92 FLOWERS AND THE FLOWER GARDEN, 



Afterwards they are called breeders, and go on producing 

 these dull flowers four years more, when they break, i.e. 

 show distinct marking or colour. To bring them to 

 break sooner it has sometimes been recommended to 

 starve them in poor soil, with little water, and then to 

 remove them suddenly to rich soil, with plenty of 

 moisture, or to send them to a new locality and air. 



As common garden flowers, tulips need only a top 

 dressing every year. 



The Verbena has been increased to all shades and all 

 varieties of colour as a florists' flower, and it is also one 

 of the best bedding plants we have, from its creeping 

 habit of growth, and the readiness with which, when 

 pegged down, it will cover the earth and root itself all 

 over it. Verbenas will root freely as layers, strike as 

 cuttings, and thrive in the open air through the summer ; 

 but frost cuts them off. It is, therefore, necessary to 

 make young plants in autumn, and keep them indoors 

 until the frost is gone, when they may be planted out. 

 A rich sandy loam suits them. 



A small piece as a cutting is said to form a better 

 plant than a large one, and points of the shoots will 

 strike in spring, in a little peat, or in silver sand. We 

 have often struck plants of this and many other kinds, 

 for making the garden gay, in a saucer of silver sand on 

 the mantelpiece of any room in constant use as a sitting 

 room. The seed may be sown in a slight hot-bed in 

 March, or in the open air in May. 



The Verbena melindres, a fine scarlet, was one of the 

 earliest we had, and some that have been bred from it 

 are of a more intense scarlet, and hardier V. melindres , 

 latifolia, and splendens. The verbenas are rich in nume- 

 rous splendid scarlets, crimsons, purples, violets, and 

 lilacs of every shade ; those of a deep rose colour, and 

 also the white, are most useful as bedding plants. Some 

 of them V. Neillii, V. teucrioides, and others are 

 sweet-scented. 



The plants which go under the general name of " the 

 American plants " have a department given up to them 

 in extensive establishments, for they all require about 



