JUNE. 119 



CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE VERBENA. 



It appears to me that most of the writers of the various articles that 

 have appeared from time to time in floricultural publications are 

 either unacquainted with the properties of the Verbena, or having 

 cultivated it only as a plant adapted for bedding or for ornamental 

 purposes in pots, or perhaps merely for exhibition in single trusses 

 or in bunches of three or more trusses, have condemned many varieties 

 that were actually essential, because they did not or may not have 

 come up to even usefulness in their individual mode of cultivation. 

 I would therefore wish your readers to consider the Verbena as use- 

 ful in each of the above capacities, and to recommend, according to 

 my past experience, those varieties most suited to the end aimed at, 

 as well as to give an outline of my general mode of management. 



I take it for granted that, for bedding varieties, every person 

 would desire, and strive to obtain, distinctness of colour, form, num- 

 ber, and size of the individual flowers, as well as shape of the truss. 

 Where, then, are we to look ? Most certainly the varieties that 

 nearest approach the standard of excellence in these respects are to 

 be found among those exhibited as cut flowers in single trusses. I 

 admit there are many varieties to be found there, which, upon trial, 

 will not answer for bedding ; but are they for that reason to be dis- 

 carded altogether ? Do they not answer the purpose of the exhi- 

 bitor ? Are they not useful for saving seed from } I will therefore 

 name the principal kinds that I consider worth growing in pots to 

 obtain single trusses from fit for exhibition. (I mention single trusses, 

 as I feel certain that to be the correct mode in which the Verbena 

 ought to be exhibited in a cut state ; so long as we were obliged to 

 cultivate such varieties as Melendris — which I name as being familiar 

 to all — bunches were required. As the size and shape of the pips 

 and trusses improved, three trusses were and are in many places 

 exhibited; but having now approached something like size and shape, 

 no doubt, I think, can exist as to the proper mode.) The varieties 

 I have grown, and found most to be depended on for exhibition, are, 

 British Queen, Croesus, Defiance, Enchantress, Exquisite, Iphigenie, 

 Lady of the Lake, Laura, Mills or Morphee, Model of Perfection, 

 Napoleon Bonaparte, Psyche, Reine Hortense, St. Margaret, Shylock, 

 Voltigeur, White Perfection ; for bedding — Anna, Aspasie, Defiance, 

 Desdemona, Eclipse, Enchantress,Exquisite,Emperor of China, Figaro, 

 Gloire de Paris, Heloise, Iphigenie, King, Laura, Mills, Magnificent, 

 Napoleon Bonaparte, Nigricans, Pauline, Princess Ahce, St. Margaret, 

 Tommy, Viscata, Voltigeur, Vulcan Superb, White Perfection. The 

 strongest and weakest growing varieties should be planted not more 

 than nine inches apart, the rest about one foot, and they should be 

 smoked before being bedded out. In the above list nearly every shade 

 of colour can be found except yellow, for the want of which, as I 

 read in an article in one of the floricultural publications, some per- 

 son's seventy beds, containing seventy varieties, were spoiled. I 



