1871.] THE PHLOX. 67 



stable manure is placed in the bottom of the trench — if the ground 

 is light, the former ; and if heavy, the latter — the part that is to be 

 trenched is marked off in 2J-feet spaces ; a man with a close-pronged 

 steel fork digs a spit from this space, another follows with a shovel 

 and throws the loose earth over on the manure ; another layer of 

 manure is placed on this ; another spit and shovelling is thrown out, 

 the bottom of the trench is forked up, and the same process is repeated : 

 if there is sufficient depth of good soil, we take three spits, three 

 shovellings, and have three layers of manure. It is very desirable that 

 the operation of trenching be performed before the ground is saturated 

 with the autumn rains ; during favourable weather in winter the 

 ground may be lightly forked over to the depth of 3 or 4 inches. If 

 the weather is favourable, plant about the end of February or beginning 

 of March four rows in a bed and 20 inches betweeif the plants : when 

 the shoots have grown 2 or 3 inches they should be thinned out, allow- 

 ing only from three to five on each plant : in an early stage of their 

 growth the sticks should be placed to them, as the shoots are easily 

 damaged by the wind, which breaks them over close to the surface of 

 the ground. The beds ought to be well watered during the summer 

 months if the season is dry, and occasionally with liquid manure. 

 Immediately after the first watering, mulch the beds with rotted frame- 

 dung to prevent rapid evaporation ; succeeding waterings will also 

 wash the nourishing properties down to the roots, which are in abun- 

 dance near the surface. To keep up a succession of good plants a 

 fresh lot should be propagated every year ; the cuttings should be put 

 in as early as they can be obtained in the spring, the superfluous shoots 

 which are thinned out being used for this purpose : the best way is to 

 insert one cutting in the centre of a 60-sized pot : if the pots are 

 plunged in a hot-bed in a gentle bottom-heat, the cuttings will soon 

 strike if the frame is kept rather close. When the young plants show 

 signs of growing,\dmit air more freely, removing the plants in a 

 fortnight to a cold frame : the strongest plants should be reserved for 

 pot culture, the others, after being hardened off, may be planted out 

 about the end of April or beginning of May : those reserved for pot 

 culture should be shifted into 6-inch pots about the same time in a 

 compost consisting of four parts turfy loam, one leaf-mould, and one 

 rotted manure, with the addition of a little silver sand. The best posi- 

 tion for the plants during summer is out of doors, fully exposed to the 

 sun, and yet sheltered from driving winds : the aim of the cultivation 

 is to obtain dwarf sturdy plants, and this will not be accomplished if 

 they do not have air and sunshine freely admitted to them. If the pots 

 are plunged, less water will be required for them : when the plants are 

 well established in the 6-inch pots, manure-water twice a-week wiU be 



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