144 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
the question is how to effect it in the easiest, soonest, and most convenient 
way, and with the least possible amount of debility entailed on the plants in 
the process; and after they are thus rooted, how best to treat and dispose of 
them so that they can be wintered in the greatest health and robustness 
possible. 
After having tried a good many methods of preparing a stock that is at the 
same time healthy and numerous enough to enable short work to be made of 
the spring propagation, I have found something like the following order of 
things to be the most satisfactory of any course that I have yet tried, although 
others may arrive at precisely the same end by different routes. 
Early in August about a foot of last autumn’s tree leaves are put into the 
bottom of a cold frame, and beaten firmly down. Over the leaves is put about 
3 inches of soil, consisting of equal parts of loam, leaf mould, and sand well 
mixed together. This is beaten firmly down with the back of a spade, or any 
similar appliance, and in this state the frame is in readiness for the cuttings; 
the required number of the different kinds is selected from the margin of the 
beds, or from wherever they can be most readily had. There is not much 
ceremony about the selection and preparation of Verbena cuttings, only that 
they are short, stubby, fresh cuttings that have not yielded blooms, and that 
the leaves are removed from the bottom joint to prevent damping. They are 
made, dibbed into the frame, and watered with as little delay as possible, so 
that they are not allowed to droop and get injured by being dried up. When 
the necessary number is in they receive water through a very fine rose 
sufficient to moisten the 3 inches of soil. The frame is closely shut down, and 
rather thickly shaded during sunshine. In fact, everything is done to keep 
them as cool as possible. If the evenings are calm the lights may be entirely 
drawn off for a few hours, and when put on for the night air is left on. In 
the morning, if the day is likely to be hot, they are dewed over through a very 
fine rose or syringe. Under such treatment they root with little trouble and 
without making much growth at the top—at least, as compared with similar 
cuttings struck later in the season in warmer quarters. The object is to get 
roots formed with as little heat and stagnant atmosphere about the cuttings as 
possible, and so prevent their being drawn and weakly. 
When they have made roots about an inch long they are pricked-off into 
round earthenware pans, 14 inches in diameter and 7 inches deep. The pans 
are prepared by placing a thin layer of rather finely-broken crocks over the 
bottom, then a layer of old mushroom-bed dung, which consists chiefly of 
horse-droppings, and they are filled up with a good substantial compost 
consisting of equal parts of a rather sandy loam and the same sort of dung 
already named, with a very slight addition of sand. About thirty plants of 
such as Verbenas and Alyssum are put into each pan, and as soon as possible 
after being pricked-off they are fully exposed to all weathers except heavy 
rains. By housing-time you might shear armfuls of fine healthy cuttings from 
them. They are, of course, repeatedly stopped, and kept free from bloom-buds 
as they grow, and carefully attended to with water. We make up about eighty 
or a hundred pans of Verbenas in this way ; and they are wintered in any cool, 
airy, dry place, and kept moderately moist at the root; and even with such 
varieties as Purple King, which is largely grown, mildew rarely makes its 
appearance. 
In spring almost any amount of cuttings can be had from such a stock. 
Last spring we struck about twenty thousand Verbenas alone in a very short 
time, and three times the quantity could have been struck if needed. As 
compared with plans that I have formerly adopted, and which used to be in 
vogue, this is found to be attended with far less labour and much better results. 
