187 



PEOPAGATIOX OP THE YEEBEXi^. 



If pegged out every joint makes a root, 

 and this promotes the flowering and the 

 production of shoots for succession ; but 

 this very rooting ]iabit of the verbena 

 leads many a novice astray, for vdicn Octo- 

 ber is dawning the old plants are taken 

 up, the rooted runners are separated and 

 potted to keep over winter, and by the end 

 of the season there is an astonishing num- 

 ber of plants obtained without any trouble 

 at all; in fact, as easily as you would get 

 a lot of rooted strawbei-ry runners. But 

 these seldom survive ; they live till Christ- 

 mas, and then rot from the bottom, or 

 drop over and refuse to be comforted. 



If you want to propagate the verbena 

 strawberry-fashion, you must begin early. 

 Put a etone on a joint near the point of a 

 slioot, and at the same time nip out the 

 flower-buds from that shoof, to induce the 

 two side-buds next it to push. In a fort- 

 night that joint \\ill have made a good 

 root. Sever the stem, and pot it into the 

 smallest sized pot, using a lit'le peat for it 

 to make its first fresh roots in. In this 

 way you may secure an immense immber of 

 plants from a bed or border, and they 

 ought to be all potted off and plunged into 

 a cold frame by the middle of August, or 

 early in September at the latest. Net one 

 should be allowed to flower, and as fast 

 as tiie bloom-buds are nipped out the side- 

 buds will push, and the plants will become 

 bushy. Kow from this stock you may 

 take cuttings to strike in heat, up to the 

 beginning of October, and after that time 

 none but adepts should attempt to propa- 

 gate verbenas. 



Another good plan which combines 

 with it a scheme for wintering, is to make 

 up a bed of peat in a cold pit, and in this 

 bed to plant the rooted runners iu rows 

 rather close together, not later than the 

 middle of September. They will soon 

 make fresli roots, and may be wintered 

 there if frost can be kept out effectually ; 

 but I must confess that where there arc 

 no means of giving such a pit the heat of 

 a flue during severe weather, the safety of 

 verbenas is very questionable. 



Another mode of propagating, and one 

 especially applicable to new and expensive 

 sorts, whetlier in pots or bedded out, is to 

 fill a lot of thumb pots with a peaty com- 

 post, and to place these around the plants, 

 so that the point of a shoot can be peggecl 

 down into each, or fixed by means of a 

 stone, so that one of the joints near the 

 end of tlie shoot is firmly pressed to the 

 soil ; that joint to have its pair of leaves 



removed. If these pots are kept moist, 

 the joints will throw out roots, and may 

 then be cut off from the parent plant, 

 moulded over to cover the joint, the flower- 

 buds picked out as fast as they appear, and 

 the pots kept a little shaded till the plants 

 are established iu them. Indeed, if a sort 

 is valuable, the cuttings may be split in 

 two, so as to keep a joint on each side of 

 the split stem, and it is even possible to 

 obtain plants from a leaf only, with the 

 bud as its base ; but it is a method too 

 troublesome to be profitable. 



Autumn-struck plants are far the best 

 for bedding out early in the summer, and 

 if well managed all through the winter, 

 will supply an abundance of cuttings for 

 propagation iu spring. As a rule, old 

 plants are worthless, and, when taken from 

 the beds in autumn, it is as well to throw 

 them on the rubbish heap. But if the 

 sorts are valuable, old plants may be kept 

 over winter, just as you would keep cal- 

 ceolarias and petunias, to furnish spring 

 cuttings. Thi.5 rule, however, admits of 

 exceptions, as I have had excellent beds 

 formed of old plants only, and in the 

 second year they bloom early and free; but 

 for pot-culture and exhibition purposes 

 young stuff must be used. 



To winter verbenas safely, there is a 

 necessity for a moderate amount of arti- 

 ficial heat, and the best of ordinary me- 

 thods is a pit heated by a flue. Theprin- 

 cipal cause of failure with amateurs is in 

 attempting to winter them with geraniums 

 and hard-wooded plants, which are allowed 

 to get very dry, so as to withstand a low 

 tempera tui*e; whereas the verbena, instead 

 of being allowed to sink into so complete 

 a repose as geraniums will do, is sure to 

 perish unless kept fjroxniif) all the winter 

 through, and dryness is as fatal to it as 

 frost. Even if wintered iu a turf pit, 

 without any means of heat, as I have 

 done many a time, they must nover be al- 

 lowed to go quite dry, for, unless the root- 

 ! action is continuous, they sink, and are 

 I soon past recovery. For this reason it is 

 essential to have them potted in the 

 autumn, so as to get them to make fresh 

 roots before the season is over, and the 

 more old wood there is about them, the 

 less likely are they to make fresh root 

 ' when finally potted off. If struck from 

 runners, and rather bushy before being 

 stored away for the winter, it is best to cut 

 them over to promote the growth of the 

 young lower shoots ; and with a collection 

 of any value, those that show signs of 



