EVERT WOMAN BER OWN FLOWER GARDENER. 



43 



have been some splendid, new varieties introduced in the few past years, 

 whose wondrous stripes and eyes are not approached by any of the older 

 sorts. They are selected from many thousand seedlings, and are both 

 rich and rare. 



But any one can raise new yarieties from seed, and good culture will 

 produce magnificent blooms. Seedlings will seed much more plentifully 

 than flowers from cuttings, and the older the cutting the less seed it 

 will giye. 



Verbenas do not sprout readily from seed; they are encased in a 

 horny substance, and should be soaked in warm water for twenty-four 

 hours, and then planted in a light sandy loam, with a good bottom heat. 

 Thus treated they will germinate, and when the fourth leaf is formed, 

 should be potted into thumb pots in sandy loam. 



Verbenas are natives of Brazil, and love the hot sun and sand. If 

 the bed in which they are planted is covered two or three inches deep 

 w^ith common sand, they will bloom most perfectly. 



I once raised seventy verbenas from seed, and planted them in a very 

 sandy soil. Such growth I never witnessed — they were magnificent ! 

 As the plant sends out its first shoots, they should be pegged down with 

 hair-pins, and thus coaxed to grow. When watered they desire a copious 

 supply, and the suds from washing-day are very beneficial to them. 

 Guano is also a good manure for them; dig an iron spoonful around 

 each plant, not touching the stems. The green lice, or apliis^ are their 

 plague in pot culture, but they are destroyed by smoking them with 

 tobacco. Put the plants together, and throw some tobacco on hot coals 

 in a pot saucer; cover the whole with a wash tub, and let them smoke 

 for ten or fifteen minutes, and the lice can be swept up and burned. 

 Place the coals as far as possible from the plants, under the tubs, so 

 as not to injure them with their heat. 



If plants are well showered, no lice will appear — they do not love 

 moisture. 



If cuttings are desired for winter bloom, they should be tak^ off in 

 August, so as to become well rooted. It never pays to take up old plants 

 for winter blooming. 



Among the new Verbenas for 1871, are: — 



Annie, white, crimson striped. 



Black Bedder, richest maroon. 



Conspicua, ruby-scarlet, white eye. 



