/CULTUREjHP 
THE ^ 
EXCELSIOR 
13.00 PER YEAR, 
ingle No., Eight Cents, 
41 Park Row, Yew York. 
82 Uulfalo 8t., Rochester 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER II, 1869 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1869, by D. D . T. Moore, In the Clerk’s OfUce of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Now York 1 
our favorites, and they represent the classes 
named above : 
Cygnet —Very large, handsome form and 
pure white. 
Fusi-garni — Medium size, dark violet, 
crimson with a fiery center; a rather dwarf 
grower, but the trusses are large and very 
compact. 
Madame Rmdatler — Large, handsome 
form, blush with crimson center, something 
Miss Hare —Snow white, with deep violet 
center. 
Rosy Gem —Deep pink, very large and 
handsome. 
—Light blush, with carmine center. 
Victor Hugo —Very large; deep purple. 
All of the above varieties can be had of 
our florists very cheap, and no one who has 
an eye for beauty will regret giving them the 
little care they require. Phloxes will thrive 
in any good garden soil, and are readily in¬ 
creased by dividing the stools in the autumn 
or early spring. If the soil Is poor and too 
shallow, they are likely to Suffer from mil¬ 
dew in very hot, dry weather; but this can 
be in a great measure prevented by giving 
copious application of water or covering the 
soil with mulch. 
three feet and two inches, in the clear, above 
tbe lower one of the lirst three described. 
These posts or stakes are to be set about 
twelve inches in the ground and eight, feet 
apart, and so set us to inclose the plantation 
to be protected ; or If the plantation be too 
large to surround entirely with the hurdle, a 
portion of it may be surrounded only, and 
the fiock be confined by the shepherds to the 
side protected until it is cropped, when the 
|| I or inti lure 
and another rope of same description 
through a set of holes near the head of the 
stakes, and about, three feet two inches above 
the lower rope, and the ropes firmly tierl at 
each end. The wire netting is then to be 
attached to each rope at intervals of Ibuf 
feet on the upper rope and three feet on the 
lower one. The attachments to be strong 
tarred coni, tied firmly to the margins of the 
netting. The cost of two hundred feet, of 
HARDY PHLOXES 
The phloxes of our gardens all originated 
from species native of North America ; and 
yet. we are indebted to European gardeners 
for most of our best varieties. We have be- 
itbstape ffiarbrning 
MANAGEMENT OF LAWNS 
BY J. WILKINSON. 
Old lawns, on whieiwj^lj^Tas'v has, by 
neglect, become nearly si5pJJ:auted with nox¬ 
ious weeds, and which it is considered im¬ 
practicable to break up for the purpose of 
resetting w ith grass, may be renovated by 
scarifying the surface of the lawn with a 
sharp-toothed, light, seeding harrow, drawn 
by one borne, seeding with the proper grasses 
on the scarified surface, and top-clrcasing 
with a suitable compost. The above direc¬ 
tions having been observed, it will be well 
to wait until after a good fall of min, and if 
the soil is tenacious, a day or two after the 
rain hungry Sheep should be hurdled on a 
small section of the lawn at a time, so that 
they will gnaw very closely every living 
plant to which they have access. As soon 
as they have appeased their hunger so that 
they are disposed only to nip the tops of the 
most palatable plants, they should be re¬ 
moved and confined in a close yard until 
hunger lias aguin qualified them for resum¬ 
ing this close defoliating process with such 
a degree of avidity that they will scarcely 
leave anything but. the roots. This process 
is impracticable without the use of hurdles 
with which to keep the sheep from the plants 
to be preserved. 
To the inexperienced in providing and 
using hurdles, it may appear to be too ex¬ 
pensive a process to be warrantable, but it 
is otherwise; and the use of hurdles and 
sheep pasturing is, on the whole, probably, 
about as economical as any other process by 
which a first-class lawn can be maintained, 
where the sheep are to he conveniently ob¬ 
tained. As well kept lawns are generally to 
he found in the greatest number near popu¬ 
lous cities, there is little difficulty in making 
arrangements with the mutton butchers, by 
which fifty to one hundred sheep may be 
gotten at almost any time in summer for 
this use, as they are in the practice of keep¬ 
ing a boy or two with the flock to watch 
them ou the common, where tin: pasture is 
little, if any, better than what they would 
get on the lawn ; and any one of them 
would doubtless be very glad to have his 
sheep turned into a range where no watch¬ 
ing would be necessary. 
The most economical hurdle, and that 
most portable and durable of any known to 
the writer, is formed of woven wire, with 
light, movable stakes. The stakes should 
be two inches squaru and four feetsLx inches 
iu length, and should be of good while oak 
timber. They should be pointed, an. 1 should 
be pierced with three three-quarter holes, 
two inches apart, the lower one to be twelve 
inches from the pointed end. Three other 
holes should he made through the stakes in 
the same direction, and the same distance 
apart and near the head of the posts. The 
lower of these Inst three holes should be 
mc/iSLS/jf. 
PHLOX — TRIUMPH DE TWICKLE 
come so accustomed to see lists in our plant after the style of 
catalogues of the “ latest importations,” the Rural some 
“finest European sorts,” &c., that it is to which, by-the-by, 
be feared that many persons may believe its class, 
that these beautiful plants are truly of foreign Triumph de lv 
origin. Even the name of this genus Is the with a distinct si 
Greek word for flame, and was formerly up- of each petal. I 
plied to the scarlet Lychnis; hut in later ses, often a foot i 
times transferred to our American plant. have never seen i 
There are about a dozen species of the UC !\ r eqUa1 ' 
Phlox, all of which are w orthy of cultivation. f> ° C ’ .'?** , ‘ ' 
The most common of our hardy garden new Btnped 9 ? rta 
varieties originated from the P. maculata and B0U ’ f‘. e ex ^ e ] le J 
P- paniculuUz , both rather tall growing, but num P ^ ( 
very hardy species. Seedlings from these Of course we d 
have been produced in such numbers that named are really 
varieties without number have been selected fUe same class, 
therefrom. Triumph; for wl 
Although great progress has been made amon g so many 
with phloxes, still the difference between cr ‘ m son, with pu 
many ot the varieties lately introduced is P 1- etty difficult rns 
scarcely discernible, even by those who To make up a i 
make this plant a specialty. For convenience 10 the four lialne( 
sake, all the tall growing varieties might be Countess of Br 
placed in four classes: 1. The white v arieties; lar S e - 
2. The various shades of red and crimson, Edward. About- 
with darker colored centers; 3. White or 8011 ceilter - 
pink, with dark centers; 4. Striped varieties. ^cmdeur — 
a i center. 
- mong the hundred varieties that we now Lada Timor— P 
mve in cultivation, the following four are 
