests. 



Mossy lawns are on a soil which is 

 unable to support a greensward of 

 grass. When soil is exhausted, grasses 

 begin to die off, and their place is taken 

 by moss. The obvious mode, then, of 

 proceeding, is to give the lawn a good 

 top-dressing in winter, either of malt- 

 dust, or nitrate of soda, or soot, or any 

 manure containing an abundance of 

 alkali. The gardener finds the growth 

 of moss arrested by frequent raking in 

 wet weather, or by the application of 

 pounded oyster-shells ; but these are 

 mere palliatives, and not remedies. 

 Make your grass healthy, and it will 

 soon smother the moss. 



The most effectual, most salutary, 

 and least disagreeable remedy for moss 

 on trees is of trivial expense, and which 

 a gardener need but try upon one in- 

 dividual to insure its adoption. It is 

 with a hard scrubbing-brush, dipped in 

 a strong brine of common salt, as often 

 as necessary to insure each portion of 

 the bark being moistened with it, to 

 scrub the trunks and branches of his 

 trees, at least, every second year. It 

 most effectually destroys insects of all 

 kinds, and moss ; and the stimulating 

 influence of the application, and the 

 friction, are productive of the most 

 beneficial effects. The expense is not 

 so much as that of dressing the trunks 

 with a solution of lime, which, however 

 efficient in the destruction of moss, is 

 not so in the removal of insects, and is 

 highly injurious to the trees, by filling 

 up the respiratory pores of the epi- 

 dermis, and is decidedly a promoter of 

 canker. 



On gravel tvalks, a strong solution of 

 sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) has 

 been found the most effectual destroyer 

 of moss. 



MOTH. Vcrba'scum blatta'ria. 



MOTHEEWOET. Leono'tis. 



MOTHS, of most kinds, are the pa- 

 rents of caterpillars preying upon some 

 plant under the gardener's care, and 

 should be destroyed whenever dis 

 covered. 



MOTTLED UMBEE MOTH. Geome'tra. 



MOULDINESS is the common term 

 applied to that crop of fungi which 

 appears on moist putrescent vegetable 

 matters. These fungi are Mucores, and 

 are effectually destroyed whenever com- 

 mon salt or sulphur can be applied. 



MOUNTAIN ASH. Py'rus aucupa'ria. 



MOUNTAIN EBONY. Bauhi'nia. 



MOUSE-EAR. Hiera'cium stoloni'fe- 

 rum. 



MOUSE THOEN. Centa'urca myaca'n- 

 tha. 



MOWING is, next to digging, the most 

 laborious of the gardener's employ- 

 ments ; and requires much practice, as 

 well as an extremely sharp scythe, be- 

 fore he can attain to the art of shaving 

 the lawn or grass-plot smoothly and 

 equally. A mowing machine has been 

 invented by Mr. Budding and others, 

 and is represented in this outline. It 

 cuts, collects, and rolls the grass at the 

 same time, and is better than the scythe 

 for mossy lawns. 



Mowing is most easily performed 

 whilst the blades of grass are wet, as 

 they then cling to the scythe, and are 

 consequently erect against its cutting 

 edge. The operation, therefore, should 

 be performed early in the morning, be- 

 fore the dew has evaporated, or whilst 

 the grass is wet from rain or artificial 

 watering. See Scythe. 



