42 SOW TO DESTROY INSECTS. 



of raising gooseberries, or rather on the difficulty ot 

 doing so satisfactorily, the berries proving so very far 

 interior, both in size, quality, and flavor, to those raised 

 by our neighbors across the mill-pond. My friend's 

 theory was this : ' That the hot sun shining on the 

 bushes, while still both leaves and fruit are dripping 

 with dew, causes all the mischief ; if, therefore, you 

 want no mildew,' said hv, ' plant where there is shade 

 from the morning sun, so that the clew may dry gradu- 

 ally from the heat of the atmosphere j manure the soil 

 freely ; water, it dry weather, at the roots only, and you 

 will find your gooseberries, after a year or two, will 

 astonish you and all your neighbors.' 



" Now, thought I, if this treatment be so good for the 

 gooseberry, why not for the verbena? It will, at any 

 rate, do no harm to try. So once more I sent for ver- 

 benas for a bed which was shaded from the east by a 

 terrace; once again I planted my favorites, watered, 

 watched, and waited. I wish some of the readers of 

 the Cabinet could have seen that bed about the end of 

 the July following j it was a perfect blaze of glory. No 

 wilted, sickly plants ; no black rust ! Nothing in the 

 whole garden could compare with it 5 even passers-by 

 were attracted, and stopped to admire its brilliancy, 

 little thinking how long and how hard its owner had 

 toiled ere she succeeded in making those healthy, strong- 

 looking flowers annual visitors to her garden, where 

 they are now such welcome guests. ALA " 



