THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



falling, is often necessary. The best method is the one easiest 

 and least expensive at the time. Deeper planting and the growing 

 of straighter, stronger varieties will do much to offset this trouble. 

 The flowering spikes used for cut flower decorations should be 

 cut when the first one or two blooms are opening, and should be 

 kept in fresh water, a small portion of the stem being cut off at 

 intervals to aid in preserving the blooms. 



With the ending of the flowering season and the coming of the 

 first frosts comes the time to begin harvesting the corms. First 

 the tops are cut off, about two inches from the bulb ; then the 

 corms are ripened for a time and thoroughly dried out. The re- 

 mainder of the stem and the old corm are then removed, the new 

 one and the baby cormels being cleaned and prepared for storing. 

 We have found that ten-pound sacks, open at the top, are good 

 substitutes for the growers' trays, in storing named varieties ; 

 and a dry cool cellar a good svibstitute for the large storehouse. 

 But the cellar must be truly dry and cool, but always above freez- 

 ing, and must not tend to warm up quickly in the spring, or the 

 corms will send out yellowish sprouts long before planting time, 

 a result to be avoided if possible. 



Disease and Insect Pests 



The most serious fungous diseases affecting the gladiolus, not 

 so conspicuous to amateurs as to the commercial grower, are two 

 bulb-rots ; the hard rot and the dry. Dr. L. M. Massey, of the 

 New York State College of Agriculture, spent several years in 

 the field and laboratory working on these rots, and succeeded in 

 finding the organisms causing them, but as yet no successful 

 remedy for them has been found; the selection of healthy corms, 

 the use of unaffected soil, and similar sanitary measures will help 

 to mitigate this danger. 



Destructive insects are not particularly fond of gladioli. Occa- 

 sional visits of such marauders as the aster beetle, which is easily 

 destroyed by the use of arsenicals, or visitations of red spider, 

 that water-detesting foe of the gardener and florist, may be ex- 

 pected. 



In the Horticultural Gardens of the New York Botanical Gar- 

 den, located near the southern boundary of the grounds of that 



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