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Clever Tricks
A drop of mineral oil on corn silk will keep out worms. Apply to tip of each ear when silks begin to brown, with a medicine dropper, pump-type oil can with a long spout, or a plastic dishwashing detergent bottle. Do it a total of about three times, once every five or six days. What’s lazy about this, you wonder? When you harvest the corn, most of the silk will come off with the husk for worm-free and silk-free ears.
If you can prevent plant disease with good cultural practices, then you’ll never need to use extra time to fight them: Read the rest of this entry »
Half-used packages of seed lie before you. Will you take a chance and plant them next year? What if few germinate? That would be a waste of time and energy. You can throw the old seeds away and start with fresh packets each spring, or you can test the leftovers to find out which batches are still viable.
Dampen a paper towel. Lay ten seeds of the same variety on it. Cover with another damp paper towel. To provide continuing moisture, either mist occasionally with water or roll the towel gently and place it in a plastic bag. Label it and put it in a warm place, next to rising yeast dough, perhaps. After the germination time has elapsed (find it on the package), count the number of seeds that have sprouted. Seven or eight is a good number. If fewer than 50 percent have germinated, order new seed. Read the rest of this entry »
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Hire your children to save the garden from Japanese beetles. Pay them a penny a bug. In the evening, when the beetles won’t fly away, the kids can tiptoe along and brush them from plant foliage into jars of kerosene. Bet they won’t even be able to count their catch! Meanwhile, you can relax with a long novel or take in the evening news.
If Japanese beetle grubs are destroying your lawn, introduce milky spore disease, a microbial attack against the larval form of this insect. A little energy invested this year is well spent. Put a teaspoon in the ground every three feet for several years’ protection. It’s death to the grubs, but leaves the earthworm population untouched. Read the rest of this entry »
There are many different types of pine tree. Pinus sylvestris, one of the varieties used to produce essential oil, grows widely throughout Europe and the USSR, the main distillation centres being in Austria and the USSR.
Steam distillation of pine needles produces a colourless oil with a strong odour reminiscent of balsam.
Powerful antiseptic for the respiratory tract in cases of colds, influenza, pneumonia, asthma, sinusitis, bronchitis and laryngitis Read the rest of this entry »
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This is a small plant found in the eastern Mediterranean countries, southern Europe and north Africa.
Steam distillation of the flowers and leaves produces an oil that ranges in colour from pale yellow to rich amber. It has a warm, spicy aroma.
Geranium Origins
Of the 700 different varieties of geranium, around seven are used to produce essential oils. The most exquisitely scented essential oil is Geranium Bourbon, which is obtained from Reunion, an island in the Indian Ocean that produces half the world’s total supply, and Algeria.
Geranium Essential oil
Steam distillation of the leaves and stems, gathered before flowering, produces a yellowish green to brown oil with a powerful aroma. It is a joyful, mentally uplifting oil and a great favourite. Its perfume makes it a valuable addition to many therapeutic but otherwise unattractively scented oils. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: An evergreen subtropical tree, 3-6 m high, with a spherical, irregular crown. Branches are thick and usually thorny. Elliptical leaves have a short, unwinged petiole. Young leaves and flower buds are pink; older leaves are light green, and opened flowers are white. Fragrant flowers, 40-50 mm in diameter, growing individually or in sparse panicles in the leaf axils. Fruit is a berry, at each end narrowing into conical points, with light green to yellow rind. Rind is thick, not easy to peel, with a pleasant, fresh scent. Pulp usually consists of 8-10 segments containing vesicles with a sharp, sour, aromatic juice. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: An annual plant with an erect, branched stem 40-50 cm high. Leaves are sessile and hairy. Large, orange-yellow terminal flower-heads appear from June till autumn. Cultivated plants often flower profusely. Fruits are small, ridged or crescent-like involuted achenes, spiky on the dorsal side.
Origin and Distribution: Native to the Mediterranean region, and cultivated throughout Europe. Only rarely found wild. Grows in all moist soils, but requires full sun. It is propagated from seed. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: An evergreen tropical tree, about 8-12 m high. Leaves are ellipsoid, 7 —20 cm long. Yellow flowers, with lingulate petals approximately 7 cm long, usually form clusters on older wood. Fruit is similar to olives; ripe fruit is black, containing several flat seeds.
Origin and Distribution: Originally grew wild only in Malaysia; now cultivated in numerous tropical countries. The main producers of the cananga volatile oils were the Philippines, later Java. At present Reunion has a production monopoly. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: An annual plant with erect, branched, smooth stems becoming woody during the ripening period. Reaches a height of 100-150 cm, according to the variety and habitat. Leaves are mostly oblong-lanceolate, dentate to serrate. Orange tubular florets form flower-heads about 1.5 to 3 cm in diameter. Fruit is an oblong glossy achene with 4 slightly prominent ribs on the surface. Each achene contains one oily seed. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A fragrant tropical grass 120-150 cm high, forming massive tufts. Reproduced by root division, as it rarely forms seeds.
Origin and Distribution: Native to tropical Asia where it has long been grown around houses as a simple means of perfuming the air. Several varieties are cultivated in plantations in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A tropical branching tree up to 12 m high. Evergreen, leathery leaves are ovoid, acuminate, on long petioles. Tiny greenish-yellow flowers arranged in axillary panicles on long pedicels. Fruit are dark red, pea-sized berries.
Origin and Distribution: Native to Taiwan, China and Japan, and successfully cultivated in Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Florida, as it grows well in all warm regions. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A low, subtropical, evergreen tree; its leaves resemble those of the lemon tree, but the petioles are winged. No thorns. Flowers and flower buds are pure white on both sides. Unlike the lemon tree which flowers, several times a year, bergamot flowers only once a year. Mature fruits are yellow, globose or broadly pyriform; in some cultivars (Terminello) the style remains on the fruit until ripe. Pulp is sour, with a pleasant scent. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: Like numerous other species of this genus, Eucalyptus globulus is a robust, evergreen tree about 70 m high. The young leaves are opposite, sessile, cordiform-ovoid, and hoary blue in colour, while older leaves are alternate, 15-25 cm long, narrow and curved like a sickle. Large solitary white flowers appear in the leaf axils. They have a woody calyx, which forms a peripheral circular collar, and a corolla forming a thick, dish-like conical cap which falls off after the stamens unfold. All parts of the tree are abundantly permeated with cells bearing the pungent volatile oil. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A robust perennial plant, up to 150 cm high, with a creeping rootstock, up to 3 cm thick and 50 cm long. From the rootstock rise swordlike leaves 1 m long and triangular, simple stems. The stems terminate in a spadix of tiny flowers, first green, later light brown. In Europe sweet flag is propagated solely by rhizomes.
Origin and Distribution: Native to swampy mountainous regions of India, it nowadays grows wild in temperate zones of Asia, Europe and America, in marshes, on the banks of ponds and brooks, and in damp ditches. Not usually cultivated; the rootstocks of wild growing plants are gathered. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A small shrub up to 3 m high, with long, coarse branches. Leaves on short petioles, 50-80 mm long, glabrous, on the reverse numerous glandules visible as dots. When rubbed between the fingers the whole plant smells of lemons. Flowers small, white, with densely tomentose calyx, arranged in long panicles.
Origin and Distribution: Indigenous to Argentina and Chile. Cultivated for its fine-smelling volatile oil in France, Spain, Italy, the USSR, and elsewhere. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: An evergreen tropical tree up to 12 m high. The trunk has cracked, ash-grey bark; leathery leaves are light green, aromatic, with distinct venation. Flowers are tiny, inconspicuous, arranged in clusters, exuding a pleasant smell. Resembles the cinnamon to which it is closely related.
Origin and Distribution: Indigenous to southern China. Cultivated mainly in China, Thailand and Indonesia. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: An evergreen subtropical citrus tree resembling the sweet orange tree, 4-5 m high. Leaves are broadly winged, oblong, glossy, with petioles and a strong smell when crushed. Flowers are pure white. Fruit is an orange, broadly oval berry with orange, somewhat bitter pulp.
Origin and Distribution: Native to eastern India and the adjacent parts of China and Burma. Because of the high resistance of its roots to rotting it is widely used as a rootstock for other citruses. Cultivated in plantations mainly around Seville in Spain; this is why it is often called the Seville orange (Bigarade orange, also known as the bitter, or sour, orange). Read the rest of this entry »
Description: A tall tree with leathery leaves on long petioles, usually with stipules. The fragrant flowers are arranged in elongated clusters. The fruit is a nut covered with a leathery rind, and has elongated points on the calyx which aid the dissemination of the seeds by air.
Origin and Distribution: Native to Malaysia where it is cultivated for its volatile oil containing camphor. According to place of origin this is known as Sumatra or Borneo camphor; in Malaysian it is called `kajoe kapur’. Read the rest of this entry »
Description: An annual or (rarely) biennial plant, 20-150 cm high with a thin rootstock and an erect, densely foliate stem, branched in its upper part. The leaves are narrow and pointed, up to 30 cm long. Five-petalled flowers grow on long petioles, flowering in June and July; they are light blue, rarely pink or white. The fruit is a globose capsule, usually with ten glossy, yellow-brown to red-brown seeds.
Origin and Distribution: A widely cultivated plant native to the temperate parts of Europe. Grows well in both warm and cold regions, at all altitudes. Grown throughout the whole of Europe, North America and Asia as far as the subtropical zone. Read the rest of this entry »
