THE PHLOX. 23 



The plants being- left in the ground all the winter take 

 no harm, and beg-in early in the spring to grow. When 

 the new shoots are about two inches high, the roots may 

 be lifted and divided, and planted again in freshly-dug 

 and liberally- manured ground. In their new stations they 

 may be allowed to stand two or three years, and should then 

 be taken up, divided, and again planted. This we may 

 call the rough-and-ready way, and it has for many years 

 past been our way with a collection comprising over a 

 hundred varieties. When grown for exhibition, a fresh 

 stock should be planted every year in well-manured turfy 

 loam, and if the summer should be hot and dry, the plants 

 should have liberal help from the water-pot. In making 

 plants for ordinary purposes it is quite sufficient- to pull 

 off rooted pieces, but when stock of some particular sorts 

 is required in quantity, the old stools should be potted and 

 gently forced, and the tops should be made into cuttings 

 and struck in a gentle heat. By this mode of procedure 

 one plant may be made the pai-ent of hundreds, because 

 propagating may be continued until far into the month of 

 May, and the plants will flower the same season, though 

 late perhaps. ' To grow fine phloxes the two important 

 points are to renew the plants frequently and feed them 

 well. To raise phloxes from seed is an equally simple 

 affair. First secure your seed, as Mrs. Glasse might say ; 

 and if you begin with first-rate sorts you will not get 

 much. Our plan has been to sow in pans as soon as the 

 seed was fully ripe, and keep the young plants in a pit 

 through the winter. But it will suit amateurs better to 

 sow in spring, and we mjist advise keeping the seed-pans 

 under glass until the plants are forward, when they may 

 be planted in an open mirsery-bed to flower. They should 



