DEC 



194 



DEF 



■winter be mild. — Gravel, roll and 

 keep orderly. — Hedges, plant and plash. 

 — Hyacinths, defend in inclement wea- 

 ther. — Leaves, collect for composts. 

 — Mulch round the roots and stems of 

 shrubs newly phinted. — Plant shruhs of 

 all kinds. — Potted Plants, protect in 

 deep frames, &c. ; place in hot-house 

 for forcing. — Prune all shrubs requiring 

 regulation. — Ranunculuses, defend in 

 bad weather; plant if mild. — Seedlings 

 of all kinds require protection. — Stake 

 shrubs newly planted, and any others 

 requiring support. — Suckers may be 

 planted as removed during the winter 

 dressing. — Tulips, defend in bad wea- 

 ther. — Turfs may be laid in open wea- 

 ther. — Water in glasses, change week- 

 ly; add a few grains of salt or five 

 drops of spirits of hartshorn. 



HOT-HOUSE. 



Air, admit freely as the season will 

 admit. — Bark-beds, keep in operation. 

 — Bulbs, in pots, introduce. — Cucum- 

 bers, sow in pots, and plunge in bark- 

 bed. — Flowering Plants, as Pinks, &c., 

 introduce in pots. — Glasses must now 

 all be put in, for forcing commences in 

 earnest ; cover during severe frost. — 

 Kidney Beans (Dwarf), sown in boxes, 

 &c., introduce. — Peaches, day temp. 

 553 ; keep air moist. — Pines, water oc- 

 casionally; attend strictly to the bot- 

 tom heat. — Roses in pots, introduce. — 

 Strawberries in pots, introduce. — Tem- 

 perature, may decline 15^ or 20^ at 

 night; day temp, for flowering plants 

 GO*-". — Vines in pots may be introduced ; 

 or planted in Hot-house; stems out- 

 side bind round thickly with hay-bands, 

 &c. — Water is required in small quan- 

 tities; keep it in the house. 



GREEN-HOUSE. 



Air, admit as freely as possible ; 

 cause the best draught vou can. — Com- 

 post, prepare. — Earth of pots, stir when 

 crusted. — Foggy air e.xclude, for damp 

 renders cold injurious. — Glass, cover 

 with mats, &c., during severe frost. — 

 Leaves, clean ; remove decayed. — Peat 

 Soil, collect. — Temperature, sustain as 

 required by lightijig fires; day maxi- 

 mum, 45o ; night minimum, 35o. — Wa- 

 ter sparingly. 



DPXEMBER MOTH. See Pcecil- 

 ocampa. 



DECIDUOUS CYPRESS. Taxodium 

 distichum. 



DECIDUOUS PLANTS are those 

 which shed all their leaves at one time 

 annually. In this country the fall of 

 the leaf is during the autumn. In the 

 East Indies it is during the hottest and 

 driest months. 



DECODONS verticillatus. Hardy 

 herbaceous. Division. Common soil. 



DECUMARIA. Three species. 

 Hardy deciduous twiners. Layers and 

 cuttings. Common soil. 



DEFORMITY. The leaves of plants 

 frequently assume an unnatural form on 

 account of their being wounded by in- 

 sects. Keith, in his Physiology of 

 Plants, thus enumerates some of the 

 most customary : — 



" The leaves of the apricot, peach 

 and nectarine are extremely liable to 

 be thus affected in the months of June 

 and July. The leaf that has been punc- 

 tured soon begins to assume a rough 

 and wrinkled ligure, and a reddish and 

 scrofulous appearance, [)articular!y on 

 the upper surface ; the margins roll 

 inwards on the under side, and inclose 

 the eggs, which are scattered irregu- 

 larly on the surface, giving it a blackish 

 and granular appearance, but without 

 materially injuring its health. 



" In the vine the substance deposited 

 on the leaf is whitish, giving the under 

 surface a sort of frosted appearance, but 

 not occasioning the red and scrofulous 

 aspect of the upper surface of the leaf 

 of the nectarine. 



" In the poplar the eggs, when first 

 deposited, resemble a numbar of small 

 and hoary vesicles, containing a sort of 

 clear and colourless fluid. The leaf 

 then becomes reflected and condupli- 

 cate, inclosing the eggs, with a few 

 reddish protuberances on the upper sur- 

 face. The embryo is nourished by this 

 fluid, and the hoariness is converted 

 into a fine cottony down, which for 

 some time envelops the young fly. 



" The leaf of the lime-tree, in par- 

 ticular, is liable to attacks from insects 

 when fully expanded ; and hence the 

 gnawed appearance it so often exhibits. 

 The injury seems to be occasioned by 

 some species of puceron depositing its 

 eggs in the parenchyma, generally 

 about the angles that branch ofl' from 

 the midrib. A sort of down is pro- 

 duced, at first green and afterwards 

 hoary, sometimes in patches, and some- 

 times pervading the whole leaf, as in 

 the case of the vine. Under this cover- 



