ON. PLANTS ADAPTED FOR PLANTING IN MASSES. 17 



The points of the shoots took an erect position, and formed flower- 

 ing spikes about a foot high. The bending of the stems checked 

 the growth of the plants, and caused them to flower in so dwarf a 

 panncr. I adopted this method, in order to have the plant low 

 enough to correspond with contiguous beds of dwarf plants, and it 

 fully answered my expectation. I turned out some three or four 

 years' old plants into the shrubbery border, and they made bushes 

 of six feet high, and the same in diameter. These have stood, 

 the two last winters, in the open air, and bloom profusely each 

 summer; but the spikes of flowers are not so luxurious as are pro- 

 duced on the younger plants, which I use for the centre of the 

 bed in the flower garden. 



Verbena chamadrifolia, Germander-leaved. Synonym, V. Me- 

 lindres, Scarlet-flowered Vervain. Didynamia, Angiospermia. 

 Verbenacea. This plant is a native of Buenos Ayres, growing 

 through a very extensive tract of that country. The dazzling, 

 brilliant, scarlet flowers cannot be exceeded by any other plant 

 yet introduced into this country. And blooming from April to 

 November, in the open air with us, makes it one of the most de- 

 sirable plants in cultivation. It is found to survive the two last 

 winters in this country, but I fear will not be sufficiently hardy 

 for a severe winter. It has been found difficult of keeping through 

 the winter, even protected in a pit or greenhouse ; I find that old 

 plants taken up and potted, generally suffer from the operation 

 and die ; and that if runners are potted off into small pots, as late 

 as October, they rarely survive the winter. By the following 

 method I have, however, succeeded admirably, both in cultivating 

 and keeping it through the winter, both in doors and the open air. 

 The plant requires a fresh soil, well enriched with vegetable 

 manure, or rotted hotbed dung. In the centre of a small flower 

 garden, I had a pyramid of turfy loam and dung, raised six feet 

 high ; and at the end of April I planted it with the Verbena, one 

 small plant every six inches, and gave them a good watering at the 

 time, in order to settle the soil to the roots. The plants flourished 

 amazingly, and throughout the summer I had a splendid scarlet 

 pyramid. Very little water was ever required, even in the drought 

 of the present summer. Where there is an unsightly wall, and it 

 is wished to conceal it, nothing could di> this mure pleasingly and 

 effectually than throwing up a -loping bank of soil, and planting 

 rot. in. d 



