66 THE FLORIST. 



POT, OR RATHER PAN CULTURE OF THE VERBENA. 



Verbenas treated in the manner I will now attempt to describe 

 make showy little masses, suitable for the sides of the tables or 

 stands of show- rooms ; so that this beautiful flower may be made to 

 minister as much to the gaiety of an exhibition as Achimenes and 

 similar plants. My mode of treatment is very simple, but it is none 

 the worse for that. 



I use seed-pans in preference to pots, measuring usually about 

 eleven or twelve inches across, and about four deep. For the frame- 

 work to train on, I get pieces of wire, of small size, so as to be as in- 

 visible as possible, and about twenty- two inches long, two for a pan ; 

 I then bend one of them, at equal distances (say three inches) from 

 each end, in order to form legs. To the other I give four inches of 

 leg at one end and two at the other ; I then get pieces of tin about 

 an inch long, and half that in width, fixed to 

 the ends of the crossed wires to act as feet to 

 ^5?- rest on the rim of the pan ; the two wires are 

 fixed where they intersect each other in the 

 middle ; and a slight elevation being given to that part, the frame- 

 work is complete. Upon this I place other pieces of wire, formed 

 into circles — say, one, two, or three, as the case may be. A Verbena 

 trained on this wire-frame forms a beautiful little miniature bed. It 

 will be perceived that the legs are made of three different lengths, 

 the two side ones being the same length back and front as two 

 is to four ; this brings the whole mass more into view. It must 

 be borne in mind that the legs require to be bent inwards, as the 

 frame ought to project nearly two inches over the sides of the pan 

 in every part. 



This frame-work, I conceive, might be judiciously employed for 

 a number of other plants, — Achimenes longiflora and patens, for 

 instance, look beautiful so treated ; and I have no doubt Torenia 

 Asiatica in a pan not so wide as those I employ for Verbenas, 

 would do admirably, as well as Tetratheca verticillata, and many 

 other plants. 



T. Reed. 



CULTURE OF THE CAMELLIA. 



The beautiful glossy foliage of the Camellia, when in health, as well 

 as its glorious flowers, deservedly gain for it a conspicuous place in 

 every greenhouse ; yet, notwithstanding this, I am afraid that, even 

 in these enlightened times, amateurs are not so well acquainted with 

 its management as they should be, and as, from the inquiries often 

 put to me by them, I am sure they wish to be. To have our Ca- 

 mellias flourish, something more is necessary than to put them into 



