D A V I E S I A D E A T H ' S - II E A D M () T H. 



slight hotbeds and under glazed frames, to get them 

 ready for table as early in the year as possible. 



The principal crop of carrots either in the garden 

 or fields may be sowed any time between the twen- 

 tieth day of March and the tenth of April ; and suc- 

 cessive sowings should be made in every month till 

 September. This is, however, only necessary where 

 young carrots are constantly required in every month 

 of the year. 



The seed requires to be prepared for sowing by 

 being well rubbed between the hands until divested 

 of the fringe of little hooks with which they are in- 

 vested when gathered ; otherwise they cling to each 

 other so closely, that they cannot be equally distri- 

 buted by the sower. When prepared, the seeds may 

 be sowed either in shallow drills one foot apart, or 

 broad-cast on beds three and a half feet wide with 

 alleys between. Whichever way the seeds are sown 

 the plants will require to be thinned to eight-inch 

 distances apart either by hand or hoe. This thinning 

 is usually performed in dry weather, and when the 

 plants are two or three inches high. When this is 

 done the crop only requires to be kept free from 

 weeds during summer, and until fit to be taken up 

 for storing. 



Carrots are usually taken from the ground about 

 the end of October. A dry day is most suitable, 

 because the tubers are easier freed from the earth ; 

 and being sorted and topped, and quite dry, are then 

 stored in sand in a dry shed or hovel for winter and 

 spring use. 



Carrots thrive best in deep sandy loam, and are 

 larger or smaller, according as this is rich or poor. 

 Their form indicates that a deep loose soil is requi- 

 site ; and, therefore, deep digging or trenching the 

 ground intended for carrots is indispensably neces- 

 sary. It is not customary to dung for this crop ; 

 because if not trenched in very deep, the tubers are 

 liable to be deformed, becoming forked rather than 

 straight. The roots are liable to be disfigured by the 

 larva of an insect which eats into the rind ; this de- 

 fect occurs mostly in old garden ground ; and more 

 especially to the crops sowed in March. If sowed on 

 fresh loamy land they suffer less from the worm ; and 

 the sowings made in April and May are not eaten so 

 much as the early crops. 



The garden varieties of carrot are as follow : 



Early Horn, Long Orauge, Fine Surrey, 



Scarlet Horn, Short Orange, Altringhatn. 



There are also three or four other varieties named 

 from places where they are most successfully culti- 

 vated. But the early horn is always chosen for 

 the first crops, whether on hot beds, or in the open 

 ground, and also for the last sowings in August and 

 September ; and which latter, if they gain any useable 

 size, require covering from frost. For principal crops 

 in gardens or fields, the long orange and Altringham 

 are preferred, because of their larger growth and fit- 

 ness tor farming purposes. 



Some cottagers, and even professional gardeners 

 who are situate on stiff-clayed soils, are obliged to 

 have recourse to a peculiar mode of culture, in order 

 to procure large and handsome carrots. On the 

 ground intended for them, ranks of holes are made 

 by line with an iron-shod taper dibber, fifteen inches 

 in length ; the holes are filled with fine rich compost, 

 and on the surface of each two or three seeds are 

 dropped and slightly covered. When the plants 

 have risen out of harm's way, one only is left in eiifh 



hole to grow to perfection. The leading radicle finds 

 a tree course downwards, and the whole root neces- 

 sarily receives a fine form, and arrives at considerable 

 magnitude. 



DAVIESIA (Smith). A genus of New Holland 

 evergreen shrubs, Linnaean class and order Decandria 

 Monogyiaa, and natural order Leguminoses. Generic 

 character : calyx bracteate, bell-turbinate, tm-- 

 toothed. Corolla, vexillum inversely-heart-shaped, 

 erectly rerlexed. Keel having short wings. Style 

 straight and persisting. Pod compressed, one-seeded, 

 lower suture dilated, and somewhat trapezium-shaped. 

 These pretty plants thrive well in our green-houses 

 potted in loam and moor-earth, and are propagated 

 by cuttings struck in sand under a hand-glass and 

 without bottom heat. 



DAY LILY. Is the genus Hemcrocallis of Lin- 

 naeus and other botanists. They (the four species) 

 are hardy, herbaceous plants of rank growth, and suit- 

 able for borders of shrubberies, and among plants of 

 tall growth. 



DEADLY CARROT. Is the Thapsia villosa of 

 Linnaeus, an umbelliferous genus, found in the south 

 of Europe, two species of which are considered 

 highly poisonous. 



DEADLY NIGHTSHADE. Is the Atropa 

 Belladonna of Linnaeus. It belongs to Pentandria 

 Monogynia, and to the natural order Solanece. It is 

 a strong growing plant, with large ovate leaves, purple 

 bell-shaped flowers, succeeded by dark-red coloured 

 berries, as large as small cherries. The plant is often 

 found growing in rubbish of old buildings, and on 

 waste ground about farm-houses. 



DEAD NETTLK. Is the Galeobdolon luteum 

 of Smith, a common British plant found in moist, 

 shady places : it receives its name from its resem- 

 blance to a nettle, but without its stinging property. 



DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH. The largest species 

 of lepidopterous insects found in England, and syste- 

 matically known by the name of Acherontia atropos. 

 By Linnaeus, indeed, it was placed in the genus Sphinx, 

 but as it differs in several material points from the 

 majority of the insects of which that genus is composed, 

 Ochsenheimer, a German lepidopterist, separated it 

 under the generic, or rather, perhaps, subgeneric name 

 of Acherontia. The specific name Atropos (the third of 

 the fates in the heathen mythology, who was supposed 

 to cut the thread of life,) is given to it in reference to 

 the very peculiar markings upon the back of the thorax, 

 which, as the English name indicates, very closely re- 

 sembles a skull or death's-head. And here we "may 

 be allowed to notice the admirable plan introduced bv 

 Liniurus of giving to each distinct species of animal, 

 a name, consisting of a single word, whereby in gene- 

 ral, some peculiarity of the creature is indicated. 

 Before the introduction of this system it was neces- 

 sary, in mentioning any animal, to give a short de- 

 scription of it, as for instance, of the insect in ques- 

 tion, it would have been necessary to speak of the 

 ' Acherontia atrofws" as " a large moth having a 

 skull marked upon the back." Whereas by the con- 

 cise and elegant terms invented by Linnasus, all this 

 circumlocution is avoided, and by the employment of 

 a generic and a single specific word, the animal is 

 known through the whole of the scientific world. 



The Death's-head moth measures from four to five 

 inches in expanse, the fore wings are of a dark brown 

 colour, variegated with grey, brown, and black, with 

 a white central spot ; the bind \\n-xs are clay-Coloured 



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