280 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



to you. Some phloxes have a marvelous prepotency, impressing them- 

 selves in a remarkable manner on their progeny. Crepuscule seems to 

 be the best of them all. The seed of this variety crossed with others 

 gives most gratifying results, the peculiar shape and color of the floret, 

 and symmetrical crown show in a decided manner the parentage. It 

 seeds fairly well, so that it is a prime factor in producing new and 

 choice kinds. I have known it to cross with the tender Coquelicot, 

 giving as a result a much hardier iplant of flowers twice the former 

 size. It is a dwarf, and it takes about three years to come to its best. 

 It will often stagger under its great load of beauty. It is a poor multi- 

 plier. You must wait till the plant gets age, and then try propogating 

 from the roots. I have often secured 22 plants from one clump in this 

 way. Some phloxes seem very contrary. For instance, you might 

 sow a bushel of seed from Cross of Honor and you would not have one 

 like the parent. Every plant will be of a uniform Lilac color. We got 

 so many of this stamp we have named them Zantippe. A certain white 

 phlox will not give a single plant with a white flower. They are almost 

 all of a uniform slate shaded pink. Mad. IMauret, dazzling scarlet, 

 almost always reproduces itself. 



It does not take long to know what you are doing with phloxes. 

 Sow the seed in the fall, cover lightly, see that they do not dry while 

 germinating, and they are sure to grow. They love the freezing and 

 thawing, the slush and snow, and slo;p of spring. The little plants will 

 endure almost anything. Never sow seeds in the spring. I never knew 

 them to grow. They refuse to come up in the hot house. If you grow 

 peonies they come up the second or third year and then you must 

 wait from 3 to 5 years, perhaps longer for them to bloom. With 

 phloxes it is different. You sow in the fall and they come up and 

 bloom beautifully in the summer. If not crowded and well watered 

 and cultivated the flowers will be just as fine the first year as ever 

 ■and they will have a mass of fine, fibrous roots making an ideal plant 

 for transplanting. 



A Great Mistake. 



Some people order large clumps thinking to secure better blooms. 

 The fact is if left too long the roots get woody and prey on themselves. 

 You dig an old plant, and you do not find fresih and vigorous roots to 

 feed the plant but short stubby and lifeless ones. The best way to 

 raise phloxes for market is to dig, separate, and iplant every fall. Then 

 you are sure of good vigorous ones which will give the best satis- 

 faction. 



Let me say further, that all the treasures of the earth do not con- 

 sist of beef and corn, hogs and hominy, wheat and oats. The soul has 

 an inborn hunger for the beautiful. To meet it the good Father has 

 painted his glories on the brow of the storm, and the curtains of the 

 evening glow with splendors which defy the brush or the pen. His are 



