TO THE FLOWER GARDEN. 89 



siderable beauty, and favourites in gardens. The perennials 

 are increased by dividing the roots in spring, and need not 

 be disturbed oftener than once in three years to part the 

 roots. The double variety of D. grandiflorum has its beau- 

 tiful flowers an intense blue colour. The best of the annuals, 

 D. consolida and D. Ajacis, should be sown where they are to 

 bloom, and thinned to three or four inches apart. They 

 ought to be grown in every garden, and require only good 

 garden soil. The branching Larkspnr is hardy enough to 

 stand the winter if sown in autumn. D. azureum, D. 

 Barlowi, and Z>. grandiflorum. There are numerous other 

 showy varieties, among which are B. Hendersoni, D. Wheeleri, 

 and D.formosum. 



DESFONTAINIA. [? Gentianace®.] A beautiful hardy 

 or half-hardy holly-like evergreen shrub. Peat and loam. 

 Cuttings. Z). spinosa is worth a place. 



DEUTZIA. [Philadelphaceae.] Handsome hardy deci- 

 duous shrubs, well adapted for pot culture and for forcing, as 

 well as for the front ranks of the shrubbery border or the 

 conservative wall. They are propagated by suckers, which 

 come up from the root in plenty, and by layers : the latter 

 bloom earlier and somewhat more freely than plants from 

 suckers, which are more apt to ramble. In layering it is only 

 necessary to cut away part of the wood at the place intended 

 to be layered, and to peg that part down three inches below 

 the surface ; the layers will have thrown out roots by the 

 next season, when they may be removed, cut down to about 

 four inches high, and planted a foot apart from each other in 

 beds where there is a mixture of peat earth. Here they may 

 grow a season, and will then be fit to take up for potting. 

 In the first growth they make after this the too vigorous 

 branches must be checked, and the form of the plant be 

 regulated a little. They may be forced the next season. If 

 kept in pots they must be changed from small to greater, 

 though, as they get larger, they are none the worse for being 

 a little starved. They are also valuable plants for planting 

 against ornamental walls, for which object they have only to 

 be put out in any ordinarily good soil, and require little 

 attention beyond pruning or training. Plants for forcing 

 must be prepared in pots, and kept in store, like Roses and 



