FEBRUARY. 
31 
end of the greenhouse or stove; if placed near the flue they will be much 
benefited by its proximity, as they suffer very much from damp during the 
winter. They then require little water, but when it is needed a good soaking 
should be given. 
The Centaurea is a greater favourite with me than the Cineraria maritima, 
as it is more easily kept within bounds. I find that the Cineraria will not bear 
the knife without dying back; this spoils the effect of a good bed, as I experi¬ 
enced last autumn in the case of a bed filled with Amaranthus melancholicus, 
then Cineraria maritima, and Perilla nankinensis in the centre, the other side 
be ing the same. These were planted in strips, and the effect was very good 
and pleased every one till the Cineraria began to fail. This year I intend to use 
the Centaurea for the same purpose. 
Elsenham Hall Gardens. * William Plester. 
THE PROPAGATION OF VERBENAS. 
My design is not so much to develope any new method, as to give a promi¬ 
nence to what is well known to many, and yet may, perchance, be very accept¬ 
able to some. A good system or method is worthy of a wide propagation, and 
now-a-days preachers of all kinds are not required to declare so much what is 
new, original, or startling, as what is useful, to the purpose, and valuable. 
The autumn propagation of Verbenas finds but few advocates, and is not 
generally adopted, except where necessity admits of no exception to its unyield¬ 
ing rules. The difficulty of autumn propagation lies in the great hazard attending 
the wintering of the plants. The method generally observed is to place a number 
of cuttings in 60-pots, using a soil in which there has been mingled a good 
quantity of coarse sand. In this they will root readily, and the path is smooth 
up to the time when these store pots have to be removed to their winter quarters. 
The position usually assigned them is a high shelf in a heated house, the shelf 
being so situated that the store pots can be close to the glass. They are 
watered very sparingly, are kept quite clean, have air on all occasions when it 
can be administered, and no drip is permitted to fall upon them. The great 
enemy mildew will attack them let them be wintered as they will, and this 
method is considered one of the best to moderate the ravages of this pest. How 
unsatisfactory such a method has proved to many a propagator the pages of the 
gardening publications have frequently attested. Many a man has looked over 
his stock at the beginning of March, and has marked with sorrow and dis¬ 
appointment how great an inroad decay has made among them. He loses his 
faith in the recognised formula which has been commended to him by many 
whose names are deserving of confidence; but he feels that he cannot stretch 
it to cover the experience gradually taking hold on him, that a new and more 
assuring method can be found and applied. This has been found, and, better 
still, applied with great success and the most cheering results. The operator, 
a gardener of considerable eminence in the north, shall develope his plan in his 
own w r ords:—“Early in August a quantity of each variety of Verbena that 
I intend to use is struck not in heat, but in cold frames, without putting them in 
either pots or boxes. A layer of half sand, half leaf mould, is laid over the 
surface of the frame. Into this are put the cuttings, which are selected from 
the shortest and least-drawn from round the sides of the beds. They are kept 
close through the day, and sometimes in calm warm evenings the sashes are 
entirely drawn off for a few hours. They root under such circumstances almost 
without making any growth, or without becoming drawn. When rooted 
they are pricked into pans 7 inches deep and 14 inches in diameter. A few 
