DEARBORN 



DELAWARE 



463 



labors, see "History of the Mass. Horticultural Society," 

 1880, which contains a portrait ; also John B. Basse! 

 in Tilton's .Journ. Hurt. 7:SS, 1.17, L'TtJ. Gen. H. A. S. 

 Dearborn was son of Gen. Henry Dearborn, of Revolu- 

 tion and later fame. L H B 



DECODON (Greek, ten-toothed). LytJin}ct>w. A hardy 

 perennial herb rarely cultivated by dealers in native 

 plants. It has opposite or whorled Ivs., the upper with 

 axillary, short-stalked clusters of fls. Abroad Decodon 

 is usually considered a subgenus of Nesa>a. It is dis- 

 tinguished from Ly thrum by having 5 (rarely 4) petals 

 instead of 0, and 8-10 stamens, while Lythrum has 

 mostly 6 or 12. 



verticillatus, Ell. (Nescea verticillata, HBK. ). SWAMP 

 LOOSE-STRIFE. Smooth or downy: stems recurved, 2-8 

 ft. long, 4-6-sided: Ivs. lanceolate, nearly sessile: pet- 

 als ."). cuneate-lanceolate, rose-purple, %in. long; stamens 

 10, half of them shorter. Swampy grounds, N. E. to 

 Fla., west to Minn, and La. Int. by H. P. Kelsey. 



DECUMABIA ( Latin, (Jecumus, tenth, referring to the 

 number of the parts of the fl.). Saxifragacece. Shrubs 

 climbing by aerial rootlets : Ivs. deciduous, opposite, 

 petioled : fls. in terminal peduncled corymbs, small, 

 white, perfect ; sepals and petals 7-10 ; stamens 20-30: 

 fr. a 5-10-celled ribbed capsule opening between the 

 ribs, with numerous minute seeds. Two species in E. 

 N. Ame^. and China, of which only the American species 

 is in cultivation. Ornamental climbing shrub, with 

 handsome glossy foliage and fragrant white fls., forming 

 a corymb of feathery appearance, well adapted for cover- 

 ing walls, rocks, trellis work and trunks of trees, but 

 not hardy north. Thrives in almost any humid soil. 

 Prop, by greenwood cuttings in summer under glass, 

 rarely by seeds. 



barbara, Linn. (Z>. sarmentdsa, Bosc). Climbing to 

 30 ft., but usually less high : Ivs. ovate, obtuse or acute, 

 remotely denticulate or entire, glabrous and shining 

 above, 2-4 in, long : corymbs 2-3 in. broad, semiglobose. 

 May, June. Va. to Fla., west to La. B.B.2:185. Mn. 1:41. 



ALFRED REHDER. 



DEEEBEEEY. Vaccinium stamineum. 



DEEEGEASS. JRhexia. 



DELAEBEEA (after a French naturalist). Araliacece. 

 A genus of two species of tall, tender shrubs from New 

 Caledonia, distinguished from Aralia by the fruits. 

 Culture same as Aralia. 



spectabilis, Linden & And. (Aralia concinna, Nichol- 

 son). Stem ashy grey, with brown, warty spots : Ivs. 

 odd-pinnate, Ifts. in 8-10 pairs, each 1ft. 3-toothed or 

 twice cut, sometimes so deeply cut as to make 3 entirely 

 free segments. New Caledonia. I.H. 25: 314. Under 

 the name of Aralia spectabilis, two different plants 

 have been sold. The English dealer Bull's plant was 

 Aralia filicifolia. The Belgian dealer Linden's plant 

 was Delarbrea 'spectabilis. (See I.H. 23, p. 72. G.C. II. 

 5 : 603. ) The two plants can be distinguished at a glance. 

 The primary division of the leaf in A. filicifolia is long 

 and narrow, thrice as long as in D. spectabilis, and 

 tapering to a long point, while in D. spectabilis the pri- 

 mary division of the leaf is short and has 3 well-marked 

 segments. In A. filicifolia the secondary divisions are 

 deeply and irregularly cut ; in D. spectabilis they are 

 merely serrate. The two plants are also immediately 

 distinguished by the spots on the stem. 



DELAWAEE, HOETICULTUEE IN. The state of 

 Delaware (Fig. 684) is situated close to the largest fruit- 

 consuming cities of the New World. An emphatic com- 

 mercial advantage in the development of a diversified 

 horticulture arises from the modifying climatic influence 

 of the Delaware and Chesapeake bays; from a variety of 

 fertile soils ; and from the ripening of its fruits and vege- 

 tables between the products of the North and South. 

 There is probably no area in the United States which, in 

 its natural commercial advantages, in its climatic en- 

 vironment, and in the diversity of its soils, is so pre- 

 eminently fitted for the development of an extensive 

 and diversified horticulture as the peninsula to which 

 Delaware belongs. 



New Castle, the northern county, is hilly and rolling, 

 and varies from a dense clay to a clay loam. Horticul- 

 turally, it is well adapted to plum, pear, apple and bush- 

 fruit culture, and, in restricted areas, to the cherry, 

 peach and trucking industries. But the production of 



PHILADELPHIA 



684. Delaware, to illustrate the horticulture. 



hay, grain, and dairy products is the leading feature in 

 New Castle's rural activities. Kent, the central county, 

 is gently undulating. The soil varies from a clay loam 

 in the northern part to a sandy loam along the southern 

 border. The most diversified horticulture of the state, 

 including tree fruits, bush fruits, strawberries, grapes, 

 and vegetable products, has been developed here. In 

 Sussex, the southern county, which is mostly level, a 

 sandy soil predominates, although the underlying clay 

 frequently approaches the surface and forms local areas 

 of clay loam. The peach, strawberry, and bush fruits 

 are most prominently developed in Sussex, the horti- 

 cultural areas lying in the western half of the county. 

 Delaware horticulture was born in 1832, with the peach 

 industry, when the first extensive orchard was set near 

 Delaware City. In a single year the value of its peach 

 crop was $16,000. Then an era of the most rapid horti- 

 cultural extension was inaugurated. By 1840, half a 

 million baskets of peaches were shipped from the county. 

 But in 1842 the peach-yellows broke out near Delaware 

 City, and by 1867 more than one-half of the crop of three 

 million baskets was grown in southern New Castle 

 county. The orchards of New Castle had largely 

 disappeared in 1870, and in 1890 it contained less 

 than 5,000 acres. Kent county, however, in 1890 had 

 23,000 acres, and Sussex county 20,000 acres. In 1899, 

 extensive orchards were being planted again in New- 

 castle county and northern Kent county. 



