iSSi.] AUTUMN TREATMENT OF GLADIOLUS. 519 



tells liim very candidly " his Grapes were green," and asks him " how 

 he ripens them ? " considers " neither the system of people who burn 

 coals at night," nor the system of Mr Simpson, who must burn 

 " coals late in autumn " to be " right ; " and then states — " We l-noiv 

 some have tried low niglit-temperatiLres^ and have ultimately ahandoned 

 them, for the reasons ive have given^^ ! 



I may say that I think the "few cardinal points" noted in tlie article 

 on Vines in the August number are quite to the point. Nobody could 

 fail to produce good Grapes under the conditions there stated, the 

 question of '"' setting " aside altogether. With regard to the dressing of 

 bone-meal therein recommended, I may state that last autumn I worked 

 into our borders a manure composed of superphosphate nitre and 

 plaster of Paris mixed with bone-meal, and repeated the dressing in 

 summer. I have never had Grapes coloured better than this year, and 

 attribute that greatly to the potash contained in the nitre. Our 

 borders are never watered without the addition of some enriching 

 manure. I give high temperatures neither by day nor night. As the 

 vineries are neither " damped down " nor " shut up," it is rarely that 

 85° is exceeded as the maximum temperature. If red-spider appears, 

 it can always be traced to a fault in the management. In our case, a 

 moist atmosphere or a dry one has nothing whatever to do with it. 

 Were we to emj^loy hot pipes to bring along the Grapes, these condi- 

 tions might be absurd ; under the treatment we give our Vines, we 

 hnd them necessary and wise. R. P. Brotheestox. 



AUTUMN TREATMENT OF GLADIOLUS. 



Everywhere we now hear of the deterioration of this beautiful autumn 

 flower, and of unsuccessful attempts to get it to grow year after year 

 without buying a fresh stock of bulbs. This state of things is most 

 unfortunate, as bought bulbs cannot in every case be induced to grow. 

 This spring, for instance, some fourteen out of fifty bulbs I purchased 

 are still lying as they were planted, without making a sign of life. 



Though I have before told in the ' Gardener ' of the treatment I find 

 successful with the Gladiolus, I think the subject will bear repetition. 

 My plan is to wait till warm weather — about the end of April — before 

 planting, and to plant in highly cultivated ground : it is impossible to 

 cultivate too highly. Then, in a season like the present, it is an absolute 

 necessity that the young bulbs should be artificially ripened, as they 

 will not ripen if left in the ground. Some of the earlier sorts, as Didon 

 and Shakespeare, may, but the great majority will not. The only plan, 

 therefore, is to lift the plants as entire as possible, securing a ball of 

 soil round the roots, and placing them in vineries or plant-houses to 

 finish : those which have not flowered at this date may be lifted, the 

 ball of soil crammed into a pot, and the flowers allowed to open in 



