A dictionary of modern gardening - University Library

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AC A n ACC
Arachnidae. The following arc the
chief of those known to the gardener.
Acarus tellarhta, the Red Spide7-, is one
of the gardener's most troublesome
foes. Its colour varies from yellowish
to red-brown, and though almost invisible
from its minuteness, yet it preys
most destructively upon some trees and
herbaceous plants in our hot-houses,
jis well as upon the kidney-bean, lime
tree, &c., out of doors in dry summers.
A. holosericeus is another species, distinguishable
to an unscienced eye
chiefly by its scarlet colour. To destroy
them in the hothouse, there is no
plan so effectual as heating the flues or
pipes, and sprinkling upon them sulpliur.
The air is thus gently impregnated
with the vapour of sulphur, for it
liegins to evaporate at a heat of 170^.
This vapour is fatal to the insect where
the air is thoroughly impregnated with
it, and the work of destruction is completed
by syringing the infested plants
with water. This last is the only practical
remedy to plants in our borders,
unless they can be covered over so that
the fumes may be confined, whilst the
sulphur is volatilized over a hot-water
plate. Potted plants maybe submitted
to the vapour of sulphur in a similar
way. The vapour of spirit of turpentine
is said to be as effectual- as sulphur.
Acarm hortcnsis, the Garden Mite, thorax
ochreous, abdomen white, has been
found upon the roots of the cucumber,
upon w hich it is said to prey. I believe
it to be the same Acarus often so abundant
upon the root of cabbages affected
with the Ambury. A. genicvlatus is a
minute, red, shining mite, gregarious,
and congregating during spring in prodigious
numbers upon the bark of the
plum and other fruit trees, near the base
of the twigs, and looking like a gummy
exudation. By extracting the sap they
doubtless weaken the tree, and reduce
its productiveness.
ACER. Maple.
Card. Chron.
Twenty- seven species,
all hardy trees except Acer ob/ongUTfi,
which is half-hardy. The Sugar
Maple, A. saccharinum of the American
forests, is perhaps one of the finest
fpecies. It forms a full round head, its
deep green leaves changing in autumn
to many shades of orange. The Silver
Maple, A. dcsycarpum, is a light airy
tree, of quick growth, and extensively
planted in the streets of Philadelphia.
A. platanoides, or Norway Maple, and
A. pseudo-platanoides, or Sycamore, are
also desirable varieties. Seed, cuttings,
and layers. Common light garden soil.
ACERAS. Two species, both tuberous-rooted
hardy perennials. Seeds.
Light loam.
ACERATIUM oppositifolium. Stove
evergreen shrub. Peat and loam. Cut-
tings.
ACETARIOUS PLANTS. Salading.
ACCLIMATIZATION is rendering a
plant capable of the production desired
in a climate differing from that in which
it is native. In our climate it is usually
required to induce a plant to endure
lower temperatures than those to which
it has been accustomed, and this, though
some are intractable, is more easy than
is inducing the natives of colder regions
to live in our latitudes. When a
new plant arrives from a tropical country,
it is desirable to use every precau-
tion to avoid its loss, but so soon as it
has been propagated from, and the danger
of such loss is removed, from that
moment ought experiments to commence,
to ascertain whether its acclimatization
is attainable. That this should
be done is self-evident; tor the nearer
such a desirable point can be attained,
the cheaper will be its cultivation, and
consequently the greater will be the
number of those who will be able to derive
pleasure from its growth. Hence
it is very desirable that an extended se-
ries of experiments should be instituted,
to ascertain decisively whether many of
our present green-house plants would
not endure exposure to our winters, if
but slightly or not at all protected. It
may be laid down as a rule, that all
Japan plants will do so in the southern
states, but it remains unascertained to
what degree of northern latitude this
general^ power of endurance extends.
Experiment, and experimentonly, ought
to be relied upon ; for we know that
the larch was once kept in a greenhouse
in England. Many tropical
plants of every order and species, have
been found to require much less heat,
both during the day and during the
night, than gardeners of a previous century
believed. Other plants than those
already noticed have passed from the
tropics to our parterres, and even to
those of higher northern latitudes. The
horse chestnut is a native of the tropics,
but it endures uninjured the stern climate
of Sweden. Aucuba Japonica and