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THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



d5 



THE FLORIST. 



Cultivation in the Garden. 



Yebbenas. — These are among the most beao- 

 tifal oroameats Iq the flower garden. They are 

 in blossom from early in spring antU late in fall. 

 They now embrace all colors, and no finished 

 garden can b« withoat them, v 



Dexter Snow, of Ohicopee, Mass., has an ex- 

 tensive green hoaae establishment, devoted ex- 

 pressly to the cultivation of this plant. His 

 stock is immense, and his sales yearly amount to 

 many thousand dollars. We shall place oar 

 lady readers under obligations by copying from 

 his catalogue of 1857, his instructions for the 

 outdoor cuUivation of the verbena. He says : 



The ground should be prepared in the fall, by 

 throwing it into high ridges and spreading over 

 it a coat of wood ashes, and upon these old and 

 well decomposed stable manure. In thus expos- 

 ing the whoU action of the frost, the worms, the 

 larva of insects and the worst of all enemies with 

 which the verbena has to contend, (the root 

 louse,) are in a great m'easure destroyed. The 

 soil becomes pulverized, and receives a share of 

 ammonia from the snows and rains of winter. 



If the soil be too sandy, so much as to be inca- 

 pable of retaining sufScient moisture to sustain 

 the plants in very dry weather, there should be 

 a compost of equal parts clay and leafmould 

 thoroughly incorporated with it. In preparing 

 the be^ in the spring, care must be taken not 

 to eret them too high, or the plants will sufier 

 with dronht, although the verbena requires all 

 the sun it can get, yet they will not blossom un- 

 less there be a good degree of moisture kept up 

 at the root. This must be done by wattering 

 them thoroughly every evening during very dry 

 weather, always stirring the soil immediately 

 after to prevent its becoming hard baked. 



The greatest pests of the verbena in the garden 

 are the root louse, and a small worm that en- 

 closes itself , in the truss, eating out the developed 

 umbels. It sometimes does serious mischief in 

 this way by drawing together a number of 

 trusses and destroying them entirely. They are 

 easily detected by the pips being drawn upon 

 one side, and wove together, thus forming a sort 

 of cocoon in which the worm may be found. I 

 have found no better way of destroying them, 

 than by picking off the bud or truss as soon dis- 

 covered, and before they have spread over the 

 whole bed. 



For the root louse, apply a coating of wood 

 ashes, (best done in the fall,) and have the 

 ground spaded deep in the spring. Let plants 

 when put oat be young, strong and healthy. 

 Get them out as early in the season as the 

 weather will permit, so that they may get a 

 good start before the hot weather comes on, (at 

 which time the louse makes its appearance,) in 

 this way the plants will get ahead and keep it 

 throughout the season. Water occasionally 

 with guano, which is quite offensive to most 

 insects, espeeially ants, which are the constant 



attendants of t^e root louse, and whoever tiiieir 

 little mounds are thrown up near the stalk of 

 the plant, it is pretty sure indication that the 

 root louse is there also. They may both be 

 routed by scattering a little guano near (but 

 not in iamiediate contact with) the stem of the 

 plant. 



MoNTHT Oabnatioks. — There has lately been 

 introduced varieties of Monthly Carnation. — 

 They are grown in pots and a strong plant, well 

 attended, will blossom all the year roand. Mr. 

 Perry, of Brooklin, has lately grown several 

 most beautiful seedlings, — which for robustness 

 of habit and freedom of bloom, surpass the im- 

 ported kinds. Their colors are not so brilliant, 

 but their fragrance has no equal among tjus9< 

 Mr. Perry has named them as follows: 

 Bunker Hill, a deep rich purplish flower, .. ^ 

 Washington, very large deep crimson. . -; ^ 

 Henrietta, black, striped with crimson. 

 Perry's Seedling, lilac, striped with purple. 



|^."Well, sir, I want some seeds now, and 

 shall want some shrubbery and trees in a few 

 days."^ y V-: -'■- ^:':'/"'- '■'- ' - ' \- •'^^■■■•'' ^ ' 



"What can you want with them?" 



"Why, sir, I have married, have g»t On to any 

 new place, am keeping house, and I am going to 

 put in practice, as fast as I can, what you have 

 often printed about fitting up my home, so as to 

 make it pleasant — so that I shall love.it — and I 

 have made my plans so that ever blow I strike 

 will be to carry out my plan tor making my 

 place what I have figured it shall be in my mind's 

 eye." 



"Well, well— I am glad to hear that. There 

 is nothing I like better to see in the country 

 than a pleasant and happy home. And if you 

 love it, if all your joys centre there, it will be 

 pleasant. But what do yon want?" 



"But few things now. I shall be in, in a few 

 days for shrubs and trees, when I will get all th« 

 seeds I want. Give ipe — ^let me see — some early 

 cabbage, early radish, ear^ lettuce, early peas, 

 early cucumbers, early beans, early beets, and I 

 must have some early potatoes to begin with — 

 and, — and — I must have some small onions now, 

 for this spring, and onion seed for making a crop 

 for fall and winter. I shall get a good many 

 seeds after a little, but I mean to raise my own 

 seeds hereafter." 



The seeds were put up. . - • u«r i f ^?^ 



"Now, I want some flower seeds. Ton know 

 more about these things than I do — ^besides my 

 wife told me to bave yon make the selection. 

 She wants them now, — ^for she fears they may be 

 gone before I come in again." 



Well, here are the flower seeds. 



Now this young man is on the right track — 

 he is a progrenive farmer; — be was a good boy 

 — he will make a good man, and we promise 

 ourself the pleasure of givirg him a call aiJuft 

 home the next summer. r - vj^ ' 



