FLOKISTS' FLOWEES. 



239 



the plants are not allowed to tecome pot-bound at 

 the roots, and as they branch freely, every shoot is 

 pinched back until about seven or eight weeks before 

 they are wanted in flower. It is usual to water the 

 plants overhead every morning in fine weather, 

 which tends to keep them healthy and clean. From 

 the first of JMay they should occupy a cold frame, 

 whicli ought to be closed at night when the weather 

 is cold. The flowers open much better in a cool 

 atmosphere than in heat. If plants are not wanted 

 for show purposes until the end of August and 

 [September, cuttings taken in March will make good 

 specimens if grown on in the manner just recom- 

 mended. Plants that are required for ordinary 

 green-house decoration need not be grown so large 

 as those wanted for the exhibition table. Verbenas 

 in pots under glass are very subject to attacks of 

 insects, and should be well fumigated with tobacco- 

 smoke to keep them free from these. 



In some parts of the country Verbenas are grown 

 to a great size for exhibition in August. They are 

 sometimes trained to flat wire frames, or what is 

 more natiu'al, the leading shoots are tied out to neat 

 stakes, and thus present a symmetrical and striking 

 appearance. We have seen them tied to sloping 

 oval wire shields made of stout wire, and in this way 

 a flat mass of flower is presented to view ; but they 

 look unnatural, notwithstanding. 



. Culture in Beds. — When Verbenas are employed 

 in flower gardens of large size, great numbers 

 are required, and propagation by means of cuttings 

 has to be done on a large scale. "One of the best 

 modes of striking and wintering the Verbena consists 

 in placing the cuttings in a cold frame early in 

 August, without using pots or pans. A layer of half- 

 rotted leaves, some nine inches in depth, is j)laced 

 over the surface of the frame, and firmly beaten 

 down, and over this a compost made up of equal 

 parts of loam, leaf-mould, and sand, sifted through 

 a moderately fine sieve, placed on the leaves to the 

 depth of four inches, and beaten down firmly with 

 the back of a spade. Into this are put the cuttings, 

 which are selected from the shortest and least-drawn 

 of the young growths round the sides of the beds — ■ 

 shoots that have not borne flowers. They are placed 

 in lines about one and a half inch apart in the lines, 

 the lines about two and a half inches apart. Then 

 a good soaking with water is given, and the lights 

 of the frame are kept close and shaded with a mat 

 through the day, but on warm, calm evenings drawn 

 off for a few hours. The cuttings root under such 

 circumstances without making any growth, or with- 

 out becoming dra\sTi. When rooted they are 

 pricked off into pans or pots, a few crocks only being 

 used at the bottom for drainage. A good layer of 

 old Mushroom dung is then placed over the drainage ; 



the pots are filled up wdth loam and finely-sifted 

 leaf-mould, with a slight addition of sand. The 

 rooted cuttings are pricked into these about two 

 inches apart, and placed for a few days in the cold 

 frame and kept close, and then fully exposed night 

 and day, except during continuous rains." The 

 plants grow I'apidly, and should be kept free from 

 blossoming as they grow. The plants are placed in 

 their winter c^uarters about the middle of October, 

 by which time they have become strong and health}-. 

 They can be wintered in any cool, dry, airy place 

 from which frost is excluded — on the shelves of a 

 vinery, a green-house, &c. In the matter of watering, 

 the soil in the pots or pans should not be allowed to 

 become dry, nor yet to be kept otherwise than just 

 moist, through the winter months. There is, how- 

 ever, more injury likely to arise from drought to 

 such plants as Verbenas than from a little overdose 

 of water. The plants being thoroughly furnished 

 with strong healthy roots, they are less likely to 

 suffer from water than weaklings struck in heat in 

 late autumn or early spring. Another mode of pro- 

 pagation is to keep some plants in pots all through 

 the summer and winter, placing them on a warm, drj-, 

 airy shelf in a green-house, keeping them pretty dry 

 at the roots, and then placing them in a brisk bottom- 

 heat in early spring, to induce growth from which to 

 obtain cuttings for striking in pans of wet sand. 

 Cuttings struck in August, and potted off singly into 

 pots, are grown in this way also for spring use. 



The plants thus obtained, they can be bedded out 

 in May, or even earlier, for the Verbena is fairly 

 hardy. Verbenas root freely and deeply, and should 

 be provided with a good depth of soil. It need not 

 be very rich. The refuse soil from a potting-bench, 

 when carefully sifted, suits them well. If the soil be 

 too rich, the Verbena, being naturally a free-growdng 

 plant, is apt to grow too much to foliage when it 

 is too richly fed, and the plants are late in getting 

 into bloom. It is a good plan to put all strong- 

 growing varieties into rather poor soil, and when 

 the shoots begin to grow, the surface of the bed 

 should be top-dressed with a rich compost, and the 

 shoots pegged down into it. The aim of the 

 gardener should be to get the shoots so placed as 

 that the bed may be covered, and then the bed will 

 soon be a mass of lateral growths yielding trusses of 

 bloom. Some pinching back is necessary to secure a 

 regular and symmetrical blending of the plants, and 

 this accomplished, nature may be left to do the rest. 

 The beds should be gone over about twice a week to 

 pick off the decaying trusses. It is a law with 

 nearly all seed-bearing plants that if seed-pods arc- 

 being formed, it is done at the expense of bloom. And 

 the beds always look the fresher and neater for the 

 operation. 



