A dictionary of modern gardening - University Library

NI E 396 NO N
eluding N. tdbacum, the well-known Tobacco.
This and nearly all the others
are hardy annuals. Seed. Rich light
loam.
NIEREMBERGIA. Four species.
Green-house herbaceous, except the
hardy annual N. aristata. Seed or cuttings.
Light loam.
NIGELLA. Fennel flower. Eleven
species. Hardy annuals and biennials,
except the herbaceous N. coarctata.
Seed. Common soil.
NIGHTSHADE. Solanum.
NIGHT-SOIL. See Dung.
NIGHT TEMPERATURE in hothouses
and frames should always average
from 10 to 20 degrees lower than
the temperature in which the plants are
grown during the day. It is in the night
that the individual functions are renovated
by a temporary repose, and if
left to the dictates of healthy nature
— —
tionably increased by the higher temperature.
Principles of Gardening.
NIPHOBOLUS. Eight species.
Stove ferns. Seed and division, Sandy
loam and peat.
NISSOLIA. Seven species. Stove
evergreen climbers and shrubs. Cuttings.
Loam and peat.
NITRATES. See Saline Manures.
NITTA TREE. Parkin.
N I V E A . Seven species. Greenhouse
evergreen shrubs. Young cuttings.
Sandy peat and loam.
NOCCA. Four species. Stove evergreen
shrubs. N. latifoUa is half-hardy.
Cuttings. Common soil.
NOCTUA, a genus of moths. The
following are injurious to our gar-
dens :
N. gamma. The Y, or Gamma Moth.
The caterpillars of this are very destructive
to pens and other kitchen vegetables
during the summer. Mr. Cur-
the sap, like the blood, flows at night, tis describes it as "being beset with
with a much diminished velocity
That plants do become exhausted by
too unremitting excitement, is proved
to every gardener who has peach-
houses under his rule ;
for if the greatest
care be not taken to ripen the wood
by exposure to the air and light during
the summer, no peach tree will be fruitful
if forced during a second successive
winter, but will require a much more
increased temperature than at first to
excite it even to any advance in vegeta-
tion.
The experiments of Harting and
Munter upon vines growing in the open
air, and those of Dr. Lindley upon vines
in a hot-house, coincide in testifying
that this tree grows most during the less
light and cooler hours of the twentyfour.
But the hours of total darkness
were the period when the vine grew
slowest. This, observes Dr. Lindley,
seems to show the danger of employing
a high night temperature, which forces
such plants into growing fast at a time
when nature bids them repose.
That the elevation of temperature at
night does hurtfully excite plants is
proved by the fact, that the branch of a
vine kept at that period of the day in
temperature not higher than 50°, inhales
from one-sixteenth to one-tenth
less oxygen than a similar branch of the
same vine during the same night in a
temperature of 75'. The exhalation of
moisture and carbonic acid is propor-
—
greenish hairs, and on the back with
yellow or white ones. It has a brown
head. When fully grown, which takes
place in the course of a few weeks, it
forms a while cocoon, and changes into
a blackish brown pupa.
" There are three or four generations
of moths during the summer, which appear
at intervals between April and
October. In the latter month, we have
seen them fluttering round flowers at
dusk literally by thousands : this remark
applies more particularly to the southern
counties of England. The wings are
about an inch across, the upper ones
are varied with grey and brown, having
quite a silvery hue, and towards the
centre there is a perfect silvery Greek
gamma, y, with a rusty spot close before
it, the lower wings are pale ashy
brown, with the nerves and hinder margin
deep brown. There are few remedies
that can be applied to this pest;
perhaps the best of all is hand-picking
the caterpillars. Gard. Chron.
N. exclamationis. The caterpillar
of this moth feeds on the
potato.
stalks of the
NOISETTIA /o«g-//"o//a. Stove evergreen
shrub. Young cuttings. Light
rich soil.
N O L A N A. Five species. Hardy
annual trailers. Seed. Common soil.
NOLINA georgiana. Hardy herbaceous.
Offsets. Sandy peat.
NONATELIA. Four species. Stove