OF VERBENAS. 
ing design, copied from the Gardener’s Monthly. Procure an inch 
board about six inches wide, and saw it up into lengths of two feet 
six inches. Dig a trench a foot deep in the ground, of an oval, 
round, or any other shape that may be desired. Place these pieces 
of board upright, edgewise, and slanting outwards in the trench, 
then fill in the earth, tamping it well to keep them firm. Nail a 
good strong hoop of wood or iron around the top to keep it from 
separating, and finish by putting around it a rope of twisted grape 
vine. The handle is formed of a hoop or sapling entwined with 
grape vine. Cover the outside of the boards with rough bark and 
fill the basket to the brim with compost, (recommended above) 
and plant your flowers in it, taking care to have a few twining 
plants, (Cypress for instance,) to grow up over the handle. By 
making the basket six or eight feet in diameter, some three dozen 
varieties may be planted, thus forming a brilliant Flower Basket 
that will look bright and beautiful throughout the season. 
For Garden culture, prepare the ground in the Fall, by throwing 
it into ridges and spreading over it a coating of wood ashes, and 
upon these, old and decomposed stable manure, (never on any account 
apply green manure, as it is almost sure death to the plants ; they 
will not thrive in it at all.) By thus exposing the whole to the 
action of frost, thfe worms and larva) of insects are in a measure de- 
stroyed, the soil becomes pulverized and receives a share of Ammonia 
from the snows and rains of winter. In very hot, dry weather, I 
prefer mulching the ground about the plants, with fine charcoal, 
sawdust or tan ; this I think far preferable to artificial watering, as 
it keeps the ground moist and mellow about them, causing them to 
thrive and flower profusely. I have practised both watering and 
mulchlner, and find that plants treated by the latter mode flower 
moro constant and profuse than those treated otherwise, especially 
so, where the soil is of a light sandy loam. 
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