660 CULTURE or THE VERBENA TRIPHY'lLIA. 
gooseberry ])usli in the open border; tlie soil was a light sandy 
loam, and the plant sheltered from the north and north-west winds 
by a sandy rock, and from the east by a quick-hedge; it required 
no more protection in winter than simply mulching for a foot or 
two round the roots, unless the frost was very intense, and then a 
few stakes put round, and a mat thrown over was always found suf¬ 
ficient ; but I should recommend them to be placed against a south 
wall, where they could be more easily preserved from the inclemency 
of the weather during the winter months, by nailing a mat against 
it; and every spring, just before nature begins to show an inclina¬ 
tion to push her buds, cut down the last summer’s wood to three or 
at most four eyes; by so doing your correspondent will keep the 
plants within due bounds for many years, and at the same time 
would produce an abundant supply of young wood either for pro¬ 
pagation, or to give every week, throughout the summer, to all the 
fair sex of his acquaintance in the neighbourhood, a sprig for a 
nosegay of that most delicious and grateful smelling plant, the 
verbena triphy'llia. 
The mode of propagation is this; when the young shoots are 
grown about three, and not on any occasion more than four joints> 
they may be slipt off from the places where they first started, take 
ofi* the leaves half way up or more, then with a sharp knife cut a 
section straight across just at or below the bottom joint; plant them 
in pots filled with equal parts of light loam, peat, and sand sifted 
fine; a small bell glass put over them, and the pots placed in the 
front of a cucumber or melon frame, will greatly facilitate their 
striking; but if a frame is not convenient^ I have no doubt they will 
grow equally as well on the open border in the summer, covered 
with either a bell or a common hand-glass, so as to keep them air 
tight, in either situation, they will require shading in sunny wea¬ 
ther, from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon, for the 
first week, and afterwards gradually giving them more sun every 
day as you find they will bear it until they have struck root. 
If Suffolk follows these directions, I anticipate, when I have 
the pleasure of visiting his part of the country, although it may be 
during the most sultry and exhausting heats of summer, I shall 
find the air partaking of an enlivening fragrance, by its copious 
impregnation with the delightful exhalations of the verbena. 
A Novice. 
April 18///, 1832. 
