THE FLORIST. 17 



engage the handicraft of many taper fingers. However, there is 

 not very much to be done this month by lady-amateurs, although 

 the employment actually furnished is of a more recherche kind than 

 usual. I will take advantage of this lack of business to define the 

 duties I undertake, and the class I am more particularly anxious to 

 benefit. This page is not intended to be read by the scientific 

 florist, although there are many of that class to be found among 

 ladies ; the general contents of this work being a contribution to 

 those engaged in the higher branches of horticulture. Neither do 

 I write for ladies who keep gardeners, since they had better take 

 the advice of their professional servants than mine. I should be 

 sorry for any collision of opinion to take place between a gardener 

 and his mistress through me, and I therefore at once beg that I may 

 never be used as an authority against the practice of men who ought 

 to know better than I do how to transact their daily business. 



There are many ladies who like to have a floricultural domain 

 of their own, although they may possess an establishment requiring 

 the aid of many minds and many hands. Gardening is, with many, 

 an affair closely related, in the affections it excites, to the care of 

 objects of domestic solicitude ; so that its votaries delight in doing 

 as much as possible for their favourites with their own hands. How 

 would those Hyacinths lose half their charm, if you were never to 

 change their water, prop their advancing flower-stems, or arrange 

 their colours ! Has not that little border on which the morning sun 

 always shines, with its Crocuses, Tulips, and Carnations, all planted 

 and reared by yourself, more attractions than whole acres of garden 

 besides? Because we know something ourselves of this flower- 

 worship, we are willing to instruct its devotees, and all we write 

 will be intended to promote the beauty and grace of the temple. 

 Without the formal routine of a calendar, it will be our object to 

 throw out some suggestions applicable to the month, and thus to 

 furnish a contribution to the annual wreath which the conductors 

 of The Florist desire to present to their subscribers. 



The Bury, Luton. Henry Burgess. 



ON THE POT CULTURE OF THE VERBENA. 



BY MR. WYNESS, 

 GARDENER TO HER MAJESTY AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE. ] 



As the Verbena merits a place, and most justly, among our popular 

 florists' flowers, perhaps a few hints on its cultivation in pots may 

 be acceptable to those who have not yet adopted that mode of cul- 

 ture. I know of no plant more useful or ornamental as a pot- plant, 

 for decorating the greenhouse during the summer season, when the 

 proper inmates of that structure are enjoying the open air. If we 



VOL. II. NO. XIII. c 



