THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
before the end of the month, and the knowledge stored 
up in the memory will be certainly in time for all sorts 
for the next autumn and spring. 
Propagation by Cuttings. —I have no doubt the 
Verbena might he propagated by leaves with a bud at 
the base of each leaf, in the manner described by Mr. 
Beaton for Geraniums in the number for the 31st of 
March ultimo ; but this plant grows so fast that there 
is the less necessity for such a method, and, besides, the 
operation in question requires such nice, almost hourly 
attention, that it is rather doubtful whether an amateur 
would be able to manage it; therefore I think that he 
had better be content with the older and more simple 
method of making his cuttings of the young tops of the 
shoots. Generally speaking, cuttings root all the more 
readily if the bottom cut is made close to a joint; but, 
in the case of the Verbena, nature has provided the buds, 
as it were, with roots in all parts of the stem. Hence a 
young top with a pair of leaves, and a quarter of an inch 
or even half an inch of stem below the leaves, is as good 
a cutting as could be made. 
The first thing to do is to make ready a light com¬ 
post, consisting of one part heath mould, one part 
loam, and one part leaf mould. This compost should 
be thoroughly mixed, and a little sand added to make 
it open and pervious to water. It should not be 
used till it is moderately dry. Then obtain a suf- 
1 ficient quantity of broken pots for drainage, and lastly 
a sufficient number of clean pots from four to live 
inches wide. Smaller pots sooner get dry, and larger 
ones are troublesome in potting off the cuttings when 
; struck. 
A gentle heat is absolutely necessary, and, as few 
amateurs have the convenience of a proper propagating 
house, a hotbed three feet thick, made of well-tempered 
stable dung, is the next best means of obtaining that heat. 
! Leaves, also, make a good hotbed ; but they cannot be so 
easily procured. Upon this bed place a one or two-light 
| frame, and upon the dung inside the frame place a layer 
! of coal ashes and old tan if that can be had. Then, as 
soon as the heat is moderated and sweet, take off the 
cuttings, with names on wooden or zinc labels placed to 
each kind. They may be allowed to dry a little by 
inserting the ends of each in dry sand. Fill a pot first 
with drainage an inch thick; then with the compost 
upon that up to within an inch of the top, and that 
space fill with pure silver sand; give it a gentle water¬ 
ing, and then plant the cuttings in rows across the pot. 
Stick labels with the names written on them facing each 
variety. If you have sufficient cuttings to fill a pot 
with all of one variety it will be safer in order to prevent 
mistakes. Press the sand close to the bottom of each 
cutting as the planting goes on, and as soon as a pot is 
filled give a gentle watering, sufficient to cause the sand 
to fill up the holes, and leave the sand quite smooth and 
level. Proceed in this manner till all the cuttings are 
| planted, and then place the pots in the frame. If the 
heat is sufficiently moderate the pots may be plunged in 
the old tan or coal ashes: the cuttings will root so 
much the quicker by being so plunged. Take great care 
in shading from bright sunshine, and give water from a 
fine-rosed watering-pot whenever the sand becomes dry. 
With this care nine-tenths of the cuttings ought to strike, 
and be fit for potting off in a month or six weeks. When 
they are potted off in small GO’s they should be replaced 
in the frame, and shaded for a week or ten days, when 
they may be gradually inured to bear the full light of 
| the sun. Give abundance of air to harden them off 
ready for planting out or repotting for blooming in pots. 
For the latter purpose they should be severely stopped, 
and the tops made use of for cuttings. In the autumn 
cuttings may he put in under a frame, and when struck 
kept in the cutting pots till the spring. Probably some 
of our readers may have cuttings struck last autumn in 
GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION, Ai-ril 28, 1857. 51 
that manner. No time should be lost now to get them 
potted off singly, stopped to make them bushy, and 
hardened off ready for planting out towards the end 
of May. 
Culture to Bloom in Pots. —Choose nice bushy 
plants for this purpose, repot them into eight-inch pots 
rather shallower than the ordinary pot. For the green¬ 
house they may be tied to short sticks, so placed round 
the pot that the branches or shoots, as they grow, may 
be spread out to form a dense bush when in bloom. No 
flowers must be allowed to bloom until the bush is fully 
formed; then every shoot end will be furnished with a 
good truss of flower, and they will form very showy and 
beautiful objects. For exhibition the best method is to 
form a flat circular trellis two or three inches wider than 
the pot; this trellis should be made of small wire painted 
green, with four feet underneath, so attached as to allow 
of being thrust into the pot to support the trellis about 
five inches above the soil. The meshes of the trellis 
should be wide enough (1^- inch) to allow the shoots 
to come through. The shoots should be stopped, to 
cause a sufficient number of shoots to be produced as 
will, when in bloom, completely hide the trellis. Con¬ 
siderable judgment is required so to manage the bloom¬ 
ing that all the trusses should be open in perfection on 
the day of exhibition. If the buds are fully formed 
three weeks previous to that day, and the plants are kept 
in a cold frame and shaded from hot sun, they will 
be in the greatest perfection. It is desirable, however, 
to have three or four plants more than the required 
number in the exhibition schedule, in order to make 
sure of the prize. A good exhibition of well-grown 
Verbenas in pots forms a fine feature in any exhibition. 
Sometimes prizes are offered for cut Verbenas in stands 
of twelve and twenty-four. These should be exhibited 
in such stands as I have described for Dahlias: they 
look best that way. In bottles without a box they do 
not make nearly so effective a show. 
Culture in the Open Ground. —In such a situation 
few plants make so pleasing a show. The bed or beds 
should not be too rich, for then the plants grow so 
rampant as to prevent a good show of flowers. I always 
found a good, common, rather strong loam, well mixed 
with river sand, answer the best for Verbenas, especially 
if the soil was changed, or the beds changed for them 
every year. Mixtures of several varieties in one bed are 
not by far so pleasing as a bed of one variety. Supposing 
a bed planted with a good scarlet, a band or edging of 
the variegated Alyssum sets off the scarlet to the 
greatest advantage. Then, again, a bed of pure white 
is much enhanced in beauty by an edging of the 
Lobelia ramosoides. So a blue might be edged with 
an edging of some dwarf yellow flower—the Mimulus 
moschatus, or Musk plant, for instance.* These bands, by 
their contrast of colour, render the Verbenas much more 
pleasing in effect in the massing style. I would advise 
purchasers to order their plants immediately, and grow 
them this year in pots. The cuttings taken off them to 
make them bushy may be planted out in the mixture 
border to prove their quality for bedding purposes. 
T. Appleby, 
(To be continued .) 
PRUNING OLD STANDARD APPLE AND 
PEAR TREES. 
There are few subjects more prolific of dispute than 
the treatment of orchard fruit trees. “Let them alone,” 
cries one; “Prune hard,” says another; while a third 
insists that “the mystery is all at the root.” Be these 
opinions of what weight they may, certain it is that a 
great many fruit trees are very unproductive, and many 
