112 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTUBK AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 14, 18i3. 



garcien. They require very little attentiou, but what they do 

 requiie must be given at the right time. We owe Mr. John 

 Laiug, of the Staustead Park Nurseries, Forest Hill, our best 

 thanks for raising many new and improved varieties, and also 

 for exhibiting them in such fine condition as he did at the 

 Royal Horticultural Society's Show on August Gth. 



As a plant for the herbaceous border this has few rivals ; 

 it has also a fine effect planted in beds ; but to have it in the 

 best condition the plants must not be allowed to remain in 

 the same place year after year without being disturbed. After 

 the second year they begin to decline, a larger number of 

 spikes are doubtless thrown up, but they are much weaker, 

 and the individual flowers are smaller and wanting in shape. 

 This is caused by the plants forming an immense number of 

 roots near the surface of the ground, which, matted together 

 as they are, soon exhaust the surrounding soil of all nutriment. 

 A dressing of fresh soil does not help them much, so that the 

 best and only way to obtain good results is to propagate a fresh 

 batch of plants every year. 



The best time to propagate the Phlox is in spring. As 

 soon as the young shoots have grown about li inch slip as 

 many off as required, and pot each singly in the centre of a 

 small pot. They will root sooner if the pots are placed in a 

 gentle hotbed, but this is not necessary. They will root readily 

 under band-lights, or even plunged in the open air in a shady 

 sheltered position ; or a small bed of tiue soil may be made in 

 a shady place, and the cuttings inserted in it 3 inches apart. 



After the cuttings are rooted, plant them out in the beds in 

 which they are intended to flower, for each cutting will pro- 

 duce a nice spike of flowers the first year. If they are planted 

 in beds they should be from 15 to 18 inches apart, and there 

 should be about four rows in a bed, with a wider space, say 

 30 inches, between each bed to allow of a person getting up 

 between them with a water-pot. 



The plants will require a considerable quantity of water 

 during the summer months, and dressing the beds with some 

 short decomposed manure will also be very beneficial. The 

 ground should previously be deeply trenched, and a good dress- 

 ing of manure ought to be applied to it. The plants may also 

 be planted out in herbaceous borders, where they have an ex- 

 cellent effect ; but if it is desirable to do this, a hole should be 

 dug out about a foot square and as much in depth, to be filled 

 with some rich compost, in which the Phlox is planted. 



It is in the second year that the best plants are obtained, 

 but those in the beds must be lifted and replanted, and instead 

 of the plants being from 15 to 18 inches apart, they should 

 now be from 22 to 24 inches, and each plant will have from 

 three to five spikes of flowers. Sticks should be placed to the 

 spikes at an early stage of their growth, as if this is not done 

 the strongest will probably be broken over by the wind, which 

 snaps them at the base. Each spike should be attached to a 

 moderately stout stick, and be tied-out in such a way that it 

 may not be crowded by others. Some persons place one stick 

 in the centre of the plant and tie all the spikes together in a 

 bundle ; but this, to say the least of it, is a very clumsy way of 

 treating them. The same plants may be grown a third season, 

 but the spikes will not be so strong thoush more numerous' 

 than they were in the second year. They will, however, 

 furnish a goodly supply of cuttings, and whether the shoots 

 are required for this purpose or not, they must be thinued-out 

 to five or six on each plant. 



The Phlox is also well adapted for pot culture. When the 

 plants are intended for this purpose it is best to insert the 

 cuttings in small pots at once, and as soon as they are well 

 established to shift them, the weak plants into 5-ineh, and the 

 strongest into (i-inch pots. The following compost suits them 

 well — viz., four parts good turfy loam, one part leaf mould, 

 and one of rotted manure, with the addition, if necessary, of a 

 little sharp sand. During the period of growth, and up to the 

 time of the first flowers opening, the plants should be out of 

 doors, and in a position where they get all the sun possible ; at 

 the same time the Phlox is much injured if exposed to driving 

 winds. The more dwarf and compact the plants can be grown 

 the better ; thick stems and sturdy growth will bo the result of 

 good culture. The pots should be plunged in some cocoa-nut 

 fibre refuse, or any other material— ashes, leaf-mould, iSrc. 

 When the pots are well filled with roots give a supply of weak 

 mauure at every alternate watering. Tire plants, if removed 

 to the greenhouse as soon as the first flowers appear on the 

 spikes, will continue in beauty a very long time. The flowers 

 are delicately scented, and form a very distinct and pleasing 

 feature either in the greenhouse or coussrvatory. When the 



flowering period is over the pots may be removed to a cold 

 frame for the winter, where they must be plunged to prevent 

 the roots from being injured by frost. The second year these 

 will form noble flowering plants, throwing-up stout flower- 

 spikes from 2 to 5 feet high. They should be repotted in 

 February in 10-inch pots, using the same compost 1 have pre- 

 viously recommended, and the same treatment throughout. 

 If it is necessary to retard them for some particular purpose, 

 instead of removing the pots to the greenhouse, place them 

 under a north wall, providing some shelter, in the shape of 

 old lights, to prevent the rain from dashing the flowers oft'. 



In a future number I will give an estimate of sorts. Many 

 of the best varieties of the P. decussata section used to be 

 raised in France, but our English raisers have now equalled, 

 if not surpassed them. The P. pyramidalis section is very 

 beautiful, and the varieties belougmg to it succeed best in the 

 more cool and moist climate of Scotland, where the best 

 varieties have been raised. — J. Dooglas. 



NEW STRAWBERRIES. 



The season now rapidly passing by has been so favourable 

 to the general Strawberry crop, that it has enabled me to pro- 

 nounce a definite judgment on some of the numerous seedlings 

 I have had under my notice for the last four or five years, and 

 which I have been reluctant to name until I was perfectly siire 

 of their value. It will be recollected by some of the readers 

 of the .Journal that I commenced this favourite pursuit some 

 few years ago by endeavouring to improve the race of early 

 and late Strawberries. Of midseason varieties we have abun- 

 dance, unless some new quality should be developed, such as 

 better and more certain cropping, better packers and carriers, 

 etc., which quaUties are so desirable as even to justify new 

 main-crop sorts. I think it will be acknowledged by all who 

 have grown Early Prolific well, that the class of early Straw- 

 berries was improved by the introduction of that handsome 

 early sort. It is true it was not quite so early as Black Prince, 

 but it is quite early enough to withstand the spring frosts we 

 are invariably favoured with throughout Great Britain, and 

 perhaps in the midland counties more particularly ; whilst the 

 quahty of the fruit is in every way so superior to Black Prince 

 that it scarcely needs mention. I have still the seedlings of 

 Marguerite under observation, and these I have reduced to 

 three, one of which I have named Alpha. This is earlier than 

 Early Prohfic, and as early as any good-sized fruit with high 

 flavour can be ripened out of doors in this country ; but it will 

 take another season to get up a good stock of plants. 



The following new kinds will not disappoint the most fas- 

 tidious grower either in growth, bearing, or quality. First in 

 order of succession comes 



Early Crimson Pine. — This is a fine, large, handsome fruit, 



Early Crimaon Piuc. 



coming in with or closely succeeding Early Prolific. The pre- 

 vaihng shape of the fruit is indicated by the accompanying 

 woodcut. Colour bright crimson ; calyx generally reflected ; 

 seeds rather prominent ; flesh dullish white and sometimes 

 pink, juicy, with a rich piquant pine flavour. The plant is of 

 stout upright growth, and crops heavily. 



