44 THE GARDENER. [Jan. 



6 incli pots for the first potting, shifting into 7 and 8 inch as soon as 

 the plants are 6 inches high. Plunge the pots in a cold frame, covering 

 the pots over to secure them from frost. I use cocoa-nut fibre refuse 

 for this purpose, and I know of nothing better for plunging all sorts 

 of pots in. The pots must be examined occasionally, and as soon as 

 the plants are seen above the surface of the mould the material cover- 

 ing the pots should be removed, and as much air as possible admitted 

 to the frame. Some time in May the plants are removed to a sheltered 

 position out of doors, until the first flowers show signs of opening. 

 They may be removed to the greenhouse, or they can be retarded by 

 placing them behind a north wall. 



The Gladiolus may be propagated by taking care of the spawn or 

 very small bulblets which cluster in greater or less numbers round the 

 base of the large bulbs : some of the varieties will only give three or 

 four of such small bulbs, others a hundred or two. A well-known 

 cultivator told me the other day that he counted 200 from one plant 

 of Orphee, one of the best new ones of the present season. When 

 they are found in such large quantities, the best way is to draw drills 

 and sow them out of doors. The more scarce varieties should be potted 

 — a dozen bulblets planted in a 6-inch pot. The bulbs obtained from 

 the spawn will each throw up a fine spike the following year. 



The best new varieties of the autumns of 1868-69 are — Armide, 

 Delicatissima, Homere, Horace, Madame Desportes, Madame Dom- 

 brain, Marie Stuart, Michel-Ange, Monsieur Legouve, Orphee, Robert 

 Fortune, Rosa Bonheur, Schiller, Virgile. These were all raised by 

 Souchet. Julia, sent out by Kelway, is a first-class flower. The best 

 of the older varieties are — Adolphe Brogniart, Etendard, Eugene 

 Scribe, Fulton, Galilee, Imperatrice Eugenie, James Veitch, La Favor- 

 ite, Le Titien, Madame Furtado, Marechal Vaillant, Marie Dumortier, 

 Meyerbeer, Moliere, Newton, Prince of Wales, Princess of Wales, 

 Princess Mary of Cambridge, Princess Clotilde, Reine Victoria, Ros- 

 sini, Shakespere, Ulysse. The above named is a select list, and I 

 have grown and flowered all of them except La Favorite, but which I 

 have seen very fine in Mr Kelway's stands. It is rather tender. I 

 have omitted other fine sorts which are delicate in constitution, or at 

 least do not succeed with me. J. D. 



HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIOJNTS. 



The Royal Horticultural Society of London, — The last meeting for 1870 of 

 the Fruit and Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society was held on 

 Wednesday, December 7. It was a very successful meeting. Not many Orchids 

 and tender plants were exhibited, which could hardly be expected, as the weather 

 was very unfavourable. 



