GLADIOLUS, 113 
good forms that we did not anticipate. From seeds 
saved from the best flowers, we have secured excellent 
results; while from seeds gatherea at random, we have 
had some of the best flowers we haveever grown. From 
a long and varied experience in growing the Gladiolus 
from seed, we are fully convinced of the folly of attempt- 
ing to secure any given form or color by any artificial 
means; convinced that form and color are wholly beyond 
control; that the offspring are liable to have any of the 
colors of the original species, or any combination or vari- 
ation of color that the originals could produce. It is 
held, and, as a rule, correctly, that by persistent selec- 
tion of any given form, a type can be secured; that if 
we save seed from the best, or only the purest white, we 
can finally secure seed that will give only white flowers ; 
or at least we can finally secure a pure white variety. 
The.same is said of the yellows or scarlets. Our experi- 
ence with Gladiolus has been the reverse. For instance, 
Isaac Buchanan is the nearest a clear golden yellow of 
any known variety, if we except one found among our 
seedlings recently, and the seed from which it was pro- 
duced was not taken from a yellow flower. Again, 
among the seedlings we annually find types almost 
like Brenchleyensis, which rarely, if ever, produces seed, 
and which we have never attempted to save. Yet we 
get flowers from the first flowering of every bed of seed- 
lings almost identical. The same is true in eyery respect 
with John Bull, a standard white variety. We are, 
therefore, forced to believe that new forms result from 
conditions little understood. Certain it is that good 
cultivation, in a congenial soil and climate, will be the 
best rewarded. 
There is no other pleasure in gardening equal to 
that which comes from the growing of Gladiolus from 
seed. The certainty of getting some remarkably fine 
varicties is absolute; that in a bed, no matter how large, 
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