420 



HORTICU LTU RE 



March 25, 19X1 



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TWENTY HOUSES DEVOTED TO 



Rambler Roses, $.50 to $10.00 each 



Acacias, 

 Azaleas, 

 Marguerites, 

 Lilies, 



1.00 7.50 



..35 " 5.00 " 

 .25 " 2.00 " 

 .12' 2 per flower 



BouGAixviLLEAS, $1.00 to $5.00 each 

 Heaths, .50 " .75 



BORONIAS, 1.00 " 5.00 " 



Hydrangeas, white 



and pink, .50 " 5.00 



The above stock will be just right for Easter. Greenhouses 40 minutes from North vStation, Boston. 



THOMAS ROLAND, - NAHANT, MASS. 



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THE GLADIOLUS. 

 As We Knew and Grew It Fifty Years 



Ago — By H. Youell, Syracuse, N. Y. 

 Read before the American Gladiolus So- 

 ciety at Boston. 



When asked to contribute a paper 

 for the initial meeting of the Gladiolus 

 Society, I gladly consented, as I feel 

 greatly interested in the success of the 

 Society. This arises from the fact 

 that fifty years ago, my father was the 

 largest grower of gladioli in England 

 and I am proud of the fact that 

 Brenchleyensis was disseminated by 

 him. 



It may be interesting to many if I 

 recall, as they occurred, some of the 

 facts relating to the early history of 

 the Gandavensis varieties fifty years 

 ago. It is generally known that the 

 Gladiolus family is indigenous to Af- 

 rica, and I know positively that Gan- 

 davensis originated there, being found 

 by a French sailor and taken by him 

 to Paris. It is to Frenchmen we are 

 indebted for the great progress made 

 fifty years ago, for they laid the foun- 

 dation, so to speak, that we have built 

 upon and made possible the grand 

 flowers we have today. 



It may not be generally known that 

 Napoleon the III. was passionately 

 fond of rare plants and flowers, and 

 it is owing to his interest and enthu- 

 siasm that France today holds her po- 

 sition in the floral world. So eager 

 was the Emperor to add to his collec- 

 tion of rare plants, that he offered 

 large bounties to his soldiers, sailors 

 and fishermen or to travelers who 

 would bring him any good novelties 

 from foreign countries. So it came 

 about that Gandavensis was taken to 

 Paris and placed in the hands of Mr. 

 Souchet, the head gardener of the Em- 

 peror, and through his industry and 

 ability came the beautiful varieties. 



I take it there are not many who 

 can recall the old Gandavensis with 

 Its broad yellow, poorly shaped flowers 

 with a crimson edge, but what a beau- 

 tiful and wonderful flower it was con- 

 sidered when first sent out, for the 

 Colvilli varieties were the only ones 

 grown and were called Jacob's Ladders 

 In my childhood days. 



Bowensis was the next one to make 

 Its appearance. This was a dirty brick 

 red, but was a good shaped flower 

 with large spikes. Fanny Rouget fol- 

 lowed; this was a very pleasing pink, 

 but only a medium sized flower. It 

 was about 1S.55 or 1856 that these made 

 their appearance and in 1S57 the Eng- 

 lish people heard of the wonderful 



flowers to be seen in the Royal French 

 gardens. In August of that year 

 Queen Victoria, with the Prince Con- 

 sort and a very large retinue paid a 

 visit to Napoleon. At that time the 

 gardens were a blaze of glory with 

 their many colored flowers and the 

 Queen and all her court were com- 

 pletely carried away with the sight and 

 returned to England with wonderful 

 stories of what they had seen. The 

 Queen was so delighted and enchanted 

 that the Emperor ordered Mr. Souchet 

 to send her a large supply of bulbs 

 and so generously was the order 

 obeyed, that the head gardener at Os- 

 borne could not find room for all and. 

 rather than throw them away, he gave 

 the surplus stock to my father, who 

 was a personal friend. This was the 

 nucleus of what eventually became the 

 largest collection in England fifty years 

 ago. 



Soon after the Queen's visit to 

 France came what was considered the 

 wonder of the age in the floral world, 

 for Mr. Souchet through Victor Ver- 

 dier and Messrs. Vilmorin sent out 

 quite a number of very beautiful va- 

 rieties, some of which I believe are 

 still grown in England. The names of 

 a few I recall are John Bull. Victor 

 Verdier, Napoleon Third, Queen Vic- 

 toria, Calypso, Due de Malakoff. Dr. 

 Andry, Ceres, Endymion and LaReine. 



I may be excused for feeling proud 

 of the fact that my father dissemi- 

 nated the following year that grand 

 old Brenchleyensis, still the acknowl- 

 edged leader of its class. Its origin is 

 a mystery. How it came into my 

 father's possession is as follows: Some 

 years previously he had in his employ 

 Mr. W. Casey, foreman of the hard- 

 wooded department, and traveling oc- 

 casionally (he was later connected 

 with Hugh Low & Co.) on one of his 

 journeys through Kent, he visited a 

 small place called Brenchlcy. In a cot- 

 tager's garden he noticed several flow- 

 ers of this variety and after a great 

 deal of persuasion and what must have 

 been a large sum to the owner (25 

 pounds), he secured the stock. All the 

 Information he could gather as to its 

 origin was that a son who was a sailor 

 had brought the bulbs home from some 

 foreign country — Africa, it was believed 

 at the time. How popular Brenchley- 

 ensis became is best attested by the 

 fact that from 1860 to 1S64 our sales 

 averaged 300,000 yearly. 



Our nurseries were situated at Great 

 Yarmouth (made famous by Charles 

 Dickens in David Copperfield), and less 



than two thousand years ago the 

 North Sea flowed where the town now 

 stands, so of course the soil was very 

 sandy and to that fact I attribute our 

 success in cultivating the bulbs. The 

 only thing used to enrich the soil was 

 rotten brewers' hops, and disease was 

 a thing unknown to us. 



I have always been and am still a 

 very strong advocate of printers' ink 

 and flower shows, both for educational 

 and commercial purposes, and believe 

 my past experience justifies me, as I 

 shall show. Prior to 1860 we had sent 

 large quantities of gladiolus blooms to 

 the Crystal Palace for decorative pur- 

 poses free, and were assured that they 

 were much finer than any exhibited 

 for prizes. After much persuasion, my 

 father consented to compete and had 

 several large beds prepared and plant- 

 ed with the choicest kinds, to be raised 

 for exhibition. The amount of the 

 prizes was very small — for the best col- 

 lection $12, best twenty-four spikes $5, 

 best twelve spikes $2.50; not much of 

 an inducement for three men to travel 

 one hundred and forty miles, pay ex^ 

 cess luggage and hotel bills for three 

 days, and compete against such men 

 as Standish, Turner, Paul Cutbush and 

 others. We went and conquered, not 

 only the prizes but all the London 

 papers from the Times down: they 

 gave us columns of the best possible 

 advertising, and that was not all, for 

 the two foremen and myself booked 

 orders the first day for more than 

 three hundred pounds, besides distrib- 

 uting 5,000 catalogues in the two days. 

 Did it pay? 



The method in vogue at that time 

 for staging the flowers was to have 

 green painted boards, 3 ft. 6 in. long 

 by 2 ft. 6 in. wide: each board had 24 

 holes fitted with tin tubes to hold the 

 water. Our boards sloped on an angle 

 of 45 degrees, which showed off the 

 back row. We showed three spikes of 

 each variety together with a little fol- 

 iage mixed in. Some exhibitors used 

 garden asparagus, others fern fronds, 

 but I must say the effect of using the 

 gladiolus foliage was by far the neat- 

 est and most appropriate. The London 

 Times, speaking of our exhibit, said: 

 "The flowers showed the highest culti- 

 vation and their staging was a finished 

 and artistic piece of work and a reve- 

 lation." Certain it is that our flowers 

 were better colored and had far more 

 substance than those grown around 

 London or even in France, which I 

 attribute to the salt air and our sandy 

 soil. 



