198 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
ally used for mulching, but this year being unusually dry all the available 
manure was used for this purpose. Happening to have at command a quantity 
of marl, I gave instructions for that to be used for the purpose, and the ground 
to have a good soaking of water before the marl was applied. I find that it is 
far preferable to manure, for several reasons—it does not harbour earwigs, as 
all manure will, nor does it so soon lose the moisture, consequently the ground 
is much cooler—in fact, the plants will soon show by the colour of the foliage 
and the size of the buds, that they greatly approve of the application. 
The Cedars , Castle Btomivich. Charles James Perry. 
BOTANY FOR BEGINNERS. 
Lesson YIII. 
The plants we have hitherto been studying all belonged to the class known 
as Exogens or Dicotyledons, terms which we shall see the meaning of anon. 
Those that form the subjects of the present lesson are Endogens or Monocoty¬ 
ledons. The first example we shall take is the Iris (Iris germanica, jig. 1). 
In the preceding plants you 
have seen that the two en¬ 
velopes of the flower are dif¬ 
ferent from each other—that 
is, you can easily distinguish 
the calyx from the corolla, 
the former being green, or 
very slightly coloured, and 
the latter brightly coloured, 
and having a more or less 
powerful scent. In the flower 
of the Iris the two envelopes 
are of the same nature, and 
one could suppose, on seeing 
them coloured with brilliant 
shades, that there is no ex¬ 
terior, but only an interior 
envelope, composed of two 
series of leaves. This many 
botanists believe to be the 
case; but, whatever it may 
be, we shall continue to pre¬ 
serve the distinguishing cha¬ 
racters of calyx and corolla. 
The calyx, then, is com¬ 
posed of three richly-coloured 
leaves. These leaves are 
spreading outwards ; then 
they unite in a very slender 
tube, which loses by degrees 
its colour, becomes green, 
and is consolidated with the 
i TT Fig. 1.—Iris germanica. 
triangular ovary. Here you 
meet with the complicated union you have already seen in the Pear or the 
Apple. The calyx has formed a tube, which envelopes the ovary, apart from 
