LICHEN. 



167 



LIGU N STRUM. 



eye alone. A piece of ground fifty 

 feet broad may have an inclination of 

 three inches, if the soil be loamy and 

 retentive ; but if it be sandy and ab- 

 sorbent, an inch and a half will be 

 sufficient. In levelling lawns, no 

 part whatever of the surface ought to 

 be on what is called a dead, or perfect 

 level ; because as the grass retains the 

 water on the surface like a sponge, if- 

 the soil be loamy, it will soon become 

 mossy and unpleasant to walk on dur- 

 ing the whole of the winter and 

 spring. All flat lawns, therefore, on 

 clayey soil, ought not only to have a 

 gentle inclination, but frequent drains, 

 the stones in which ought to be 

 brought up to within a few inches of 

 the surface. In arranging the incli- 

 nation of dug surfaces, care should be 

 taken that the water is not thrown on 

 the gravel-walks ; for which purpose 

 drains are requisite in the marginal 

 borders, — though in general, dug soil, 

 if the stratum be not retentive, is suf- 

 ficiently absorbent to render such 

 drains unnecessary, the superfluous 

 water of the subsoil finding its way 

 to the drains of the walks. 



Leyceste^ria. — Caprifoliacece, — 

 L. formbsa is a very handsome plant, 

 with long spikes of reddish flowers, 

 which will not only thrive, but grow 

 more luxuriantly in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the sea, than in any 

 other situation. It is a native of 

 Nepal ; and was introduced in 1824. 

 It was, however, soon lost through in- 

 judicious treatment—probably through 

 keeping it too warm ; but it has been 

 lately reintroduced, and it is now 

 found to grow vigorously in the open 

 ground. It is propagated by cuttings 

 and seeds. 



Liatris Composites — Weedy- 

 looking hardy perennials, with pur- 

 plish flowers, which will grow in any 

 common garden soil, and are increased 

 by dividing the roots. 



Lichen. — Cryptogamia Liche- 



nes. — Moss-like plants, generally 

 found on old walls, desert heaths, or 

 the bark of old trees ; also frequently 

 on dead wood. 



Light is as essential as air and 

 water to plants ; and without abund- 

 ance of light, plants are neither vigor- 

 ous in themselves, nor properly co- 

 loured. When greenhouse plants are 

 kept in imperfectly lighted plant- 

 houses, or in half-darkened rooms, 

 it is really painful to witness the ef- 

 forts they make to catch as much 

 light as they possibly can; their 

 stems become weak, from being unna- 

 turally elongated, or drawn up and 

 twisted, in their efforts to reach the 

 light, and their flowers are pale 

 and of very little value. In those 

 towns where the atmosphere is thick- 

 ened by coal-smoke, the light never 

 has the same beneficial effect as in 

 the open country, where there is no- 

 thing to prevent it from exercising 

 its full influence over the plants. 



Lignum Vit*:. — Guaiacum offi- 

 cinale is a tree, a native of the West 

 Indies, remarkable for the hardness 

 of its wood. It has blue flowers, 

 which are produced in succession all 

 the summer. It requires a stove in 

 England, and should be grown in a 

 mixture of peat and loam. See Guai- 

 acum. 



Ligu'strum. — OleacecB. — The 

 Privet is one of the most common, 

 but at the same time most use- 

 ful, of garden shrubs. The plant, in 

 its wild state in Britain, is deciduous ; 

 but there is a variety obtained origi- 

 nally from Italy, which is evergreen, 

 and which forms hedges for shelter of 

 every size, from those of six inches in 

 width and one foot in height, to 

 hedges ten feet high and two or three 

 feet in width. These hedges afford 

 an excellent shelter to exposed flower- 

 gardens, and also when planted on the 

 south side of a border, shady situa- 

 tions for particular kinds of plants, 



