EARTHS. 



90 



EARWIG. 



made from the points of the shoots ; 

 and when these grow, other cuttings 

 are made from their shoots. In this 

 way small compact plants are ob- 

 tained, the wood of which may be 

 more easily ripened than that of large 

 plants, and which seldom fail to pro- 

 duce flowers and fruit. Professor 

 Van Mons practised this mode of 

 dwarfing to obtain fruit from his seed- 

 ling pears sooner than he could other- 

 wise have done. 



Another mode of dwarfing trees 

 and shrubs, is by grafting them on 

 other low-growing species of the same, 

 or some nearly allied, genus : thus, for 

 example, the common horse-chestnut, 

 JEsculm Hippocastanum, may be 

 grafted on Pavia humilis, which does 

 not grow above three or four feet 

 high ; the Azarole, or any of the large 

 American thorns, might be grafted on 

 Cratcegus parviflora, or C. viridis, 

 which are about two feet high ; and 

 the common British, or any of the 

 large-growing American oaks, on the 



the Bear oak, Quercus Bannisteri, 

 or ilicifolia, which grows to the 

 height of about three feet. 



Herbaceous plants, whether annual 

 or perennial, may be dwarfed, by 

 growing them first in very small 

 pots, and shifting them into others 

 pots, gradually increasing in size 

 every time ; taking care that each pot 

 shall be well drained, and that the 

 soil used to fill up the pots shall be a 

 rich sandy loam. Thus treated, and 

 supplied with abundance of water, 

 which is not suffered to remain round 

 the roots, and kept in an open situa- 

 tion, where they can have plenty of 

 light and air, and not be exposed to 

 cold winds, all herbaceous plants will 

 become bushy and compact, and will 

 produce flowers at the extremity of 

 every shoot ; while on the contrary, 

 if suffered to remain in small pots, 

 they will become drawn up, with 

 weak naked stems, and produce com- 

 paratively few flowers. 



E. 



Earths. — Most amateur gardeners 

 confound the words earth and soil ; 

 but they are quite distinct. There 

 are only three primitive earths, — viz., 

 lime, sand, and clay ; and these, by 

 the admixture of other substances, 

 and particularly of decayed animal 

 or vegetable matter, become soils. 

 Thus lime, by absorbing carbon, 

 changes to chalk, and becomes the 

 basis of all calcareous soils ; and clay, 

 mixed with a little sand, and decayed 

 animalsand vegetables, becomes loam. 

 When sand predominates in this com- 

 position, or when pure sand is added 

 to it, the soil is called sandy loam, 

 and this is the very best of all soils 

 for vegetation ; and when chalk or 

 lime is added, instead of an extra pro. 

 portion of sand, the soil is called cal- 



careous loam, and is admirably suited 

 for culinary vegetables, &c, and some 

 kinds of flowers. . Gravel is a kind 

 of coarse sand ; and sandstone, sand 

 in a solid state. Peat is not properly 

 an earth, but decayed vegetable mat- 

 ter, which has been saturated with 

 water while the process of decompo- 

 sition was going on. 



Earth Pea. — Ldthyrus amphi- 

 carpos. — An annual pea, which forms 

 part of its flowers and pods under 

 ground ; and which, though not very 

 beautiful, is often cultivated for its 

 singularity. It is a hardy annual, 

 and should be sown in March or 

 April. 



Earwig. — Forfi'cula auricula- 

 ris. — A well-known insect, that, by 

 a singular chance, has obtained a bad 



