A dictionary of modern gardening - University Library

LEI 347 LEO
Scotch or Flag, which is larger and
hardier; and the Flanders.
Time and Mode of Sowing.—It is
raised solely from seed, which may be
sown at any time during the spring.
These sowings are performed in general
broadcast and raked in, though
some gardeners employ drills, the plants
to remain after thinning; the Leek,
however, is so much benefitted by ,
transplanting as obviously to point out
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be weeded, hoed, and thinned, where I "
growing too close, to two or three inches
apart; water also being given, in
dry weather, will, with the above treatment,
strengthen and forward them for
transplanting in another month, or
when six or eight inches high. They
must be taken away regularly from the
,
—
oceris aisparagi is thus described by Mr.
Curtis :
"The larva which abound from June
to September, not only eat off all the
leaves, bat even gnaw the rind from the
stem of the plants.
" The eggs are oval, and fixed on
the plants °by one of their ends, one
being sometimes attached to the end
of another. The larva; are hatched in
a little time; they are short, thick, and
fleshy, covered with hairs, wrinkled,
ash-coloured, with black head and legs;
they move very slowly, and when
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the error of this practice.
Cultivation.—When the plants are
three or four inches in height, in eight
or ten weeks after sowing, they must
seed bed ; the ground being well wa-
alarmed emit a blackish fluid from
their mouth.
When full grown, the larvse go into
the ground, where they contract a
thick cocoon, in which they assume the
pupa state. In a short time the perfect
insect appears. It is about a quarter
of an inch long, of a blue black
colour, with cream coloured or yellow
spots on the wing cases, and a red
thorax. To lessen the ravages of the
insect, little more can be done than to
collect them by hand-picking or by
shaking them into a net. As many
beetles, however, may be found at the
time the Asparagus is cut, we recommend
that all these should be destroyed
they have an opportunity of de-
tered previously, if not soft and easily
yielding. VVhe'n thinned out they may
be left to remain in the seed bed six
inches asunder, as they do not grow so
large as the transplanted ones, which
must be set by the dibble in rows ten
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inches apart, and eight in the lines,
1 before
being inserted nearly down to the
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leaves, that the neck, by being covered
with the earth, may be blanched wa-
;
ter in abundance must be given at the
and j
time of planting, and the long weak ! the
positing their eggs."— Ga?d. Chron. _
LEONOTIS. Four species. L. in-
\termedia is a stove evergreen shrub;
two are stove annuals, requiring
usual treatment of tender annuals.
leaves shortened, but the roots left as
Cuttings or seed. Loam and peat. L.
uninjured as possible. The bed is hoed
leonurus is a green-house evergreen
over occasionally with advantage, as
shrub, requiring the following treatwell
to kill the weeds as to loosen the
soil. By this treatment, and by cutting
' ment
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oif the tops of the leaves about once a
month, as new ones are produced, the ,
:
" I Strike from cuttings in May keep
;
in a forty-eight pot during the winter ;
1 in
the beginning of April put into a pot
neck swells to a much larger size. The I thirteen inches in diameter, and place
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several sowings above directed will
in a forcing frame kept at a tempera-
vield a supply from August until the ,
ture varying from 73" to 50°; here re-
following ^May, when they advance to
j main for about seven weeks, when
seed. A portion should be always
remove to the green-house.
taken up and laid in sand previous to " After the end of June, force as
the ground being locked up by contin- !
much as possible by keeping the house
ued frost, but they will not keep many
shut up during the day, so as to con-
days in this situation. i
centrate all the heat which can be
LEIANTHUS Nigrescens. Green- obtained from the sun, but no fire lighthouse
biennial. Seed. Light rich loam. ed except during cold nights in Sep-
LEIMANTHIUM. Three species. tember and October; 120'^ is not too
Hardy herbaceous. Seed. Wet peat 1 groat for it, provided it has plenty of
water; never suffer the surface of the
soil.
LEMA asptragi. The Asparagus earth to become dry, and generally
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Beetle, by some naturalists called Cri- keep about an inch of water in the
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