Amongst hardy plants suitable for the adornment of the flower-garden in autumn the Phlox holds a high position; and yet, notwithstanding its hardiness and striking beauty as a border-plant, and also, if grown in pots, as a decorative plant for the greenhouse or conservatory, there is seldom a fair amount of attention bestowed on the culture of it. The Phlox is well adapted for the mixed flower - border, where it is frequently planted and often badly managed, the plants being allowed to remain in the same position year after year, a score or more shoots being allowed to grow from a plant which suffers from deficient moisture in hot dry weather in summer, until the weak shoots are overcome by the stronger in the struggle for existence; and what few shoots there are with flowers upon them are denuded of leaves, and give no idea what sort of plant the Phlox is for decorative purposes. A few hints on the cultivation of this flower may be useful, and perhaps be the means of extending its culture. To grow it in anything like perfection the Phlox should be planted in beds, and the ground specially prepared for it. I have found it succeed in both light and heavy loam; but of whatever nature the soil is, it ought to be trenched 2 feet deep in the autumn, and well manured.

My method of preparing the ground is this: if it is not loose on the surface, it is first forked over; and as soon as the ground is dry, a trench is taken out at one end 2 feet deep and 3 wide; a layer of cow or stable manure is placed in the bottom of the trench - if the ground is light, the former; and if heavy, the latter - the part that is to be trenched is marked off in 2½-feet spaces; a man with a close-pronged steel fork digs a spit from this space, another follows with a shovel and throws the loose earth over on the manure; another layer of manure is placed on this; another spit and shovelling is thrown out, the bottom of the trench is forked up, and the same process is repeated: if there is sufficient depth of good soil, we take three spits, three shovellings, and have three layers of manure. It is very desirable that the operation of trenching be performed before the ground is saturated with the autumn rains; during favourable weather in winter the ground may be lightly forked over to the depth of 3 or 4 inches.

If the weather is favourable, plant about the end of February or beginning of March four rows in a bed and 20 inches between the plants: when the shoots have grown 2 or 3 inches they should be thinned out, allowing only from three to five on each plant: in an early stage of their growth the sticks should be placed to them, as the shoots are easily damaged by the wind, which breaks them over close to the surface of the ground. The beds ought to be well watered during the summer months if the season is dry, and occasionally with liquid manure. Immediately after the first watering, mulch the beds with rotted frame-dung to prevent rapid evaporation; succeeding waterings will also wash the nourishing properties down to the roots, which are in abundance near the surface. To keep up a succession of good plants a fresh lot should be propagated every year; the cuttings should be put in as early as they can be obtained in the spring, the superfluous shoots which are thinned out being used for this purpose: the best way is to insert one cutting in the centre of a 60-sized pot: if the pots are plunged in a hot-bed in a gentle bottom-heat, the cuttings will soon strike if the frame is kept rather close.

When the young plants show signs of growing, admit air more freely, removing the plants in a fortnight to a cold frame: the strongest plants should be reserved for pot culture, the others, after being hardened off, may be planted out about the end of April or beginning of May: those reserved for pot culture should be shifted into 6-inch pots about the same time in a compost consisting of four parts turfy loam, one leaf-mould, and one rotted manure, with the addition of a little silver sand. The best position for the plants during summer is out of doors, fully exposed to the sun, and yet sheltered from driving winds: the aim of the cultivation is to obtain dwarf sturdy plants, and this will not be accomplished if they do not have air and sunshine freely admitted to them. If the pots are plunged, less water will be required for them: when the plants are well established in the 6-inch pots, manure-water twice a-week will be very beneficial; they will require little attention, except placing a stick to the plant and tying the shoot to it as it grows. The plants should be removed to the greenhouse as soon as the first flower on the spike is fully expanded, where they will continue in beauty a long time.

After the flowering is over the plants should be removed to a cold frame, where they should be kept during winter and planted out in the spring, as previously recommended; or they may be shifted into larger pots (8 or 9 inch is a good size), and grown a second year in that way. Finer spikes will be obtained, and opportunity afforded to retard or accelerate the blooming period, by removing them to the north or south side of a brick wall, or any similar convenient position. The varieties of Phlox suffruticosa flower earliest; this section has been much improved by cultivators in Scotland, and contains many beautiful varieties. In the neighbourhood of London the varieties of decussata or late-flowering are considered the best; they are of a robust and hardy nature, and the improvement of this section is even more marked. Those who are intending to grow a collection should procure some of each sort, as the season will thereby be much prolonged. The following list of sorts has been supplied to me by one of the most distinguished florists, and may be depended upon.

New varieties of Suffruticosa: - Elvina, Iona, John Watson, James Mitchell, James Neilson, Miss Ainslie, Pladda, Robert Hannay, The Queen, Waverley, William Blair. Of older sorts - Duchess of Sutherland, George Wyness, James Laing, John Cumming, Miss Lucy, Hope Johnstone, Mrs Duff, Othello, William Linton, The Deacon, William M'Aulay, William Shand, W. W. Platt. The following list contains decussata or late-flowering varieties: - Aurantiaca superba, Aurore Boreale, Comtesse de Chambord, Liervallii, Madame Barillet, Madame Billy, Madame Domage, Mdlle. Hermine de Turenne, Mdlle. Marguerite de Turenne, Mons. Joseph Heim, M. Muret de Bort, Mons. W. Bull, Mons. Malet, Mons. Veitch, Mons. Delamare, Mons. Hugh Low, Mons. Marin Saison, Mons. C. Turner, Mons. Linden, Premices du Bonheur, Queen Victoria, Roi des Roses, Souvenir des Ternes, Venus.

James Douglas.