374 Notes and Gleanings. 



they liave filled tlic thumb-pot with roots, shift into two-and-a-half-inch pots, 

 using the same compost as before. By the following March, there will be enough 

 of them in bloom to amply reward the grower for his trouble. Dozens of my 

 seedlings sown last March were beautifully in bloom in ten months after sowing, 

 and have been so ever since. Many of the corms or bulbs are as large as a two- 

 shilling-piece. The varieties are Persicum rubnim and those of the cown and 

 Atkinsii race. — H. C, in Florist. 



Asparagus-Bed Making and Planting. — Choose an open situation, and 

 mark a space twice the width of the bed, or eight feet ; and, the soil being good 

 to a depth of two feet six inches or three feet, trench it that depth, working in a 

 dressing of manure six inches thick. If heavy, add a similar quantity of sand. 

 Should the subsoil be bad, and the soil thin, it would be well to take out a trench 

 at one end, and, working backwards, remove the bad soil, and replace it with 

 fresh : that is, taking out a trench, lay the good soil on both sides, and, when 

 you come to the bottom or bad soil, remove it, and place at the bottom of the 

 trench a quantity of fresh soil equal to that removed. The fresh compost may 

 consist of equal parts of rotten manure, leaf-mould, sand, and turfy loam. Com- 

 mencing another trench, throw the good soil on the fresh soil, leaving that on 

 the sides to finish at the end, or fill up the trench. After moving the good soil 

 of the second trench to finish the first trench, remove the bad soil from the bot- 

 tom, replacing it with fresh ; and in this manner proceed until the whole is fin- 

 ished. You may then spread a dressing of manure three or four inches thick, 

 and fork it in, adding a like quantity of sand if the soil be heavy. Mark out a 

 bed four feet wide, allowing two-feet alleys on both sides, and putting in a peg 

 at each corner of the bad. You may early in April take out a trench in the cen- 

 tre of the bed, stretching a line along it for that purpose, and wide enough to 

 allow of the roots being spread out at full length, the plants being placed at the 

 back of the trench, against the line, with the crowns about an inch from the sur- 

 face. Fill in the trench after the plants have been placed a foot apart, covering 

 the crowns about an inch deep. A row on both sides of the bed, nine inches 

 from the sides, and a foot between the plants, will fill the bed. Some of the soil 

 from the alleys may be thrown on the bed to level it, and be neatly raked. The 

 plants should be two, and not more than three, years old. The giant is the kind 

 we recommend for planting. A few of the finest may be cut in the second spring 

 after planting. 



Verbena Culture. — After the cuttings are struck, say, at the end of 

 March, a frame about eighteen inches high at the back, and a foot high in front, 

 is chosen : one that you can shut up perfectly close is the best. Inside the 

 frame place nine inches of good light soil, and in this plant the verbenas from 

 the cutting-pots, watering them well with tepid water to settle the soil. When 

 tlie sun shines, every morning give about half an inch of air, no more, until ten 

 o'clock, when the plants should be watered overhead, and shut up closely for 

 the day. The thermometer will possibly rise above ioo° ; but you will see, if 

 you try the system, what a black strong growth the plants will make in conse- 



