AND GENEKAL HOETICULTUEE. 



475 



VEN 



under glass, and ignorance or carelessness in 

 the work often results in dire disaster to the 

 contents of the hot-bed, green-house or grap- 

 ery. It often happens, when inexperienced 

 carpenters undertake the erecting of green- 

 house structures, that they are built with en- 

 tirely inadequate means of ventilation, so that, 

 no matter how careful the person in charge 

 may be, he has not the means allowed to pro- 

 vide sufficient ventilation. In a span-roofed 

 green-house or grapery, having a base width 

 of twenty feet, the glass roofs sloping to the 

 east and west will be each about thirteen feet, 

 making twenty-six feet in the span. To prop- 

 erly ventilate a structure of this kind, mov- 

 able sashes, not less than thirty inches in 

 width, extending the entire length of the roof, 

 should be hinged to the apex on the east side. 

 The sashes, when lifted up by the patent 

 ventilating apparatus, are raised from one 

 inch to thirty inches, as desired, the entire 

 length ; thus, when fully up, about one-tenth 

 part of the entire glass roof is thrown open 

 for ventilation ; and in hot days this is often 

 found to be none too much. In a series of 

 green-houses, requiring different tempera- 

 tures, it is a good plan to mark the maximum 

 and minimum allowed for ventilation close 

 to each thermometer, so that the workman in 

 charge of ventilating can be held to account- 

 ability ; for example, if 70 is the degree re- 

 quired, let the maximum of temperature be 

 75 and the minimum 65", allowing a range of 

 ten degrees. The patent ventilating appa- 

 ratus usually costs about fifty to seventy-five 

 cents per running foot ; but it is indispensable 

 to a well-regulated green-house or grapery, 

 from its power to grade the amount of venti- 

 lation to suit all weathers. In the use of por- 

 table sashes for hot-beds or frames, the best 

 way to ventilate is to raise the sash at the 

 back by pieces of wood so notched that from 

 one inch to five or six inches can be given as 

 required. 



Ventral. Belonging to that side of a simple 

 pistil, or other organ, which looks towards the 

 axis or centre of the flower ; the opposite of 

 dorsal. 



Ventricose. Inflated, or swelled out on one 

 side. 



Ventriculose. Abounding in veinlets. 

 Venus' Fly-trap. See Dioncea muscipula. 

 Venus' Hair. A common name for Adiantum 

 Capilluft -veneris. 



Venus' Looking-Glass. See Specularia specu- 

 lum. 



Venus' Navelwort. See Omphatodes. 



Venus' Slipper. See Cypripedium insigne. 



Vera'trum. False or White. Hellebore. From 

 vere, truly, and ater, black ; in allusion to the 

 color of the roots. Nat Ord. LiliacecB. 



A genus of hardy, herbaceous, coarse-grow- 

 ing plants, with large, coarse,, fibrous roots, 

 which are very poisonous. V. viride, a species 

 common in swamps and marshy grounds, is 

 popularly known as White Hellebore or In- 

 dian Poke. The powdered roots of this 

 species and V. album are used to destroy 

 Caterpillars, Rose Beetles and other insects. 

 It is the base of some of the so-called Persian 

 Insect Powders, which should therefore be 

 used with care. 



VEE 



Verba'scum. Mullein. Aaron's Club. Said to 

 be from barbascum, bearded ; in allusion to 

 the bearded filaments. Nat. Ord. Scrophu- 

 lariacece,. 



An extensive genus of rather coarse-grow- 

 ing, more or less woolly, biennial or perennial 

 herbs, natives of Europe, northern Africa and 

 west and central Asia. V. Chaixi or V. ver- 

 nale, as it is sometimes called, is a true per- 

 ennial and is one of the most showy of the 

 species. It grows to the height of ten feet 

 and its large, green leaves are extremely 

 effective. The color is good and the panicle 

 of flowers enormous. The quantity of yellow 

 flowers with purplish filaments that are borne 

 on one of these great branching panicles is 

 something marvelous. It is well suited for 

 the back of a mixed border, for grouping with 

 other plants of remarkable size or form of foli- 

 age, or for placing here and there in open 

 spaces in the shrubbery. V. phceniceum is a 

 very handsome species, distinct from all the 

 others by the flowers being of various hues, 

 but usually of a violet-blue, overlying a yel- 

 low ground striped with violet. It is of slen- 

 der growth, from two to four feet high, and the 

 flowers, which are large and showy, are pro- 

 duced numerously in long spikes. 



Verbe'na. Vervain. Said to be from its Celtic 

 name, Ferfaen. Nat. Ord. Verbenacece. 



The beauty of this extensive genus is w*ll 

 known, and needs no comment. They are all 

 peculiarly adapted for growing in beds in the 

 flower-garden and are extensively grown for 

 that purpose. As a decorative plant they are, 

 comparatively, of recent introduction. Our 

 garden varieties have all originated from the 

 following species : V. melindres, a low, creep- 

 ing plant with intense scarlet flowers, intro- 

 duced from Buenos Ayres in 1827. V. Tweedi- 

 ana, of freer growth and more upright habit, 

 umbels larger, and florets more profuse, but of 

 a less vivid color, was introduced in 1834 from 

 Brazil. V. teucrioides, a taller-growing spe- 

 cies, of much coarser habit, with flowers of 

 pure white, in narrow-pointed spikes, and 

 very fragrant, was introduced from Monte- 

 video in 1837. V. multifida, with lilac-purple 

 flowers, was introduced from Peru in 1818. 

 These species we understand were first intro- 

 duced to this country by W. C. Brackenridge, 

 of Baltimore ; and Eobert Buist, of Philadel- 

 phia, quick to see their adaptability as bed- 

 ding plants, was the first to cross-breed them 

 and introduce many new sorts, the parents of 

 the many varieties now in commerce. Several 

 species have been found in the United States, 

 and among them V. montana, a hardy peren- 

 nial from the Eocky Mountains, a very free- 

 flowering species, with flowers of a bright 

 rose, changing to lilac a decided acquisition 

 to the flower-garden. V. aubletia, with spikes 

 of showy, purple flowers, a hardy biennial, is 

 found in Illinois and westward. V. venosa is 

 a beautiful, half-hardy perennial species in- 

 troduced from Brazil in 1830, not so well 

 known as it deserves. Its lilac or bluish flow- 

 ers are produced in great profusion rendering 

 it a first-rate subject for bedding, especially 

 if mixed with silver-leaved Geraniums. It is 

 easily kept through the winter, and if its 

 fleshy roots are stored thickly in boxes, any 

 number of plants may be propagated in the 

 spring from the young shoots that are abund- 

 antly produced. It is easily raised from seed 



