88 G LENNYS HANDBOOK 



but to form handsome standards it is better to remove all 

 flowers the first year, and get strength into the plant. At 

 the end of the year the leaves will fall, and the plants 

 should be brought into the greenhouse to rest. In early 

 spring prune the branches close in, leaving the upright stem 

 and the three, four, or more branches that have formed the 

 head, two eyes, or at most three eyes, long from the trunk. 

 As they branch out rub off the weak shoots, and those that are 

 likely to crowd better ones, leaving only such as are likely to 

 form a handsome head. These, if allowed to grow, will form 

 a noble head to the plant — the branches in due time loaded 

 with flowers. When the plants are turned out on a lawTi it 

 is usual to remove them out of the pots, and plant them in 

 the ground. The soil best adapted for them is rich fibry 

 loam, with rotten dung and sand. The annual species are 

 coarse-leaved plants, known in gardens as Thorn-apples. The 

 plants being annual are all raised from seed, which, to hasten 

 the flowering, should be sown in heat, and planted out in 

 May where they are to bloom. The self-sown seeds will 

 vegetate in May, and bloom later in the season. The seeds 

 should be gathered before they scatter themselves about. 

 D. sanguinea, flowers red and orange, in August. D. Knightii, 

 flowers white, in August, and has a double corolla very large. 

 D. lutea, flowers yellowish, in August. 



DAUBENTONIxA.. [Leguminosse, § Papilionaceae.] Stove 

 or greenhouse shrubs. Soil, peat and loam. Propagated by 

 cuttings. 



DAUBENYA. [Liliaceae.] Curious greenhouse bulbs. 

 Soil, rich sandy loam. Increased by offsets. 



DAVALLIA. [Polypodiaceae.] Beautiful evergreen stove 

 and greenhouse ferns. Soil, turfy peat with sand. Increased 

 by dividing the creeping rhizomes. 



DAVIESIA. [Leguminosse, § Papilionaceae.] Very pretty 

 evergreen greenhouse shrubs, requiring the treatment of 

 Chorozemas. Soil, sandy turfy peat. Increased by cuttings 

 in sand under a bell-glass, or by seeds. 



DAY LILY. See Hemerocallis. 



DELPHINIUM. Larkspur. [Ranunculaceae.] An ex- 

 tensive genus of hardy plants, chiefly perennials, but con- 

 taining some annuals and biennials, mostly plants of con- 



