DATURA. 



90 



DEADLY NIGHTSHADE. 



1844, forms a dwai-f shrub, nearly 

 allied to the Mezereon, and pro- 

 bably about as hardy as that well- 

 known plant. In its native country 

 it grows in the same situations as 

 the Macartney Rose and Wistaria 

 sinensis. The plant is a native of 

 China, where its bark, which is ex- 

 tremely acrid and poisonous, "is 

 used by the natives to produce 

 blisters on the skin, particularly in 

 cases of rheumatism." 



Datu'ra. — Solanacea'. — Strong- 

 growing, large-leaved plants, gene- 

 rally with showy flowers. !Most of 

 the kinds are annuals ; the best 

 known of which are the common 

 Thorn-Apple, D. Straynonium, now 

 naturalised in England ; D. Metel, 

 a dwarf species, common in gai'dens; 

 D. ceratocai</o«, a magnificent plant; 

 and D. Tdtula, the purple-flowered 

 Thorn-Apple. They should be all 

 raised on a hotbed, and planted out 

 in May. The splendid half- shrubby 

 l^lant, with large, white, tube-shaped 

 fragi-ant flowers, formerly called 

 Datura arhorea, is now called Brug- 

 radnsia suaveolens. This splendid 

 plant may be grown in a large tub 

 in the greenhouse, in heath-mould, 

 during the winter ; and in May, a 

 pit may be prepared for it in the open 

 air, about a foot -nider in diameter 

 than its tub. This pit should be par- 

 tially filled with very rotten manure 

 and decayed leaves ; and the Datura, 

 being turned out of its tub, and its 

 decayed roots pared ofi", may be put 

 into the rich compost prepared for 

 it, when it will grow most vigorously. 

 A plant treated in this manner, in 

 1S35, expanded 1050 flowers from 

 the middle of May to the middle of 

 September. About the last week in 

 that month the plant was taken up 

 out of the ground ia which it had been 

 growing, its roots and its branches 

 were cut in, and it was again placed 

 in a tub, to be kept in the greenhouse 



till the following spring. It must be 

 observed, that the pit prepared for 

 the Datura must be in soil which is 

 either naturally dxj, from being of ' 

 a gravelly or sandy nature, or which ; 

 has been well drained ; or that the ; 

 bottom of the pit be filled with broken * 

 bricks, in order that the plant may be 

 well and frequently watered while it 

 is growing without danger of the roots i 

 rotting from too much moisture, j 

 Probably, if its roots and collar were 1 

 well protected, it might be left in j 

 the open air without injury during i 

 winter. 



Davie'sia. — LeguminoscB. — Aus- i 

 tralian shrubs, with orange-yellow j 

 coloured pea-flowers ; which should < 

 be grown in a greenhouse in well- j 

 drained pots, and in a soil composed | 

 of equal pai'ts of sandy loam and 

 peat. The pots will require to be 

 often watered, but should have no 

 saucers, as the roots are easily 

 withered by drought, or rotted by 

 excess of moisture. The species are 

 propagated by cuttings, struck in i 

 sand under a bell-glass, but without j 

 bottom-heat. 



Day Lily. — See Hemeroca'llts. i 



Dead Leaves. — Few persons are \ 

 aware of the great value of dead 

 leaves to a florist ; but the fact is ! 

 that, when decayed, leaves form the 

 best of all manures for flowering 

 plants. In this state they are called 

 leaf-mould or vegetable-mould; and 

 under one of these names they will ; 

 be found continually referred to in : 

 all books treating of the culture of 

 flowers. To prepare this vegetable- 

 mould, the dead leaves should be 

 swept up in November, and laid in a ' 

 heap in the reserve ground ; the heap 

 should be occasionally turned over, j 

 say perhaps once a month, and in i 

 about a year, or at any rate by the ' 

 end of the second spring, the mould I 

 will be fit for use. ' 



Deadly Nightshade. — A'tropa i 



