1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



295 



rest. After a few weeks repot it, with a ball of 

 earth about its roots, and sink the pot in the gar- 

 den mould till September. If buds appear, pinch 

 them off. In September, raise the pot, and water 

 it regularly every day, but never let the water 

 stand about the roots, or let the soil appear soggy 

 — stir it frequently. Keep it in a cool place, with- 

 in doors, till the nights get chilly, then give it a 

 sunny situation in the parlor. If the plant is 

 strong, and thriving, and there are no fears of its 

 getting pot-bound, the pot need not be changed 

 oftcner than once in four years ; but the old soil 

 should be replaced by new in the same way as for 

 oleanders. 



Salvia. — This genus is so called on account of 

 the supposed healing qualities of most of its spe- 

 cies, which have been found in nearly every coun- 

 try on the globe. In this country we have several 

 exotics under cultivation ; among them our com- 

 mon garden sage, which is used in cookery, as also 

 in medicine. In China one variety of this is pre- 

 ferred to the tea-plant for making that beverage. 

 S. Mexicana is usually styled a garden plant, but it 

 is a very pretty ornament for the flower-stand, 

 though its bright scarlet flowers are of rather short 

 duration. This is the Mexican sage, often called 

 only by its botanic name, Solvia. There is another 

 species, S. splendens, which, as it also comes from 

 Mexico, always bears the name of Mexican sage. 

 They both require the same treatment, though dif- 

 fering in appearance. i>. splendens may be known 

 from its long spikes of flowers, having the calyx as 

 well as the corolla of a bright-scarlet. S. Mexi- 

 cana has a green calyx, and the scarlet corolla is 

 more labiate than that of the other species. Trans- 

 plant these from the garden, or take a large cutting 

 and start its roots in sand, well-shaded, in Sep- 

 tember. Give it a soil of one-half loam and the 

 remainder leaf-mould and sand to which a little 

 fine charcoal may be added. Water it spai-ingly 

 and keep it in the shade a week ; then increase the 

 water and give it a place in the house. About the 

 middle of October it will be ready for the parlor; 

 its elegant scarlet flowers will make a fine show 

 for two months. Then set it in a cool, dry place 

 till spring, when it should be set in the ground till 

 the following autumn. Divide the root; when it 

 gets very large, take new cuttings and let the old 

 one remain in the garden. 



Verbena. — This name is derived from the Cel- 

 tic for vervain, a plant that grows freely along our 

 country roads. It is in fact the same plant, with 

 this exception — the wild vervain bears its flowers 

 in long spikes, and the verbena of cultivation is a 

 cluster-flowered species. The wild vervain was 

 once called holy-herb. It grew on the Capitoline 

 hill at Rome, and was considered sacred both by 

 the Romans and Greeks, who used it at religious 

 festivals, and also sent it by their ambassadors 

 when making treaties of peace. It was much valued 

 by the Druids of ancient Britain, and used by them 

 in casting lots and foretelling future events. Their 

 priests ordered the plant to be gathered "when the 



dogstar rose at such time as neither the sun nor 

 the moon should be above the earth to sec it." 

 With this charge also, that "before they take up 

 the herbe they bestow upon the gi-ound where it 

 gi-owcth honey with the comb, in token of satisfac- 

 tion and amends for the violence and wrong done 

 in depriving her of so holy an herbe." It is said 

 that the vervain is always found in the vicinity of 

 towns and villages, that it never gi-ows at a half 

 mile's distance from houses, which circiunstance 

 has gained for it the name, "simpler's joy." The 

 first really handsome verbena that was introduced 

 for cultivation came from Buenos Ayres, in 1827. 

 It was a beautiful plant, bearing scarlet flowers, 

 and immediately became a favorite. Since then a 

 large number have been brought to notice, and we 

 have them of every color and shade except light 

 blue. The verbena is raised with little care, but 

 it grows the handsomer for good attention. Seed- 

 lings will bloom in three months from planting; 

 the seed can be sown in the garden in May, and in 

 the autumn a plant can be potted for the parlor. 

 But a better way is to take cuttings in August, — 

 July is none too early if the young plants are 

 large enough, — and set as many as you choose in 

 pots di-ained with clinkers, in a soil of loam, leaf- 

 mould land sand. Water the plant slightly, to set- 

 tle the soil, and then fill in the soil to the rim of 

 the pot. Keep the plant in the shade a month. 

 Pinch off the shoots, especially the central one, to 

 make it grow bushy. Then set it in the sun, and 

 give it liquid manure occasionally. Some persons 

 prepare a fertilizer for verbenas by mixing — im- 

 mediately before using it — half an ounce of the 

 sulphate of ammonia with a gallon of water ; and 

 apply it to the soil once a week. This is also a 

 good preparation for calceolarias and lantanas and 

 ivies ; — and it suits the fuschiaand the heliotrope — 

 giving to their foliage a peculiarly dark, green, 

 healthy appearance. 



Tie up the stalks to rods arranged at the edge of 

 the pot, or train the plant to a trellis. Syringe it 

 thoroughly, at least once a week, to keep off the 

 aphides, after taking it to the flower stand, which 

 should be in October. Give verbenas all the sun 

 you can, and a plenty of air, but don't water them 

 too much. The colors of the crimson and purple 

 flowered varieties are deepened by mixing char- 

 coal dust with the soil. In the spring cut verbe- 

 nas half way back on every stem, and set these 

 cuttings, as also the old roots, in a bed in the gar- 

 den ; and as the branches lengthen pin them to the 

 soil, — to take root for more plants, — with old hair- 

 pins, or bits of bended wire. The verbena in many 

 of its species has strong propensities for trailing, 

 so it can be made a pretty hanging plant by allow- 

 ing the branches to grow, and only pinching oflF 

 the side shoots. All verbenas for the house should 

 be placed in the pots they are to occupy through 

 the winter in July or August. 



—A law suit is pending in Chicago about five 

 and a half inches of land. 



