192 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Countess of Home, published in the Florist in 1854, is a good 

 type of these early-flowering varieties. But they were not vigor- 

 ous enough in habit, and had, at least in the South of England, 

 to give place to the late-flowering sorts. 



The cultural requirements of the Phlox are very simple indeed, 

 but I am afraid that because it is so easily grown it does not receive 

 the attention its merits deserve. A not uncommon way of pro- 

 pagating the plants is to dig them out of the ground in the 

 spring, chop the stools into three or four pieces with a spade, re- 

 planting each of them separately. By this clumsy method the 

 plants will flower, but the spikes produced are poor in comparison 

 with those obtained from cuttings. The best way to deal with 

 them is to take cuttings early in the spring as soon as they have 

 grown an inch or so high ; plant each cutting in the centre of a 

 small pot in fine sandy soil, and plunge them in a hotbed. They 

 speedily form roots, and if grown on in frames, and then shifted 

 into five- or six-inch pots, each of these small plants will flower well 

 the same season ; and although the Phlox is a hardy border plant 

 it is not to be despised as an object of beauty in the greenhouse or 

 conservatory in autumn. When the flowering period is over 

 the plants should at once be planted out in the open garden 

 where they are to blossom next year, and if they are planted in 

 beds of rich deep soil a space of at least 2 feet should be allowed 

 between each. Plants prepared thus will flower with very great 

 vigour, and are in every respect superior to those increased by 

 division of the old roots. 



Every lover of plants who takes a special interest in any 

 particular genus is not content merely to propagate the same 

 varieties over and over again, but longs to produce something 

 new and distinct, and to do this seedlings must be raised. The 

 Phlox is very easily produced from seed, which can be obtained 

 plentifully in warm seasons such as the present 1893. Gather it 

 when ripe and lay it out on a shelf in a dry place until it is quite 

 dried. Sow about the 1st of February in flower-pots or seed- 

 pans, and place them in a frame over a hotbed. By starting 

 thus early the plants may be grown on in boxes, and planted out 

 in the open ground about the last week in April or early in May. 

 Every one of the plants, if well cared for, will flower by the end of 

 the season ; and by planting the seedlings about a foot apart, in 

 rich deep soil, a grand display of these beautiful hardy flowers is 



