MOSSHOUSES. 



187 



MOUNTAIN ASH. 



rangiferina, the reindeer moss, 

 which is found on the ash, and on 

 many other trees, and is white. This 

 moss also grows in great abundance 

 on poor gravelly soils among heath, 

 for example, on Bagshot Heath. — 

 Near London any quantity of the 

 green moss, and also of the yellow 

 kind, may he purchased in Covent 

 Garden market; and the reindeer moss, 

 if ordered from local nurserymen ad- 

 joining heaths, may be collected by 

 the same persons who supply them 

 with the other mosses. Almost 

 everything in an affair of this kind 

 must be left to the fancy of the de- 

 signer. Some of the handsomest moss- 

 houses in England have been erected 

 in Bagshot Park, the seat of the 

 Duchess of Gloucester, by Her Royal 

 Highness's very intelligent gardener, 

 Mr. Toward. Mosshouses must not 

 be confounded with roothouses, which 

 are formed with fantastic roots, or 

 with woodhouses, which are formed 

 with branches of trees with the bark 

 on. When a mosshouse is to be 

 erected, the first thing to be done is 

 to make a drawing of the effect that 

 it is intended to produce, and then to 

 prepare the frame. If the moss- 

 house is to be only a kind of alcove 

 open in front and without windows, 

 it will be easy to get some wood, and 

 any man-servant who can use a saw 

 and a hammer can put it together; 

 but if it is to have a door and windows, 

 a regular carpenter must be called in. 

 In the first case, young pine and 

 larch tree8 that have been cut down 

 in thinning plantations, will do very 

 well. When the framework is com- 

 pleted, lathes must be nailed across 

 the compartments, between which the 

 moss is thrust with a wooden knife, 

 or blunt chisel, the root end being 

 lowest. The great art consists in 

 arranging the moss so as to form a 

 pattern ; and this is accomplished by 

 sorting the moss into heaps of the 



different colours, tracing the pattern 

 rudely on the lathes, and keeping a 

 coloured copy of the design before the 

 operator. The moss should be so 

 contrived as completely to hide the 

 lathes, and it should also be pushed 

 in to a sufficient depth to be quite 

 firm. The lines of the figure should 

 be quite distinct, and the colours 

 clear, and well contrasted. 



Mould. — Thoroughly decomposed 

 leaves cr putrescent manure, mixed 

 with sand or other light soil, is called 

 mould, which is chiefly distinguished 

 from soils by its containing but a 

 small portion of earthy matter : hence 

 we have leaf mould, composed chiefly 

 of rotten leaves ; dung mould, of dung 

 reduced to a dry powdery matter, and 

 heath mould, consisting of the black 

 vegetable soil found on the surface of 

 heaths, and always more or less mixed 

 with sand. The two first kinds of 

 mould are used for growing plants 

 which in cultivation are considerably 

 removed from a state of nature, such 

 as Pelargoniums, China Roses, Fuch- 

 sias, Balsams, Petunias, and a great 

 many others; and the heath mould 

 is used in the culture of heaths and of 

 Ericaceae, and more or less in most 

 New Holland and Cape shrubs, and 

 in bulbs. In general, all plants what- 

 ever, from the oak to the moss, will 

 grow in heath mould alone, and 

 therefore it is a particularly useful soil 

 in which to raise seedlings ; and in 

 this respect it differs materially from 

 leaf mould and dung mould, in which 

 they will not grow. Garden mould 

 is composed of decayed vegetables and 

 manure, mixed with the finer part 

 of the soil, thoroughly pulverized 

 by repeated digging, raking, and 

 hoeing. 



Mountain Ash. — Pyrus aucupa- 

 ria. — A well-known tree, very orna- 

 mental in shrubberies for the abund- 

 ance of red berries with which it is 

 covered every autumn. It is quite 



