THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



rect use of good stable manure should furnish enough plant food 

 for gladioli in the ordinary garden culture. For stimulating the 

 growth, increasing the size of corm, spike, or flower, for bringing 

 the blooms on earlier, and for strengthening the color and sub- 

 stance of the flowers, various fertilizers are advocated to furnish 

 quickly available plant food, just as in the growing of many other 

 truck and florists' crops. Bone meal, pulverized sheep manure, 

 liquid cow manure, wood ashes, and others, added to the soil at 

 the time of planting or before and during the blooming period, are 

 all special-purpose quick-return fertilizers. Lime should of 

 course be used on many soils. In commercial bulb growing many 

 of these special treatments are used, but with the use of good cow 

 manure gratifying results have been obtained. 



Blooming size corms should be planted at least four inches 

 below the surface of the soil, and deeper than that, say from six 

 to eight inches, on light soils, to prevent the heavy flowering 

 spikes from toppling over. For home-garden planting, six to 

 seven inches between is a good distance. Close-planting will aid 

 in keeping the plants upright ; and wider planting will give larger 

 and stronger plants. Planting may be done from the latter part 

 of April up to the end of June, but preferably in May and early 

 June. The soil is not in the best condition before May in the 

 vicinity of New York. 



Planting by hand with a dibbler or trowel, as with tulips and 

 other bulbs, is the common method, the corms being laid out on 

 the ground at the proper intervals. The small size bulbs, or 

 cormels, are treated as seeds, and sown in drills, about two inches 

 deep, in two years developing into large blooming size corms. If 

 one wishes to go back to the beginning and sow seeds, these may 

 be sown in drills to a depth of one quarter of an inch. In com- 

 mercial cultivation, planting is done in rows six feet apart, with 

 the corms about three inches apart. Double-row, alternating and 

 other methods are used, according to the preference of the grower. 

 The long rows and distance apart allow for horse cultivation and 

 other practices one would not require in garden planting. 



Frequent cultivation of the soil, to keep out the weeds and to 

 maintain the dust mulch, is, of necessity, a prime factor. Tying 

 up the heavy spikes, to stakes, strings, or wires, to prevent their 



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