BARK. 



25 



BAUHINIA. 



months ; and when the heat begins to 

 decline, fresh bark is added from the 

 reserve stock in the shed. The bark- 

 bed may be of any dimensions in re- 

 gard of length and width, but it should 

 seldom be more than two feet in depth, 

 to prevent an excess of beat. The 

 plants in pots are generally plunged 

 in it, at first to half the depth of the 

 pot, and afterwards to the rim. Sub- 

 stitutes for bark are stable dung, 

 leaves of trees, chaff, and any other 

 vegetable or animal substances which 

 ferment in decaying; and in large 

 towns the sweepings of streets may be 

 used, as these, in some of the London 

 gardens, are found to produce a steady 

 and durable beat in hot-beds and pits, 

 during the summer months. The 

 best substitute for the peculiar heat of 

 the bark is, however, a mass of stones 

 heated by steam, or a mass of soil, 

 or sand, heated by pipes of hot water. 



Bark, or Moist Stove. — A plant 

 structure with a glass roof, and a bed 

 or pit in its centre, containing a mass 

 of fermenting matter, or of earth or 

 sand, heated by artificial means, in 

 which plants in pots are to be plunged. 

 The plants grown in such houses 

 being natives of the warmest parts of 

 tropical countries, the temperature in 

 a bark-stove should never be lower 

 than 60°, and during summer it may 

 rise as high as 80 or 90°. In general, 

 the heat ougbt to be greatest in the 

 day-time, and during bright sunshine, 

 and least during night, throughout the 

 year. To supply the air in the house 

 with sufficient moisture, the floors of 

 the passages should be frequently 

 watered ; and to facilitate the same 

 object, and to subdue insects, the 

 plants should be syringed or watered 

 over head, most days in the year, and 

 especially in the summer season, about 

 3 o'clock in tbe afternoon. After 

 this watering the house should be 

 shut up for the night; excepting when 

 the weather is very warm, when some 



air may be given by opening the 

 sashes at 8 or 9 o'clock at night, and 

 leaving them open till the following 

 morning, at 6 or 7. Independently of 

 the bark-bed, the air of the moist stove 

 requires to be heated by pipes of hot 

 water or steam, or by smoke-flues ; 

 the first mode being found by expe- 

 rience to be best. 



Barrow. See Wheel- barrow and 

 Hand barrow. 



Bartonia.-- Loasacece. — B. aurea 

 is a new and splendid annual, with 

 golden yellow flowers, which have 

 quite a metallic lustre when the sun 

 shines upon them. The seed-pod 

 is curiously twisted. Like all the Ca- 

 lifornian annuals, it is very apt to die 

 off if the roots become at all withered 

 by drought, or if the collar of tbe 

 plant be exposed to the full heat of 

 the sun ; and it thus does best when 

 grown in masses, so that the ground 

 may be quite covered with its leaves. 



B. albescens has greenish white 

 flowers, and is not worth growing. 

 (See Annuals.) 



Bast, or Bass. — The inner bark of 

 the lime-tree, separated by steeping 

 the bark in water till it can be rea- 

 dily pulled asunder into ribands or 

 strands ; these are hung up for some 

 months in the shade, and they are 

 then woven into mats. The manu- 

 facture of these mats is confined to 

 Russia and some parts of Sweden, 

 where the name for bark is bast. 



Bastard Acacia. — See Robinia. 



Bay Tree. — See Laurus. 



Bastard Saffron . - SccCarthamus. 



Batatas. — The sweet potato; a 

 kind of Convolvulus, the root of 

 which is eaten. 



Bauhinia.— Leguminosce. — Moun- 

 tain Ebony. Stove shrubs, mostly 

 with white flowers, and remarkable 

 for their leaves always being produced 

 in twins, on which account the genus 

 was named in compliment to J. and 



C. Bauhin, both eminent botanists. 



