32 



GARDENING BY MYSELF. 



take up, has a very little that is very good. 

 Such new ''stuff," as the gardeners call it, is 

 best for all seeds, but indispensable for verbe- 

 nas. Dexter Snow, of Chicopee — great au- 

 thority on verbenas — says there is no use in 

 trying to grow them in old soil ; and my 

 experience certainl}^ bears him out. The 

 seeds will not start well ; the plants will 

 not be strong ; and the bed of bloom which 

 you ought to have from each verbena will 

 resolve itself into a poor, scraggy, strag- 

 gling plant, a burden to itself and to every- 

 body that sees it. 



Have fresh soil for your verbenas. And 

 even when you set them out in the garden — 

 unless you can dig up new beds for them' 

 every year — take out a few spadefuls of 

 earth from the old bed where a plant is to 

 go, and fill in with new, rich stuff from the 

 woods or the pasture. 



Most people, I think, choose rather to buy 

 the plants than the seed ; and to be absolute- 

 ly sure of fine varieties, and special varieties, 

 that is of course the best way. So, also, if 



