Mateh 13, 187S. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



221 



liybridisers np to the present time have been able to produce 

 a similar variety, or to discover the missing link. — Expebio 

 Cbede. 



NEW BOOK. 



The Gladiolus; its History, Cultivation, and Exhibition. By 



the Eev. H. Hont^-ood Domerain, B.A., &o. London : 



£1. Reeve & Co. 



When we were young — that 's a few years since — an expe- 

 lienced publisher, just gone to his rest, said to us, " If you 

 want a thing well done, get a parson whose hobby it is to do 

 it." Experience has confirmed the soundness of our friend's 

 advice; we rejoice in having the aid of many " parsons," and 

 not one of them but makes us feel the aid is powerful. The 

 book before us is another proof. We have for some years, 

 amongst other subjects, had the benefit of Mr. Dombrain's 

 knowledge and judgment on the Gladiolus, and in the little 

 volume before us is gathered together and concentrated his 

 information relative to his favourite flower. It is brief, prac- 

 tical, and trustworthy, and we recommend it to every reader 

 "who wishes to grow the Gladiolus well. 



The preface begins with — 



It is impossible to be poetical in writing on the Gladiolus, for 

 it would be as difiicalt to find a rhyme for it as for porringer. I 

 carmot be seutimeutal — no lover could call his inamorata. My 

 Gladiolus. To be learned is out of the qviestion ; the ancients did 

 not know it, and so I cannot cog a list of fxuotations from Homer 

 ■downwards ; I have, therefore, only aimed to be practical. 



We must pause to object, that it is true no male lover would 

 compare his chosen one to this flower, but the chosen one 

 might be jn-oud to call her " young man " " My Gladiolus." 

 Tall, stately, brilliant, warlike, how we should be exhilirated 

 by being called, even now. The Gladioli. But we must recover 

 our equanimity, and we will quote only the history of the 

 flower from Mr. Dombrain's pages, and cordially recommend 

 •them to our readers for the details of culture and exhibition. 



No flower has so rapidly gained for itself a promineut position 

 in the florist's estimation as the Gladiolus. While the grower 

 of Auriculas can win prizes with flowers that were in growth 

 seventy or eighty years ago, aud the Rose-grower can gaze on 

 ihe as yet unsurpassed form of Coupe d'Hubu, or Charles Law- 

 son ; nay, can revel in the fragrance of the old Cabbage, which 

 was introduced three centuries ago, the growth of the Gladiolus 

 as a florists' flower is a matter of about twenty years; while so 

 great is the improvement that has been of late years made in it, 

 that if we were to take the names of the flowers in the winning 

 stands at our great metropolitan shows, we should not find on 

 them any flowers of more than seven or eight years' standing. 

 In the '* Flower Garden," a very complete repository of florists' 

 flowers, to which I now often myself refer, — pubUshed in 1860, 

 — no mention whatever is made of the Gladiolus save as a border 

 ilower; yet so rapidly has it improved, indeed I may also say 

 through the exertions of one man. Mens. Souchet, of Fontaine- 

 bleau, that it has acquired a size, completeness of form, and 

 grandeur of appearance, that make it a formidable rival of all 

 other autumnal flowers ; occupying less space than the Dahlia 

 or Hollyhock, it rivals them both in the briUiancy and variety 

 of its colouring, and on an exhibition table is by most persons 

 preferred to either. 



The Gladiolus has a corm, similar in form to that of the 

 Crocus, and as far as the individual corm is concerned, is an 

 annual, that which is planted dying every year, and new ones 

 being formed above the old corm, from which they have to be 

 separated at the time of taking up. It might seem to be super- 

 fluous to mention this, but that I have met with at least two 

 growers who seemed to be in happy ignorance of this fact, al- 

 though how they could have ever taken up a number aud not 

 seen it I cannot understand. For a number of years some 

 species have been grown as border flowers, notably G. cardi- 

 naUs, introduced about 1789, and G. ramosus, about 1840. But 

 the present race is the offspring of varied and repeated inter- 

 crossing between natalensis or psittacinus, and oppositiflorus, 

 and especially of Gandavensis. Gaudaveusis was a seedling 

 "from psittacinus, and originated at Ghent, in the same way that 

 that very handsome border flower Brenchleyensis was origi- 

 nated some twenty-eight years ago at Brenchley, in Kent, by 

 Mr. Hooker, whose son I had the pleasure of meeting at the 

 Crystal Palace lately. I asked him if he coidd tell me when it 

 was raised, but he could not. I remember, however, very dis- 

 tinctly obtaining a bulb of it in 1847, at Canterbury. 



So lately as the year 1850 hardly any mention is made in the 

 ^* Florist " of any varieties save those of the ramosus section ; 

 and in an article on them in that work for 1851, wliere one of 

 the ramosus section. Von Gagern, is figured, the writer says 

 three of the most beautiful are those now sold by the trade 



under the names of floribundus, Gandavensis, and Brenchley- 

 ensis. Coming on to the year 1859, about which period I think 

 Mr. Standish became a grower of them at Bagshot (at any rata 

 in that year he exhibited a good stand of them at the Crystal 

 Palace), Berthe Eabourdin was selected for illustration as being 

 one of the best then in cultivation ; and in a Ust taken from his 

 catalogue I find recommended as amongst the best, such kinds 

 as Madame Binder, Vesta, Don Juan, Dr. Andre, &c. It must 

 be borne in mind that this was only thirteen years ago ; and let 

 anyone take these varieties and compare them with such kinds 

 as Madame Desportes, Norma, Horace Vernet, Phcebus, &c., 

 and can he resist the conclusion that the advance of late years 

 has gone at an accelerated pace ? People oftentimes complain 

 when new varieties of florists' flowers are brought out, that 

 there is great sameness ; in fact, no improvement whatever ; 

 but I have always found that the best way to answer such state- 

 ments is to give up the point, so far as any individual flower is 

 concerned, but at the same time to ask the objectors how it 

 comes to pass that, although such things are said, yet when an 

 exhibitor desires to select the most taking varieties , he so fre- 

 quently has to select the varieties of the last few years ; and 

 that when we come to compare the drawings by the same artist, 

 the difference is so very striking between those figured a dozen 

 years ago and those figured now. The improvement in each 

 year may not be so very remarkable, but it'is appreciable, and 

 in the course of three or four years the strides made strike us 

 very forcibly. 



The proper pronunciation of the word is always a puzzle. I 

 have heard of a horticultural society which always kept it, as 

 the Frenchman did his one snipe, to afford sport when other 

 subjects of conversation flagged. By right it ought to be, I 

 think. Gladiolus, all short, as if spelt Gladjo'us ; perhaps the 

 next most correct form would be Gladiolus, and the one which 

 it, I suppose, retains, is the worst of three. Gladiolus. 



The one person to whom we are indebted for the many valu- 

 able varieties of the Gladiolus at present in cultivation is 

 M. Souchet, of Fontainebleau. It is now, I beUeve, forty-five 

 years since he first attempted their cultivation, and it is not too 

 much to say that the progi-ess made by him during the last ten 

 years has been greater than that of the previous thirty-five. I 

 well remember, many years ago, a friend coming to me with a 

 number of a gardening journal in his hand, and pointing to a 

 figure of a new Gladiolus, " Don Juan," which had been just 

 then introduced, asking me if it was possible to imagine anything 

 finer than it — and yet what a poor thing it is now. The extent 

 to which M. Souchet cultivates them may be gathered from the 

 fact, that not only are all or nearly all the new varieties which 

 come to us from France, his seedlings, but nearly all the bulbs 

 also are grown by him. The French growers find that it 

 answers their purpose better to obtain them from him, and 

 hence the whole of his growth passes into their hands. Messrs. 

 Vilmorin & Co., Messrs. Charles Verdier, fils, Eugene Verdier, 

 and Loise, are, I believe, the houses to which they are sup]>lied. 

 His chief cultivations are not now at Fontainebleau ; the hotness 

 of the soil, and the vicinity to the forest, which subjects him to 

 the attacks of the grub of the cockchafer, the " ver blanc " 

 which French nurserymen dread so. much, has led him to re- 

 move them chiefly to Montereau, and there many acres are 

 devoted to their culture. M. Souchet does not, I believe, hybri- 

 dise to any extent, but trusts to the operation being performed 

 by insects. 



The example set by M. Souchet was, about the year 18.59, 

 followed by that most active and persevering hybridiser, Mr. 

 Standish, then living at Bagshot, aud was foUowed-up bv him 

 on thoroughly scientific principles for some years ; when, finding 

 the soil of his nursery not suitable for their growth, and being 

 then intent on removing to his present nursery at Ascot, he 

 abandoned their culture for other and larger matters, not before, 

 however, he had raised some fine seedlings. I well remember a 

 " John Standish," which for brilliancy of colour has never been 

 surpassed, but which was unfortunately lost ; while others, such 

 as Eleanor Norman (very like Eurydice), Eandle Jackson, and 

 John Davis were flowers of good form and character. They 

 were, however, never widely distributed, and with the excep- 

 tion of one or two which I retain for *' auld lang syne," I do not 

 think any of them now remain in cultivation. Of late Mr. Stan- 

 dish's jDredilection for them has revived, and he hopes by the 

 infusion of the blood of G. cruentus, a species introduced by Mr. 

 William Bull, of Chelsea, to originate anew race. The largest 

 English raiser, however, is Mr. Kelway, of Langport, in Somer- 

 set, who may be called the Souchet of England. In his exhibi- 

 tion beds last season he planted :3500 bulbs, and in his store beds 

 800,000 ! AU who have attended our metropoUtan and many of 

 our provincial shows know what splendid stands of Gladiolus he 

 exhibits, most of them being his own seedUngs. A pubUshed 

 catalogue of them which I have now before me contains, I should 

 imagine, names and descriptions of at least five hundred seed- 

 lings, and there can be but one opinion of the excellence of very 

 many of them. Mr. Douglas, the intelligent gardener of F. Whit- 

 bourn, Esq., of Loxford Hall, Ilford, has also exhibited some 



