326 On the Cultivation of Phlox Drummondii, 



odor. The plant produces from eight to ten large leaves at the 

 base of the stem, laying close to the soil. 



Crowded in among other plants in the flower-border, or allow- 

 ed to be encroached upon by any plant standing near, much of 

 the beauty of the plants is lost; but growing singly in open beds 

 or in spare places in the border, where their erect stems and 

 flowers can be viewed to advantage, they form imposing objects, 

 and when a profusion of their white flowers are expanded, they 

 are extremely showy and beautiful: the only objection to this 

 species is, the rather uninteresting appearance the plants assume 

 in the middle of the day, when the flowers are not open; but, if 

 we recollect that it is at that time, especially in the hot months 

 of July and August, in our climate, that the garden is least visit- 

 ed, and that both morning and evening are the periods when we 

 desire most to see the flower-borders assume their fresh and live- 

 ly aspect, this species will be but little the less valuable for its 

 natural habit of unclosing its tender corols after the rays of a 

 summer sun have given w"ay to the freshness of the evening 

 breeze. 



The cultivation of the plants is simple. The seeds were 

 sown in March in a pot, in the hot-house, and were up in the 

 course of a few days. After they had made a few leaves, they 

 were potted oft' singly into number one pots, in a light soil, com- 

 posed of loam and leaf mould, with a small portion of sand. 

 When the roots had filled the pots, the plants were shifted into 

 the next size, (number two.) After standing in the stove until 

 May, they were removed therefrom to the open air, and after a 

 day or two of exposure in a partially shaded aspect, they were 

 turned out of the pots into the border. The plants soon com- 

 menced growing, their leaves enlarging more and more, and lay- 

 ing flat upon the surface without showing any signs of a rising 

 stem for some time. In the latter part of June the stem pushed 

 up and grew rapidly, branching out profusely, and by the first of 

 August the first flower opened; others appeared soon after, and 

 the plant is now covered with an abundance every evening; and 

 no doubt a succession will be thrown up until the appearance of 

 frost. The soil is only that of the border, in a situation neither 

 over moist or too dry, and where, during the dry season, it has 

 not suffered for water. 



Sweet''s Floiocr Garden recommends that the seed should be 

 sown in the fall, in order to bring the plants forward early. Per- 

 haps the same system would do with us; at any rate we shall try 

 it, and note the result; but we would recommend that the seed 

 be sown in a hot-bed in February, or early in IMarch, and alter one 

 or two pottings turned into the border, or other desirable place, 

 as soon as the weather is sufliciently mild as not to endanger the 



