108 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



SEEDLING GLADIOLI. 



iO raise gladioli from seed is just as easy a matter as grow- 

 ing seeding crocuses ; and the simplest mode that ever 

 was known to answer for crocuses would answer for 

 gladioli also. The subject is important, yet the gist of 

 tbe story may be told in a word. Sow your gladiolus 

 seed in spring as you would sow hardy annuals; take up the bulbs 

 in autumn, plant them out the next spring, and in the ensuing 

 summer most of them will flower. At the second great exhibition 

 at Manchester, in the year 18G7, there were several collections of 

 named gladioli, which it fell to the lot of Mr. "William Dean and my- 

 self to judge. When we had dealt with these named varieties to 

 the best of our ability, we turned round to make a general survey of 

 the show, and were astonished to find an immense group of gladioli 

 in the centre of the fruit table, with not a single label on them to 

 afford a clue to their names. They were of all colours ; generally 

 speaking a fine type of form and substance prevailed, such as we 

 should term a first-rate strain ; and there was not a group of any 

 kind that gave us more delight. We began inquiring with all the 

 feverish haste of enthusiasts who had made a discovery, and soon 

 found that these were samples of seedling gladioli, which Mr. B. S. 

 "Williams, of HoUoway, was prepared to offer by the thousand. So 

 we soon button-holed Mr. Williams, and put him ia the confessional 

 box to know where these came from, the price per thousand, and 

 the average quality taking them all through. To the first question 

 he replied that they were grown for him by an expert hybridizer ; 

 to the second question he mildly ejaculated twenty pounds per 

 thousand ; to the third question, the only one of real importance, 

 he said they were as good all through as the examples then before 

 us ; that, in fact, they were cut from the plantation at random, they 

 were not picked with fastidious care ; therefore, whoever purchased 

 and grew them might expect such splendid spikes as were then pre- 

 sented. If they could not be grown from seed as easily as crocuses, 

 it would be impossible to sell flowering bulbs of the finest quality at 

 twenty pounds per thousand. 



I might have forgotten all about seedling gladioli except for the 

 reminder of my friend, Mr. Headly, of Stapleford, who invited me to 

 see his plantation in bloom, accompanying the invitation with a box 

 full of samples of such splendid characters, that to refuse the invita- 

 tion would have been to scorn kindness, turn a deaf ear to truth, 

 and shut one's eyes against beauty. So in due time I was led by ray 

 excellent friend through alleys of gladioli, through a labyrinth of 

 the most various and splendid colours so solidly massed that air and 

 earth appeared equally rich in splendid painting. All these gladioli 

 were growing in the common soil of the place, which is a fertile 

 sandy loam, assisted with liberal dressings of manure. The average 

 height of the spikes might be four feet, the leaves were broad and 

 plentiful, the spikes massive with stems like green walking-sticks, 

 and flowers of great size, substance, and splendour of colour. Mr. 



