TUE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 109 



Headly bas been engaged some years in raising his present stock 

 When he began he obtained the best named varieties in the market; 

 but he soon began to think them not good enough, and, with the 

 zeal and skill that are peculiarly his, he set about improving the 

 type and enlarging the range of colours. It may be said of these, 

 as has been said of the Stapleford tulips, that there is scarcely to be 

 found their match, and as Mr. Headly is not a trader, but spends 

 his money freely in gratifying his floral tastes, this eulogy can bave 

 no otber effect than that of stimulating many amateurs to enter into 

 the same delightful pursuit. Mr. Headly's gladioli have been grown 

 from seed by means no more complicated or costly than are required 

 to grow crocuses. He sows the seed in April in pans and boxes of 

 light earth, and some he sows in drills in the open ground. The 

 pans and boxes are employed only for a few of the very extra choice 

 savings, from whicb he expects flowers above the average of bis own 

 splendid strain ; but, as to the well-doing of the seedlings so treated, 

 it cannot surely be said that they are in the end in any degree more 

 thrifty than those dealt with on the rough and ready system. In 

 the books — that is to say, in some books — you will And very com- 

 plicated directions ; and it will appear at last that to raise seedling 

 gladioli is as difEcult as learning to talk Russian, which no English- 

 man can accomplish until he can command himself perfectly while 

 coughing, sneezing, and choking with a husk of barley in the throat. 

 One common error, which shows that the authors of some books 

 have not worked in the garden so much as they have worked at 

 their desks, is the direction to start these seeds in heat. Far better 

 is it that they never know of artificial heat at all. A frame or cold 

 pit is the proper place for the seed boxes, and if they are left out of 

 Hoors to rough it through sun and shower, the seeds will germinate 

 as well as under cover, and in due time both sowings will spear 

 through the soil like grass, and show the beginning of the floral 

 triumph that is to crown the work. The weeding and the harvest- 

 ing, the keeping and the next year's planting, are matters of course. 

 It is only needful to say that the majority of seedling bulbs flower 

 the second year, and the few that remain over are sure to flower the 

 third year, and that some of the very best are the last to flower ; so 

 the impatient cultivator must expect to be rebuked before he has 

 finally done with a batch of seedlings. The question arises, how are 

 you to obtain your seeds ? Begin by purchasing all the best named 

 varieties, taking the widest range possible as regards colour, and in 

 every case giving preference to varieties of the finest form and habit. 

 If you leave them to themselves you will get some seed, and may 

 therefrom obtain something novel ; but it is a miserable risk to leave 

 them to seed spontaneously. Ton must go about all through the 

 flowering season, crossing them all sorts of ways, crotjsing the most 

 opposite colours, and always putting the pollen of the most decisive 

 and brilliant colours upon flowers of the largest size and finest form. 

 "When the flowers begin to expand, provide yourself with two sorts 

 of wool thread, say red and white. Select your mothers, and tie 

 upon their stems, as you please, red or white worsted ; select your 

 fathers, and tie upon them red or white worsted. If you like ex- 



April. 



