TO THE FLOWER GAEDEN. 87 



DAPHNE. [Thymelacese.] Interesting hard}^ and green- 

 house shrubs, comprising some of the prettiest and most 

 fragrant ornaments of the dressed gTound and shrubbery, 

 SoU, equal parts sandy loam and peat. The commoner and 

 hardy kinds are raised from seeds or layers, and the better 

 and tender kinds are usually grafted or inarched, stocks of 

 D. Pontica and D. laureola being used. The greenhouse 

 kinds require plenty of pot room, and may be associated with 

 Camellias as regards the details of cultivation : they are 

 highly desirable on account of their rich perfume, with which 

 the whole atmosphere of the houses in which they are placed 

 is charged. A close, moderately warm pit is preferable for 

 the grafting process. Seeds are two years in vegetating. 

 D. cneorum, pink; D. cullina, rosy lilac; D. Fortuni, pale 

 purple ; D. Indica, white ; D. Japonica, pink ; D. Meze- 

 reum, pink or white ; D. odora, pinkish or red, are the 

 principal. 



DATE PAI.M. See Phcenix. 



DATURA. [Solanacese.] The shrubby species of this 

 genus are also known as Brugmansias. They are greenhouse 

 shrubs, all worthy of general cultivation, and of easy culture. 

 They strike from cuttings or eyes very freely, and grow fast. 

 To raise them from eyes, get a wide-mouthed pot just before 

 the season for starting the plants, which must be pruned 

 close in ; cut the pieces taken off into eyes — that is, cutting 

 half an inch above and below every bud ; set these all round 

 the edge of the pot, and place them in the stove or in a 

 hotbed. In due time every one will grow, and throw down 

 abundance of roots. Let them be potted into three-inch 

 pots, and kept growing ; and when these pots show the roots 

 through the bottom, or draining hole, change them for larger. 

 Continue them in the stove until established in these second 

 pots, when one half may be removed to the greenhouse, the 

 others kept in the stove. If bushy plants are required, take 

 off the tops to encourage lateral shoots ; if not, let them grow 

 on. These plants having funnel-shaped flowers hanging down 

 from the branches, it is best to let them run up three or four 

 feet, taking off all the side branches, so that they may form 

 standards ; then they may be topped, and allowed to form a 

 head. They will always bloom the first year if permitted ; 



