1875 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
425 
abundant, and of a fine green color. Upon 
learning it was a new seedling, we had an en¬ 
graving made of it, and requested Mr. Roe to 
give us its history, which he has done substan- 
ly hardy. The variety will be thoroughly 
tested in various soils and localities, and the 
best judges satisfied as to its character, before 
it is sent out. Thus far I have never seen a 
were a few out of the whole that were of real 
value, and some of them have found a place 
in the regular seed catalogues. In the list was 
one called Verbena montana , which professed to 
tially as follows: “In 1826 Mr. William Roe 
purchased quite a large plot of ground in what 
was then the outskirts of the village of New¬ 
burgh, and stocked his place with the best 
fruits that he could then procure. That which 
was then a home in the country, is now a 
country-like home in the center of a large city. 
Mr. T. Hazard Roe is the present proprietor, 
and inheriting the taste of his father, has given 
his place a local reputation for its fine fruit for 
many years. Among the known varieties 
many seedlings were permitted to grow, and 
there are now natural pears, peaches, and 
apples on the place, that are very valuable, as 
well as a seedling raspberry that promises bet¬ 
ter than anything I have yet seen. 
“ But the seedling gooseberry,which I brought 
to your office, is perhaps the fruit of the great¬ 
est promise. For years I had been struck by 
the remarkable size and fairness of these goose¬ 
berries, and supposed that they were some very 
fine English variety that by some good fortune 
had not mildewed. Sometime ago I expressed 
my surprise to Mr. Roe that his gooseberries 
did not mildew, and then learned for the first 
time that they were a seedling variety, which 
originated on his place over fifteen years ago, 
and that they never had mildewed. I at once 
concluded that if it could be made to do as 
well elsewhere, it would be a great advance up¬ 
on any variety of this berry I had yet seen. 
The bush is a very strong grower, and perfect- 
more abundant bearer, the fruit being large, 
green, and fine flavored when ripe.” 
- !■ I|l ■ ' -- 
A Hardy Garden Verbena. 
Several years ago a chap thought he would 
turn a penny by selling seeds of native plants; 
and he put out a catalogue of seeds of the 
“ Flowers of the Prairies and the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains.” He had sufficient botanical knowledge 
to get the names with tolerable accuracy, but 
he was careful to give no common names, only 
the systematic ones, which made quite a for¬ 
midable array so far as a show of learning 
went, and the descriptions, evidently his own, 
were of the most glowing character. Some of 
our seedsmen, who should have known better, 
were caught by this person, and incorporated 
his catalogue with their own. A more worth¬ 
less lot of thrash, speaking from a horticultural 
point of view, could not be imagined ; had any 
one purchased these seeds, he would have been 
disgusted with “ prairie flowers,” as he would 
have found a number of well-known weeds 
among them, and the majority of other plants 
quite void of any claims to a place in the gar¬ 
den. It is but fair to say that the seedsmen 
who adopted this list in their catalogues, when 
informed of the character of the plants, imme¬ 
diately suppressed it. While the seeds offered 
were generally of undesirable kinds, there 
be from “ the gold regions of Colorado.” Every 
one knows the common garden verbenas, 
which present such a great variety of colors, 
and make the garden brilliant throughout the 
summer, but as soon as very hard frosts ecme 
are killed. The plants are very difficult to 
keep through the winter, unless one has a 
greenhouse, and a new stock must be procured 
in the spring, or else raised from seed, which 
produce uncertain colors, and are late in bloom¬ 
ing. These verbenas are hybrids, and result 
from several species through many years of 
hybridizing and crossing. The plant to which 
we now call attention, and of which a flower¬ 
ing branch is given in the engraving, is a peren¬ 
nial, usually flowers the first year from seed, 
and forms a dense tuft three feet across, and 
keeps up a profuse and continuous bloom all 
the season, of abundant pale lilac flowers. 
The seeds of this are in the catalogues as 
Verbena montana , and it is the name under 
which those who wish the plant must ask for 
it; there is no such species, and this did not 
come from the “ gold regions of Colorado.” 
This is not the place to discuss the botanical 
position of the plant; suffice it to say here 
that our native verbenas are much disposed to 
hybridize in the wild state, and present many 
interesting intermediate forms. This is very 
close to that form of V Aubletia, which has been 
called V bipinnatifida, though that is described 
as an annual. While not sure that it may be 
