JUNE. 121 



the tying, an even surface of bloom may be obtained. Powder- sul- 

 phur dusted on the underneath part of the foliage shortly after the 

 final potting, together with light and air on all occasions, and due 

 £.ttention in watering, will prevent any attack of mildew. 



I grow cut-blooms for exhibition in the same way, except that I 

 have only two plants in a No. 12 pot, and that I am not so particular 

 the last time I stop that all my shoots are in exactly the same stage 

 of growth, by which, on the day, I am almost sure to catch one or 

 more trusses in perfection. 



I should recommend all those in pots to stand on old hot-beds of 

 dung, care being taken as to those trained on trellises that they do 

 not root through into the dung, otherwise, on being moved, the 

 blooms will very soon fade. As to the others, I prefer them to root 

 through. 



On cutting my blooms for exhibition, I take care that the water 

 in which I place them is of the same temperature as that of the air 

 in the frame or pit whence they are cut. By taking that care, except 

 in very hot, moist weather, I seldom find any difficulty in preserving 

 the trusses entire for two or three days. 



The compost I use is fibrous loam, rotten dung, and leaf- 

 mould, in equal portions, laid up together two or three months, and 

 turned from time to time, mixing sand rather freely at the time of 

 potting. 



There are no doubt many varieties adapted for bedding, even per- 

 haps better, and in the same way, than several I have mentioned, more 

 particularly among the foreign varieties, the colours of the majority 

 of which are bright and good ; but they are deficient in every other 

 respect, the shape of the truss and size and quality of the individual 

 flower appearing to the foreigner to be of no consequence whatever, 

 which Messrs. Henderson, Turner, Smith, and other nurserymen who 

 import annually, know to their cost, nineteen out of twenty being 

 worthless. I think, however, that this year the Verbena will take a 

 rapid stride, not only in the estimation of the floral public, but in 

 itself, as many of the flowers about to be "let out" in the neighbour- 

 hood of London greatly surpass, in several respects, those of former 

 years, and also liberal prizes are being offered by diflferent societies 

 to induce perfect cultivation. 



I trust that the foregoing remarks (being, as I have stated, the 

 result of experience,) may be useful to those who imperfectly under- 

 stand the Verbena and its culture, and that they may enable them to 

 produce flowers equal, if not superior, to those that may be produced 

 by me. 



Paddington. C. P. L. 



