VERBENAS. 
The Verbena has justly become one of the most popular of 
all Florist’s flowers ; no Flower Garden, however small, being 
considered complete without it. The brilliancy and great variety 
of color, the long continued season of bloom, and its peculiar 
adaptedness to our soil and climate, render it one of the most 
valuable of all bedding plants. Many varieties are fine for vase 
culture, and when rightly managed, as a house plant will flower 
profusely from January to May. 
<£ultibafiou anl) ||lauageincat. 
New varieties may be obtained from seed, care being taken to 
select that which looks plump, heavy and well-ripened, which will 
bo of a dark brown, and is pretty sure to germinate if treated as 
follows : Soak them a few hours in tepid water and sow early in 
March, in eight inch pots or seed pans, filled to within one inch 
of the top with a compost of one part loam, one of leaf-mold, and 
one-half silver (or fine river,) sand; cover the seed one-half inch 
deep with the same compost sifted fine (better for covering if 
composed of two-thirds sand) ; sprinkle the whole and place under 
a hand glass or in the hot bed, where they will germinate in 
twelve to fifteen days. When the plants are an inch high, pot 
them into four inch pots, and plunge in sand or tan in a warm 
frame, where they may remain until time for planting out. In 
good soil and exposure to the sun, they will he in bloom by first 
of July. 
The properties of a First Class Verbena should be vigorous 
foliage, with close-spreading habit, truss large, slightly convex, 
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