1874.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
14,1 
Annuals—Drummond’s Phlox. 
"When Mr. James Drummond, some fifty 
years ago, first saw the little Phlox which now 
hears his name, he could hardly have foreseen 
that it would become perhaps the most popular 
annual in cultivation; and instead of the rose- 
purple color 
that belongs 
to it in its 
native state 
it would 
“break” into 
a great variety 
of colors and 
shades which 
would receive 
distinct flor¬ 
ists’ names. 
The writer 
has seen it 
covering large 
stretches of 
prairie, where, 
though pret¬ 
ty, it appears 
rather com¬ 
mon,and bears 
but little re¬ 
semblance to 
the choice and 
brilliant varie¬ 
ties of the gar¬ 
den. Drum¬ 
mond’s Phlox, 
or Phlox 
D r urnrnondii, 
as the cata¬ 
logues have it, 
is one of the few annuals that the English 
gardeners admit in their lists of plants for the 
elaborate bedding designs now so much in favor 
in their country, but which have not been ex¬ 
tensively practiced in this. Those who wish to 
attempt the massing style of planting will find 
the different varieties of this Phlox well suited 
to experiment with. The plants vary but little 
in higlit, and there is no trouble on account of a 
difference in growth as where several plants of 
a different kind are used. In colors there are 
pure white, rose, pale yellow, several shades of 
crimson and purple, and the most brilliant 
scarlet, and besides various combinations of 
color, as pure white with purple eye, purple 
with a white center, and several with stripes 
and marblings of contrasting colors—surely 
variety enough for one plant to produce. A 
circular or oval bed planted with successive 
lines of strong.y contrasting colors makes a 
most brilliant show. We rarely see this plant 
in perfection, and the same may be said of 
other annuals. A packet of seeds that costs 
but ten cents may produce 50 or 100 plants. As 
each plant costs so little, only the fraction of a 
cent, it is very natural that it should not re¬ 
ceive the same care that would be bestowed 
upon a Geranium or other plant purchased 
from the florist for 25 cents. Hence, annuals 
are generally crowded, ill-sliaped, weedy look¬ 
ing affairs, which after a short season of bloom, 
die away, or become so utterly shabby that 
they are pulled up in disgust. To have this 
Phlox in its best condition it should have 
proper treatment, and what is advised for this 
should be followed with most other annuals. 
The seed should be sown this month in boxes 
of light rich earth; sow thinly in drills, keep¬ 
ing the varieties distinct; those who can may 
place the boxes in a gentle hot-bed, but a sunny 
window will answer quite as well. When the 
plants are large enough to handle transplant 
them to other boxes, setting them two inches 
apart each way; shade for a day or two, and 
then give them plenty of light, but do not 
scorch them; water as needed, and give air 
when the outside temperature will allow. 
When the plants are about three inches high 
“ stop them,” as the gardeners say, which means 
to pinch out the growing point in the center; 
this will have the effect of making them throw 
out side branches, and for this reason the dis¬ 
tance of two inches was advised in transplant¬ 
ing. Before the time for setting out, in May, 
or whenever the ground is well dried and 
warmed and cool nights are over, the plants 
should be thoroughly hardened olf by exposure 
in boxes, day and night, to the open air. One 
great trouble with this plant is its tendency to 
mildew, which may be avoided by giving plenty 
of room. Most of the varieties grow about a 
foot high, and these should be set a foot apart; 
some of the newer varieties are said to be only 
six inches tall, and these may be placed as many 
inches apart as they are high; these low-grow¬ 
ing kinds must be planted at the margin of a 
A COMBINED CELLAR AND GREENHOUSE. 
bed with the taller ones nearer the center. In 
planting a bed with lines of various colors it 
will be a good plan to put a few plants of each 
kind into small pots and keep them in reserve. 
The plants in the bed will soon begin to show 
flower, and it may happen that a line will have 
a “ rogue ” or two—that is, plants that have 
not come true to kind; such plants should be 
taken up as soon as they “ show their colors,” 
and replaced by those that have been kept in 
reserve; being in pots they may be turned out 
without checking their growth, and any un¬ 
seemly breaks 
in the bed be 
avoided. If 
the branches 
of one row 
grow in with 
those of the 
next, so as to 
destroy the 
well defined 
line between 
them, the scis¬ 
sors must be 
used to re¬ 
move all un¬ 
ruly growth. 
To secure a 
long continu¬ 
ance of bloom 
no seed should 
be allowed to 
ripen on the 
bed; as soon 
as a cluster 
has passed its 
prime clip it 
off; if allowed 
to bear seed 
the plants 
will become 
exhausted. If 
it be desired 
to raise seed for another year a plant or two 
of each kind may be set in another place 
expressly for this purpose. It may be added 
that the seeds should be gathered as soon 
as the pods begin to turn brown, or else they 
will open on the plant and the seed be lost. 
We have given thus in detail what we consider 
the treatment best for the majority of annuals. 
Some do not need to be pinched, but the other 
points must be observed if really good results 
are desired. The engraving here given is from 
the new and elegant catalogue of Messrs. 
Briggs Brothers, Rochester, New York. 
Combined Cellar and Greenhouse. 
BY TETEIt HENDERSON. 
Many years ago an accidental circumstance 
gave me an opportunity of proving the utility 
of combining a cellar and greenhouse under 
one roof. An excavation of 20 feet by 40 had 
been made, seven feet deep and walled up with 
stone, and the beams laid across preparatory to 
placing a building on it, when the owner 
changed his plans and found himself with this 
ugly excavation but a dozen yards from his 
costly residence. There seemed to be no alter¬ 
native but to fill it up or plank it over; bht both 
plans were objectionable, and in discussing how 
to get out of the difficulty I suggested erecting 
a low-roofed greenhouse over it, as the owner 
had a taste in that direction. This suggestion 
was followed, raising the walls one foot above 
the surface and erecting a span roof of glass. 
My Idea (which was found to be nearly cor¬ 
rect) was that the large volume of air in the 
excavation, which would at all seasons average 
about 40°,would be sufficient to keep the upper 
or greenhouse portion of the structure above 
A GROUP OF DRUMMOND’S PHLOX. 
