242 



DATE P A L M D A U C U S. 



There is some obscurity about the distinctions of 

 the other species, as it is doubtful whether some of 

 them which have been described from single specimens 

 may not be the young of the one under consideration. 

 The investigation of those disputed points could have 

 little interest for the general reader, and therefore we 

 must refer such as are anxious to be belter acquainted 

 with the carnivorous mammalia of Australia, to the 

 systematic works ; and, from the zeal and ability of 

 many of those who are now investigating the natural 

 history of the colony in all its departments, we have 

 no doubt that information w ill soon be obtained which 

 will be highly satisfactory ; and, therefore, it would be 

 ill-judged on our part to hazard conjecture while in 

 expectation of the truth. 



DATE PALM is the Phcenlv dactylifera of 

 Linnaeus. This is one of the most useful of the 

 palms, it yielding every year great crops of fine rich 

 fruit, forming not only a valuable part of the food of 

 the lower orders of society, but a vast surplus for 

 exportation to other countries. 



Persia, Palestine, and the northern states of Africa 

 appear to be the most congenial climates for the 

 successful culture and growth of the date tree. In 

 some of those countries there are extensive groves 

 of them, furnishing employment and wealth to the 

 generally indolent natives. The stem is not so lofty 

 as some of the other palms, but it is comparatively 

 much thicker and very rugged from the persisting 

 bases of the fallen fronds. When the fruit are ripe, 

 they are shaken from the pendent spadix by one man, 

 while others hold a cloth, extended below, to receive 

 the falling fruit. These are afterwards sorted and 

 prepared for packing in jars or boxes for sale. 



Young date trees may be raised from the stones of 

 the imported fruit ; and as they have much divided 

 and persisting foliage, they add an interesting variety 

 to the stove collection. If planted in a tropical con- 

 servatory, and allowed time and space, there is no 

 doubt but they would flower and fruit in this country, 

 which would, at least, be a great curiosity to British 

 botanists. 



DATISCE^E. A natural order of dicotyledonous 

 plants containing only a few genera and species. In 

 its habit ami the structure of its fruit, it bears a close 

 resemblance to Acxedaccfe, and seems to be a con- 

 necting link between that order and Urticece. Its 

 essential characters are : flowers dioecious ; perianth 

 of the male flowers divided into several pieces, that 

 of the females free, toothed ; stamens several; anthers 

 two-celled, membranous, linear, bursting longitudi- 

 nally ; ovary one-celled, with polyspermous parietal 

 placentas ; stigmas equal in number to the placentas, 

 recurved ; fruit capsular, opening at the top, one- 

 celled, with polyspermous parietal placentas ; seeds 

 enveloped in a membranous, finely reticulated integu- 

 ment ; embryo straight, without albumen, its radicle 

 turned towards the hilum. 



The plants belonging to this order are strong hardy 

 herbs, with alternate compound leaves without stipules, 

 and axillary racemose flowers. From their resem- 

 blance to hemp, some of them receive the name of 

 bastard hemp. 



They are found in the northern parts of America 

 and Asia, as well as in the Indian Archipelago, and 

 the southern countries of Europe. 



Their properties, so far as known, are bitter and 

 tonic. 



The chief genera are Datisca and Tetrameles. 



DATURA (Linnaeus). A genus of herbaceous 

 annuals, natives of many foreign countries, one of 

 which the 1). stramonium has become naturalised and 

 grows wild in England. They generally bear large 

 white or purple flowers, but are of a short duration. 

 They belong to the fifth class of Linnaeus, and to the 

 natural order Solanece. Seeds. 



DAUBENTON I A (Decandolle). South American 

 evergreen shrubs, belonging to Diadelpkia Decnndria, 

 and natural order LegummoscE, Generic character : 

 calyx bell-shaped, five-toothed ; keel obtuse ; pod on 

 a footstalk ; linear, with four longitudinal wings ; 

 pod contracted between the seeds. This genus has 

 been consecutivaly called Pisridia, Robinirr, Aschyno- 

 mene, till settled by Decandolle as above. These 

 plants thrive in loam and moor-earth, and are easily 

 propagated by cuttings in the usual manner. 



DAUCUS (Linnaeus). Is the generic name given 

 to the family to which the common carrot belongs. 

 The genus ranks in the fifth class and second order 

 of the sexual system, and in the natural order Umbel- 

 lifercE. Some few are annuals, but they are mostly 

 biennials : of all our cultivated culinary vegetables, 

 no one shows the effects of domestication more deci- 

 dedly than the carrot. It is found wild on every dry 

 hedge-bank, every where in Britain, as well as on the 

 continent. In its wild state, it is a diminutive plant, 

 with an underground stein, no bigger than a small 

 radish. In former times the daucus was held in 

 high estimation as a medicine ; a decoction of it 

 being considered useful as a diuretic, or solvent of the 

 human calculus. It might be at first introduced into 

 the garden of the herbalist for its medical properties 

 only, and there showing a tendency to incn ase in 

 bulk, might be in the course of time removed from 

 the simpler's shop to the green larder of the cook. 



The improvement of the plant in bulk must have 

 been gradually accomplished. It is unreasonable to 

 suppose that a wild plant would suddenly, in any 

 season or in any place, swell from a mere stick to a 

 portly tuber at once. 



How or when it became a culinary plant is, per- 

 haps, not now known ; but looking at the wild one on 

 its native bank, and on the full-grown Altringham 

 variety on the green grocer's stall, we are compelled 

 to acknowledge that there is not a stronger proof of 

 the ameliorating effects of culture exemplified in the 

 whole range of vegetation. 



And it is not only an improved bulk of the common 

 wild plant that has been the only result of skill and 

 industry, many varieties have been originated by 

 attentive cultivators ; so that there are large and late 

 sorts for feeding cattle, and small, early, and more 

 delicately flavoured sorts for the table ; in all fif- 

 teen varieties, differing in size, colour, shape, or earli- 

 ness. 



Cultivation. As carrots may be used at any stage 

 of their growth, and as they are most tender when 

 young, seed is sown at many different seasons. The 

 first sowing may be made about the twentieth of 

 February ; but this sowing should occupy only one 

 or two narrow beds on a dry, finely-digged, south 

 border. Here the seedlings may be forwarded and 

 protected from the keen winds of March by a tliin 

 covering of dry fern leaves or pea-straw ; and in 

 order that such covering may not harbour slugs, snails, 

 and worms, it should be from time to time dusted with 

 hot lime, which will save the seedlings from destruc- 

 tion. Carrots are also sowed about the same time on 



